JIBBING IDIOSVNCRACIES. 207 



by a healthy horse, so that when he does He down, something 

 wrong with his health may be very seriously suspected. Either 

 an ox or a horse can be instantly brought to his legs by stopping 

 his breath, without resorting to any of those sickening cruelties 

 sometimes practised upon them. Stopping their nostrils with a 

 cloth, a turf, or a lump of stiif mud or clay, will compel them to 

 rise without a moment's delay. Turning up their muzzle and 

 pouring a little water down the nostril, is another form of the 

 same old and effectual remedy. 



JIBBING. 



477. — Is the most common and the most incurable of all 

 equine vices. We have shown that it is always the result of 

 faulty education, but nothing in the world will entirely cure it 

 after it has been beaten in to a horse, although judicious 

 treatment will prevent its exhibition under ordinary circumstances. 



478. — No two jibs are exactly alike. Each horse will be 

 prone to exhibit the strange weakness most readily under the 

 circumstances in which he has learned it, or in which he 

 remembers to have suffered most. Thus, if he was whipped 

 when first put into the collar, he will always be prone to object 

 to a cold collar, though he may perhaps work fairly well in a 

 warm one, and even pull hard and well after he has been some 

 time at work. Such horses are usually called " collar proud." 

 If, on the other hand, he was properly taught to pull at first, 

 but whipped at some heavy pull afterwards, he may go all right 

 at first, but stick-up when he .comes to anything heavy. Others 

 will associate some particular kind of work, some part of a 

 particular hill, some voice, or sight, or sound, with their punish- 

 ment, and will stick-up, without any apparent rhyme or reason, 

 on the most unexpected occasions. 



479. — Thus every jib will require somewhat different treat- 

 ment, some special precaution, although the object is the same 

 with them all, and that is to restore some confidence in their own 

 power, and to make them forget any ill usage they have suffered, 

 and learned to associate with the collar. 



480. — The utmost patience and gentleness under every pro- 



