VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 551 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



VICES AND UNSOUNDNESS OF THE HORSE. 

 I. VICES. 



The horse, like man, his master, is a compound of defects 

 and excellent qualities. Confessedly among the noblest, if 

 not the noblest, of the lower animals, he yet has his full share 

 of vices.- Most of these are common to the species, though 

 a few seem to belong exclusively to particular breeds. They 

 are sometimes traceable to natural disposition, but more fre- 

 quently to the result of improper training, of neglect or abuse. 

 False education, in the horse as well as the human creature, 

 is necessarily a cause of untold evil. The horse seems read- 

 ily to fall into bad ways, and should be curbed, controlled, 

 and directed properly from the very first. The value of a 

 horse is, of course, diminished in proportion to the number 

 of his "vices," and purchasers are often cheated through.! 

 ignorance of the means of detecting them. Many persons 

 are deceived by an opinion that prevails largely in the coun- 

 try that a horse can easily be cured of a bad habit. This is 

 a great mistake. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, 

 but still harder to break an old horse of bad tricks. It is, 

 indeed, so difficult as to be very rarely accomplished. The 

 colt age is the time for training ; and if it is not done then 

 it is almost worse than useless to try to do it afterward, 

 Rarey to the contrary notwithstanding. 



We will now proceed to take up and consider in order 

 Bome of the chief " Vices of the Horse." 



KICKING. 



Kicking is probably the worst habit that the horse is ever 

 addicted to, for it is very dangerous. It may be induced in 



