CHECKING AND BLINDERS. 



25 



that they will not interfere sidewise or forward, or in any way 

 injure or touch the eye. They should merely prevent him 

 from looking back. 



Secondly, a horse which has an ugly looking head, or a seri- 

 ous defect in an eye, or has suffered the loss of an eye, will 

 be improved by the use of skillfully applied blinders, v/hich 

 will serve to conceal the defects, and which, as before explained, 

 was the cause of their introduction. 



Thirdly, if the horse is but imperfectly trained, and not ac- 

 customed when hitched to 

 a top carriage to see it, 

 the careful covering of the 

 eyes with blinders will 

 enable driving of the horse 

 with comparative safety 

 so long as the blinds are 

 kept so. 



The Frequent Cause of 

 Accidents- — But let me 

 here call attention to a 

 very frequent and serious 

 cause of accidents, which 

 is not understood, and 

 which is frequently a cause 

 of much mystery. The 

 horse has been driven 



Fig. 341. — The corners of the blinds dangling 

 against the eyes. 



perhaps months or years to a top carriage with success. 

 Unexpectedly one of the blinds becomes misplaced or loose, 

 or the bridle becomes changed for one the blinders of which 

 cover the eyes but imperfectly, or perhaps in changing har- 

 nesses the bridle proved too short, and in letting out the 

 cheek pieces the blinders were brought too low for the eyes ; 

 in any event, the horse is, in a chance way, as he throws up 

 his head, enabled to see the top, and the consequence is a 

 most dangerous kicking runaway scrape. What is supposed 

 to be a gentle horse, without any cause has become suddenly 

 excited and unmanageable, and the result is a serious acci- 

 dent, that both destroys the character of the horse and results 

 in serious injury and loss. These accidents are of almost daily 

 occurrence in every r^eighborhood. 



c 



