98 THE FAMILY HORSE. 



horse, must be impressed with the great strain upon these nerves 

 and muscles required by nature, even when their normal liberty or 

 freedom are undisturbed or perturbed by artificial devices. That 

 over-checking is often the initial cause of inflammation of the 

 muscles and even the brain there is little doubt. If this be true, can 

 it be doubted that this habit of tight over-checking (or tight reining) 

 as practiced by many persons, often contributes to the virulence of 

 spinal meningitis, neuralgia, rheumatism, thumps, apoplexy and 

 paralysis, etc." 



Harsh bits are not only cruel, but unwise ; though they may 

 be very effective at first, they ultimately make the mouth hard and 

 callous. Frosty iron bits inflict torture and permanent injury, and 

 no one but a brutally careless person would ever thrust them into a 



JFig. 60.— ENGLISH COLLAR HARNESS. 



horse's mouth. There are now in market several patterns of bits 

 covered with leather or India-rubber, which are better, at least in 

 cold weather, than metallic bits of any kind. 



Every part of the harness must fit snugly, but with ease and 

 comfort. This point is often overlooked in changing a harness from 

 one horse to another. For general family purposes and heavy work 

 of all kinds, the English collar and hames, illustrated in figure 

 60, are the best. This distributes the draught equally over the 

 shoulders and breast. The collar should conform to the horse not 

 only in size, but in shape. A collar which is too loose chafes, and 

 undue pressure at any point galls the shoulders. There should be 

 space inside the lower end of the collar to admit the fingers between 

 it and the windpipe. All parts of the collar that press upon the 

 shoulders must be kept clean and flexible, and not allowed to be- 

 come encrusted with perspiration and dirt. Galled shoulders are 

 very prevalent with horses performing heavy work. The liability 



