CHAPTER VIII. 



KICKING. 



CRACKED HEELS AND MUD FEYER. 



This vice is too often caused by horses being 

 teased, tickled and pinched by grooms from 

 wanton mischief or thoughtless folly. The 

 habit soon becomes habitual, and what was first 

 begun in play is exercised in anger, and often, 

 too, when least expected, and becomes in short 

 an incurable and dangerous vice. Horses with 

 irritable tempers will take to kicking the stall, 

 and this generally at night, much to the annoy- 

 ance of the groom and discomfort of the other 

 horses in the stable. To prevent this nuisance, 

 chains and a log attached are often strapped on 

 to the fetlock; but this is open to objection, as 

 the log sometimes injures the leg, leaving a thick 

 leg for your pains. Some few years ago a wooden 

 log made to fit into the heel was brought out, 

 but this is apt to chafe the heel and make it sore ; 

 this defect is now remedied by a new patent 

 of Mr. Martingale. He has substituted soft India 

 rubber and gutta percha for wood and iron, so 

 while rendering the log as useful as the wooden 

 one, there is not that danger of laming the horse. 

 Yet no matter what we may do, when a horse 

 takes to kicking you can never trust him, espe- 

 cially in harness, and the sooner he is shot the 

 better. 



