506 



SADDLERY AND HARNESS. 



cause the moisture to evaporate, and if that end can be attained by a 

 brisk current of air in a shady place, such a situation is to be very much 

 preferred to any natural or to any artificial warmth. 



The collar should pass into its situation without requiring the force 

 which careless grooms seem to delight in exerting, or ignorant servants, 

 possibly, may regard as necessary to the proper fulfillment of their 

 duties. Any violence, when daily repeated, must eventually damage 

 the horse's appearance by removing hair from the prominences of the 

 head, and by causing the naturally placid countenance of the animal to 

 assume a worn or a ragged expression. The collar should be turned 

 when put over the face, the widest part of the opening being passed 

 over the ears. When the head is through, and before the article pro- 

 ceeds lower than the topmost portion of the neck, it should be righted, 

 or the pointed part should occupy the most elevated situation; after 

 which it is slid down upon the shoulder. 



The collar, when fitted to the neck, should sit firmly and closely. The 

 bearing should be equal and even, because the entire draught is from 

 the collar; in proportion as the bearing is accurately distributed, so the 

 weight will be easily propelled. Some people have endeavored to 

 render the collar more steady by attaching the traces to hames with 

 double eyes. The hames are the metal rods which repose upon the 



HAMES WITH SOVBUE ET>8. 



A BCROIOr-ETED HAME. 



collar; the eyes are circular spaces which permit the traces to be united 

 to the hames. Though double fastenings may occasion the force to seem 

 better distributed along these rods, the effect must operate rather upon 

 the spectator's mind than upon the substance it is meant to render 

 stationary. If a line is drawn from the point where the trace should 

 end, and equidistant from those places to which the two bands are 



