STABLE VICE 139 



When you find a horse afflicted with a passion for 

 rubbing 3"ou should always be careful to discover the 

 cause of the itchiness before going any further. Some- 

 times, of course, the whole thing is only the outcome 

 of a mere bad habit. Frequently, on the other hand, 

 it arises from the presence of mange. Should the latter 

 be the case at any time, it will easily be distinguished, 

 for the disease will not take long in spreading to the 

 other parts of the body. 



Should the rubbing be due to disease, you will, of 

 course, treat it accordingly. But if it happens to be 

 an acquired habit, you will have at hand a few non- 

 medicinal remedies. One of the best methods of 

 dealing with it is to let the horse wear a tail-case 

 whilst in stable. Another, said to be equally effectual, 

 consists in binding the hair around the tail with 

 two or three pieces of twine. Each of these 

 methods has its own distinctive merits. This latter 

 plan is more thaji ordinarily useful in the case 

 of van and farm horses afflicted with the rubbing 

 iiabit. 



Porge Vice. — I am including forge vice among 

 the subjects dealt with in this chapter, not because it 



