EVILS OF MODERN STABLES. 



221 



lumber may be stored; while grooms are regarded as odd men, always 

 ready to be engaged upon any passing necessity. The stable attend- 

 ant is seldom upon the locker ; and the one animal, kept for fashionable 

 purposes, is commonly left much to its own society. The creature, thus 

 housed, does not generally get its meals with regularity. Many hours 

 are made longer, endeavoring to discover the pastime which shall lighten 

 the tedium of its confinement. A melancholy game with such quad- 

 rupeds consists in an endeavor to hit the collar-rope with the hoof of the 

 fore extremity. 



This recreation, to the reader doubtless appears easy ; but to the horse 

 it presents difficulties sufficiently numerous to keep up excitement. The 

 rope is a small object ; it is situated high up ; it occupies a central situa- 

 tion. The sinker to which it is attached keeps it always straight, and 

 prevents it from being lowered. The cord, moreover, being fastened to 

 the head of the quadruped, moves with every motion of the body ; the 

 neck cannot be held stationary when the limb is raised to any unusual 

 height. The game may endure for months, without the animal being 

 so unfortunate as to succeed. At length the hoof hits the mark and 

 becomes fixed. The horse instinctively pulls against any restraint. The 

 tether is thereby rendered tense, and the pain of the situation becomes 

 extreme. At last, by a violent eflfort, the foot passes over the bond, 

 and the poor captive is fixed, until the groom enters the building and 

 removes the sinker. 



A FORELEG OVER THE COLLAR-ROPE. 



The lightest consequence must be, the hair abraded from the back of 

 the limb, the skin- lacerated, and the muscles of the neck sprained by the 

 efforts to escape from constriction. Lameness, of some duration, is the 



