CHECKING AND BLINDERS. 11 



at all to the use of the check upon gentle horses in their driv- 

 ing. 



Even those most humane in intentions and feelings are liable 

 almost daily to subject the most gentle horses to this very seri- 

 ous cause of discomfort and pain. To illustrate somewhat the 

 extent of this, I will refer to two cases coming to my notice in 

 one evening, just previous to writing this paper. A banker, 

 who had a promising three-year-old trotting colt, which he 

 purchased for his own driving, having him hitched up one day, 



Fig, 331. — Discomfort, 



invited me to ride. The colt's head was checked so extremely 

 high as to make it unpleasant for me to witness the pain and 

 discomfort of the horse in trying to relieve himself from the re- 

 straint. Fig. 303 is a good illustration. I took particular 

 pains to explain to the gentleman that this was not only entirely 

 unnecessary, but a cause of real cruelty, and that I was confi- 

 dent he would not intentionally subject his colt to such need- 

 less pain and discomfort, when brought to his notice. He, like 

 thousands of others, had scarcely an idea what the check was 

 for. He ** liked to see the head kept high, as it made the colt 

 appear better;" "it was the method of hitching up trotting 



