66 THE CARE OF HORSES 



he will be only too glad to proceed as Nature intended 

 him — that is, head first. 



We have heard also that it often has the desired 

 effect to put a small stone under the horse's tongue, 

 which, if our theory is correct, would be quite as likely 

 to give a new direction to the horse's thoughts as 

 anything else. We also read lately of a cabman in 

 London who, when his horse threatened to stop the 

 traffic, quietly got off his box and took a handful of 

 chaff from the nosebag and offered it to the horse, 

 who cheerfully accepted it, and, when the cabby 

 remounted his box, contentedly started again. Surely 

 a better method than flogging horses for half an 

 hour. 



If a horse or pony suddenly takes to jibbing, turn 

 a sharp eye to his shoulders, and in nine cases out 

 of ten you will find that tenderness or pain alone 

 prevents him readily going up to the collar as usual. 

 Then don't neglect to give the faithful, willing animal 

 due attention and care, and have the collar properly 

 seen to. 



Shying 



This is sometimes caused by defective eyesight, 

 sometimes by absolute fear of any object seen, or by 

 a sound not understood, which holds great terror for 

 a high-strung, nervous horse. Or it may be only 

 pure gladness of heart and fulness of joy to be up 

 and doing, just harmlessly meant playfulness, or 

 what I call ' seeing bogies in every corner and two 

 in every gateway.' 



Never whip a horse for shying, it only increases 

 his nervousness and fright, and when once past the 

 dreaded object he is very likely to bolt. Horses 

 always show signs of what is about to happen, 

 though those who are using them may fail to interpret 

 the signs, and thus be somewhat unprepared. A 



