200 



The Book of the Horse. 



go double, some will only go single, and some will never go safely in harness at all. A 

 harness-horse should stand stock still, and yet be always ready to trot and trot on the driver 

 saying " Come along," and gently pulling at the bit, without ever requiring the whip. The 

 slug is even more dangerous in the streets than the hard puller. As a rule, horses regularly 

 worked in town become quiet, probably from being occupied by a multiplicity of sights and 

 sounds. 



Those to whom horses are a necessity, and economy is an object, may purchase good- 

 looking, useful animals, with unimportant defects, at a reduced price at the end of the London 

 season. 



Amongst the defects to which fast-trotting horses, and particularly young harness-horses, 

 are subject, are cutting and brushing. 



Brushing is striking one ankle against the other; cutting is striking the foot or shoe 

 against the other leg. A horse that cuts or brushes with the fore-legs is a very dangerous 

 animal under saddle. Almost all green horses, fresh from grass or recently broken, cut or 

 brush with their hind-legs when put first in harness. 



QUARTERMAINE S STRAP. 



lII.ND-I.Efi BOOT. 



The first step with horses which are from any cause weak is to protect the part wounded, 

 and the ne.xt to get them into hard condition. The defect will often entirely disappear with 

 age and condition. 



In breaking colts into harness there is no better precaution than the Yorkshire boot, a 

 piece of thick woollen cloth tied with a string so as to fall double round the fetlocks. But 

 if a horse cuts or brushes, it is better to resort to a proper boot or other protection before 

 a raw is regularly established and a permanent blemish created. Boots are sold of leather 

 and of india-rubber, fastened with one or more buckles. This contrivance has often a mis- 

 chievous effect. The buckle is drawn tighter and tighter to prevent the boot from turning, 

 thus first inflammation and then an enlargement is created. The best boot for a fore-leg to 

 guard against cutting is made of leather lined with cloth, laced, not buckled, outside the leg. 



A very good boot for the fetlock-joint of the hind-legs is made of leather in the shape of 

 a pear split open, united at the back and buckled at the front of the fetlock. From its exact 

 fit, this boot is not likely to turn from the stroke of the opposite leg, or to require tight 

 buckling. (See woodcut No. i.) 



For guarding against a particular way of cutting common to fast trotters, a very good con- 

 trivance was invented by the late Mr. Ouartcrmainc, the Piccadilly dealer, for a famous fast 

 harness-trotter. It consisted of a a strap padded to the thickness of a forefinger, and buckled 

 between hair and hoof of the hind-leg. (See woodcut No. 2.) There is an objection to horse 



