THE STABLE 5 



But against these advantages there are some 

 drawbacks to be placed. Not infrequently a 

 horse in a stall will get his leg over the tying up 

 chain or rope, and I have known some nasty 

 accidents happen from this. Then horses will 

 occasionally hang with all their weight on the head 

 collar, hanging back in the stall as far as they 

 can get. It is a trick which some horses speedily 

 acquire and it is a dangerous one ; for the next 

 trick to be acquired is one of '' lashing out '' 

 either at a horse in the neighbouring stall or at 

 some innocent passer-by. And it may be pointed 

 out that it is not a matter of interest to the un- 

 fortunate man who has horse lamed or who is 

 lamed himself, whether the horse kicks viciously 

 or his kicking is only '' a little harmless play.'' 

 The effect is the same. 



A horse develops more tricks when tied up 

 in a stall than he does when in a box and the 

 reason for this is at once apparent. He is kept 

 constantly in a more or less constrained and there- 

 fore unnatural position. If racked up, as is the 

 custom in many stables till evening stables, you 

 will see if you watch him closely that he is con- 

 stantly shifting his weight from one foot to the 

 other, and if you were to try standing in the same 

 position yourself you would soon find out why. 

 Then the tying up chain or rope is a source of 

 constant irritation to him and especially is it un- 

 comfortable when he is lying down. It also 

 teaches him to crib, and though it would be going 

 too far to say that horses do not learn to crib in 



