76 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



BLIND BRIDLES. 



" Look and reflect; use your own intellect." 



" Yes, use your thinking powers, friends ; they were 

 given you to use, and not abuse. Blind bridles! truly 

 named, surely. Art never invented a more fatal thing to 

 the eyes of horses than when she devised this plan of de- 

 priving the horse of what nature intended he should enjoy. 

 But, says one, how are blinders injurious to the horse ? 

 Because they gather dirt and heat around the eyes 

 Dirt irritates the eye, and heat produces inflammation. 

 These bridles so entrammel the eyes of the horse that he 

 is compelled to be constantly straining them, to see his 

 way. The overexertion of the nerve brings on disease. 

 Eyes were not made in vain. Had they been needless, 

 the Creator would not have located them in the head. 

 They were placed on the corner of the head that he might 

 have the advantage of looking in different directions. 

 Men, in the abundance of their wisdom, concluded the 

 horse had too much sight, and they wished to curtail it ; 

 hence the origin of bhnd bridles. Think of this seriously, 

 and you will abandon the use of so destructive an ap- 

 pendage. Remember, that blind bridles and diseased 

 eyes are inseparably connected. Custom hoodwinks the 

 senses of men as much as blind bridles do the vision of 

 horses." — [J. Maddock, Farrier.] 



We once had a young horse that was so frightened on 

 removing the blind bridle to bait him, which suddenly 

 brought the chaise to his sight, that he was restrained 

 with great difficulty, and would have cleared with the 

 carriage, had he not been pent up by the fence. "We 

 never used the blinders again, but made him familiar 

 with carriages before harnessing him. 



Without blinders, horses can see objects as they ap- 

 proach them behind ; but when blinded, the object comes 

 close and suddenly upon them, and often occasions af- 

 fright. 



