VI] 



DRIVING AND HARNESS 



73 



endanger the horse's tail at all. {See Chapter 

 XIII.) 



With shafts, the traces and breeching must 

 be arranged so as to keep the points of the shafts 

 about opposite the hames. 



284. Harness Injuries. — Apart from collar 

 galls, girth galls, back and croup sores may 

 result from harness not being properly cared 

 for, the horse being improperly groomed, or the 

 harness fitting badly. Lumps and bad stitching 

 may cause trouble. The girth, if too far for- 

 ward, may cause a gall. Croup sores are caused 

 from the hip straps being too tight, or from the 

 under surface of the crupper-boss being rough. 

 A sore may result from a badly fitting saddle- 

 pad, which must be kept well off the withers 

 and fit in the same way as a riding-saddle. 

 {See Chapter VII.) Injury will result if there is 

 lateral motion to the saddle-pad. 



285. Breast Cloths. — As horses, in cold 

 countries, are liable to perspire freely over the 

 chest, and very liable to chill on standing 

 still, breast cloths are used a great deal, with 

 good result. The breath of the horse, while at 

 work, condenses on the cold shoulders and chest, 

 and very soon covers these parts with moisture, 

 which evaporates and chills the chest so much 

 that pneumonia has often resulted. The use of 

 breast cloths in these cases will prevent the above 

 trouble. These cloths are padded, and hang 

 from the lower portion of the collar, and are 

 sufficiently large to cover the whole chest. 



286. Bridles {see P. 63-72).— Driving bridles 

 are of various types. The headstall, which 

 passes from the bit, over the head, and down 

 to the bit on the other side, should be parallel 

 to and behind the cheek-bone (P. 42c). The 

 nose-band, if used, should be the breadth of two 

 fingers behind the cheek-bone, and should admit 

 two fingers between it and the nose. It should 

 be sufficiently rigid to keep it from hanging 

 down over the horse's nose and possibly affect- 

 ing his breathing. 



The throatlash should admit, at least, three 

 fingers between it and the horse's throat, and 

 should really be only tight enough to keep the 

 bridle on the horse. Great ignorance is dis- 

 played by grooms buckling up this strap too 

 tightly. Serious injury to the larynx may 

 result. 



The brow-band should be long enough so as 

 not to interfere with the horse's ears when laid 

 back, but not so loose as to allow the head- 

 stall to slip back. White buckskin brow-bands 

 (P. i32e-h) look very nice, and can be kept soft 

 very easily. 



The bit must be placed across the bars of 

 the mouth so as to be approximately two inches 

 above the corner tooth (incisor) of a mare and 

 one inch above the tusk of a horse. So much 

 depends on the shape of the mouth and the dis- 

 position of the horse that no fixed rule can be 



K 



laid down. A bridoon or snaffle-bit {see P. 72a) 

 should be placed so as just to touch the corners 

 of the mouth without wrinkling them. 



The curb chain should be twisted up quite 

 flat by a right-hand twist, and should lie flat in 

 the chin groove under the jaw. The end link 

 is hooked up, and then another link, making 

 the curb of such a tightness that it will allow 

 two fingers' breadth to pass between it and the 

 horse's jaw. 



All straps, etc., are made to do up, if possible, 

 from the near, or left, side of the horse. A 

 horse is always saddled, harnessed and bridled 

 from the near side. 



The best way to ensure that the curb chain 

 is properly adjusted is as follows : After it has 

 been wound up with a right-hand twist, and 

 the first link hooked on the near side of the bit, 

 let us suppose we find that the fourth link is 

 the correct one to use to tighten the chain 

 sufficiently, then the fourth link should be 

 twisted up a half-turn farther and hooked on. 



287. Blinkers. — The subject of blinkers, or 

 blinders, has been much discussed, some saying 

 that they are cruel. If they are in good order 

 and fit properly, they can scarcely be called 

 cruel, but one commonly sees them rubbing 

 against the horse's eye or swinging from side 

 to side, striking the eye at every step. Blinkers, 

 if worn, must be kept at least one inch from 

 any part of the horse's eye. Some horses have 

 shades over their eyes to keep the bright light 

 out ; these must not be within about one inch 

 of the eyes. Many horses have had their eyes 

 seriously damaged by blinkers fitting too closely, 

 or by their striking the eye through not being 

 properly fastened to the headstall. Most horses 

 behave better in blinkers, because they have 

 always been used to them. If horses were 

 trained without them from the first, there would 

 be only a very few that would not be better 

 without them. {See P. 36/, g.) The blinker 

 shown on P. 36rf, as employed for private use, is 

 kept right away from the eye, allowing the 

 horse to have a full front view, being intended 

 merely to prevent the horse seeing the wheels 

 behind. I have driven scores of horses without 

 blinkers that have been used to them, and have 

 never found one that did not go perfectly well 

 after a few days. Like other things concerning 

 horses, the hackneyed argument, " It always has 

 been done," is responsible for most of the 

 blinkers we see to-day. 



Horse trainers should teach their young 

 horses to go without them, and allow them to 

 see what is behind them. Many horses are 

 frightened because they cannot see what is 

 coming up from behind. A horse that is 

 frightened, as described in Chapter III., must 

 be able to see the object that causes the fear. 

 Railway companies have wisely abandoned 

 blinkers, because their horses, when unable to 



