298 Stable Vices and Whims 



common and sometimes develops into halter-break- 

 ing. The principal cause of the habit is that the 

 flooring in the stall is too high in front. The horse 

 cannot rest if his forefeet are elevated much higher 

 than the hind ones. There is another rather com- 

 mon cause that is often overlooked. It is the usual 

 practice in erecting stall-partitions to have them 

 much higher at the horse's head than at the rear. 

 Often the high part is not carried sufficiently to 

 the rear, and the horse hangs back in order to 

 get his head over the low part and play with the 

 horse in the adjoining stall. To overcome the habit, 

 level the floor and raise the partition. Then ar- 

 range a rope across the rear of the stall so that when 

 the horse backs the rope will come in contact with 

 the quarters, which will stimulate him to move 

 forward. If he has contracted the habit of pulling 

 on the halter, adapt any of the hitches suggested for 

 overcoming halter-pulling (p. 269). 



Difficult to lead into a doorway. — Some horses 

 are exceedingly difficult to lead into a box stall, 

 a doorway or other dark places. This habit is 

 caused perhaps by low doorways, in which the ani- 

 mal has had a few hard bumps on the top of his 

 head, which of course makes him rather timid about 

 entering any doorway. The simplest and most 

 efficient method of overcoming this habit is to 

 adapt one of the hitches suggested for teaching a 

 horse to lead (p. 51). Do not rush him through, but 



