86 



Centaue ; 



JIBBING. 



" Good words are better than bad strokes.** 



^^HAKESPilAIlE says— "We cannot all 

 be masters ;"-T- therefore if it should 

 happen, as it sometimes does, partic- 

 ularly with strange horses, that the 

 animal be undoubtedly master of the 

 position for the time, and will not go 

 forward, brute force should never be 

 resorted to by the driver ; it not only 

 being, as a rule, labour in vain, but serious 

 risks are involved, particularly in streets 

 and crowded thoroughfares, as the horse 

 is very apt to rear and plunge, and 

 sometimes to suddenly bolt, after backing through shop 

 fronts and overturning the occupants of the vehicle. On a 

 horse becoming stupid in the shafts, the holder of the ribands, 

 if an amateur, should first ask himself the question — Is it 

 my bad driving ? A new purchase that had previously been 

 handled with a light hand, kindly spoken to, and con- 

 siderately driven, is particularly sensitive to the jerking and 

 bustling of an inexperienced whip — 



** Bold Erechouius was the first who joim-d 

 Four horses for the rapid race design'd, 

 And o'er the dusty wheels presiding sat. 

 The Lapilhse to chariots add the state 

 Of bits and bridles ; taught the steeds to bound. 

 To run the ring, and trace the airy ground, 

 To stop, to fly, the rules of war to know. 

 T' obey the rider, and to dare the foe." 



On being satisfied that the sudden obstinacy of the horse 

 is from no fault of the driver, the harness should be carefully 

 examined, it very frequently being the case that the collar 

 will prove too short, or the traces twisted, and, like the 

 curb, too tight, or a breechband is required, or may be dis- 

 pensed with altogether, according to the vehicle in use ; the 

 whole bearing of the harness and load should be carefully 

 noted, and if found satisfactory, the horse is either a jibber, 

 or is not as yet familiar with the strange hnndlin^ above 



