78 Centaur ; 



which prompts the writing of this book, viz. : to save the 

 horse-owners and horse alike, to obviate risk, and to econo- 

 mise time and money. 



The one requisite of the '*Turn Ouf which often suffers 

 most in small stables is the whip. When done with for the 

 moment, it i.s allowed to stop where it falls, and to lie about 

 until it may be required again, at which time it cannot be 

 found, an outsider having borrowed it to flog the fowls or 

 the dog. This means a new thong and probably a new handle 

 and caps, which altogether unbuilds and for ever ruins a whip 

 of value ; some coachmen prize their holtystick, and in such 

 hands it will last for years. The rule is that the whip should 

 never be thrown or placed in the corner, but hung up by the 

 thick part of the thong upon a wooden block or spring fixed 

 in the harness room ; after which the vehicle must be looked 

 to and put under cover. 



During a conversation respecting the harnessing and 

 unharnessing of horses, a friend of the Author's once com- 

 plained to him of the extreme restiveness of his animal in 

 the stable, when fitting: for the road, after a journey, and in 

 grooming; so much so, to use his own words, that it became 

 positively unsafe and dangerous to approach the animal in 

 the stable with any part of the harness or tools, the horse 

 seeming to get every day " worse and worse." The writer, on 

 visiting the stable, perceived that the moment the owner 

 approached his horse to take the head collar off it began to 

 tremble from head to croup, and literally danced about the 

 stable at the merest touch, ultimately becoming actually savage, 

 biting and kicking at the same time. The Author watched the 

 business quietly through, and decided in his own mind that 

 the blame rested entirely with the man, and not with the horse, 

 the fact being that the owner commenced with, and kept up, 

 one continued system of shoutings at the terrified and 

 nervous-tempered animal — (which incessant and excitable 

 bawlings were mixed with anything but poetic language) — 

 together with numerous gestures, as though it were his (the 

 owner's) momentary intention to suit the action to the word 

 with the aid of the nearest stable implement, causing the 

 poor animal to fly from side to side of the stable in a most 

 frantic manner. The time consumed in this most disgraceful 

 and ridiculous performance was over thirty minutes ere the 

 horse was between the shafts and ready for the road. 



In answer to the owner's query — " What's my remedy?" 

 ** I've made up my mind to sell the brute," and several other 



