552 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



the colt by pinching, teasing, and otherwise annoying, as 

 boys and . hostlers often do. The grown horse is not likely 

 to kick, unless this habit has been acquired early. Still, 

 there are colts that seem naturally vicious in this particular. 

 They will kick, when very young, at every body and every 

 thing that comes near them. But by far the larger num- 

 ber, as above intimated, acquire the habit through the ig- 

 norance or carelessness of attendants. From very small be- 

 ginnings grow the very worst evils. A habit of kicking 

 once acquired will increase, until it becomes quite unsafe 

 to approach the animal addicted to it. All can remember 

 the startling warning, so often heard, " Take care — that 

 horse may kick you I " It is perilous to enter the stall of 

 a kicking horse, or to attempt to clean him, or to hitch 

 him, or even touch him with harness. Some horses will 

 kick at other horses, but not at persons; some at chains 

 rattling about them, but not at other parts of the harness. 

 Some will permit one person to ride them, but decidedly 

 object to two, and will kick violently if two attempt to 

 mount them. The most dangerous of all kicking is that 

 done in harness. Says Youatt,- *' From the least annoyance 

 ^bout the rump or quarters, some horses will kick at a most 

 violent rate, and destroy the bottom of the chaise and en- 

 danger the limbs of the driver. Those that are fidgety in 

 the stable are most apt to do this. If the reins should per- 

 chance get under his tail, the violence of the kicker is most 

 outrageous ; and while the animal presses down his tail so 

 tightly that it is almost impossible to extricate the reins, he 

 continues to plunge until he has demolished every thing be- 

 hind him." 



It is not only imprudent to keep a horse addicted to such 

 practices as above described, but it is criminal. It amounts 

 to a species of insanity. 



The best remedy for kicking is to tie a small, hard rope 

 to the hair of the tail; pass the rope along the belly and 

 between the legs, and fasten it very tightly to the collar, or 

 to another rope tied round the neck. When the animal thus 



