COLLAR PRIDE. 71 



horse has not only been without collar work, but without any 

 work at all, and is consequently fresh, frisky, and impatient. To 

 put such a horse to start anything that requires a slow, long, 

 patient lean into the collar, is to incur a very great risk of spoil- 

 ing him, and the risk is still greater if he is asked to start it two 

 or three times before he is allowed to go straight off with it and 

 get warm. 



140. — For a long rested horse, however good, the carriage 

 should be drawn out upon good hard road, where it will get rather 

 a down than an uphill start, and where the horse can go straight 

 off without any stops or turns. Directly he is fastened to the 

 carriage he should be allowed to go away with it, and, if 

 possible, without a check from either rein, be steadily driven a 

 mile or two before the carriage is loaded, or he is asked to wait 

 about and start at command. Tf the horse is known to be liable 

 to jib, he should have a bridle and saddle and his own working- 

 collar put on him, and be ridden a mile or two fast enough to warm 

 his shoulders and the collar on them ; then put on the rest of the 

 harness, and buckling the reins into the traces, let some one hang 

 on to them whilst you lead him about. If he can be stopped by 

 the traces the assistant must ease off and let him go, but do not 

 put him in any carriage nncil he will walk slowly on with all that 

 an assistant can pull back. We say slowly, because a jib will 

 usually draw five times more at a fast, than he will at a slow pace. 

 "When you do put him in the carriage don't wait about, but drive 

 him about until quite warm and steady before you take up any 

 load, or risk any stopping, or starting, or waiting about. A horse 

 that has once jibbed will always be liable to do so again, and is 

 especially unfitted for occasional light work. The horse that has 

 to pull hard and steady every day will usually do it, even though 

 he has been made a jib, but such horses will always be troublesome 

 after much rest. Remember, that in nine cases out of ten, it is 

 eager impatience or fear, and not laziness or obstinacy that you 

 have to deal with, and no whip should be heard or seen by such a 

 horse until well warmed and settled down at his work. 



