64 THE CARE OF HORSES 



impossible to dislodge it ; thus the French expression for 

 a runaway horse is un cheval, le mors au dent. He does 

 this by in some way curling his tongue back, which can be 

 thus prevented : after he is bridled, place a narrow strap 

 (barely \ inch wide) over his tongue, pass it under his 

 chin and through a ring in the curb chain, and buckle it. 

 It must ?wt be buckled tightly or the horse will object, 

 and with reason, as it would cause him pain ; it is also 

 quite unnecessary, the strap thus placed being sufficient to 

 prevent the free action of his tongue, and rendering it quite 

 impossible for him to take the bit between his teeth, try as 

 he may.' 



Truly this is a very simple remedy for such a great 

 danger. 



Jibbing 



This is a very tiresome trait in any animal, and 

 makes the rider or driver/^/ as foolish as his animal 

 looks. It, too, is often engendered by the horse being 

 badly handled at the outset. Whatever may be the 

 cause you can, at any rate, avoid doing what I have 

 seen many a driver of jibbers do — go to the horse's 

 head and commence thrashing it about the head. 

 By such means you will only make bad worse. If 

 a horse won't move on when he feels heavy blows 

 from a whip falling on his quarters, he certainly 

 won't advance to meet punishment showered on 

 his head. 



Many different remedies have been tried and found 

 to answer in some cases which wholly fail in others 

 in a way which seems mysterious, but which, I think, 

 is capable of explanation. The first thing to notice in 

 this complaint — for it is a complaint much more than 

 a vice — is that it is an affection of the mind. The 

 horse's behaviour is quite foolish and unaccountable. 

 He is, in fact, not answerable for his actions. He is 



