86 THE HORSE. 



termination and a steady hand: so that, when the horse 

 has contracted no permanent habit, but shies only while 

 he is ridden in a nervous manner, as the fault is not in 

 the horse, but in the master, the act of so shying does 

 not constitute a VICE. 



Vice does not always render the animal returnable to 

 the vendor. If, through nervousness or any fault in 

 management, you induce the horse to shy, you must not, 

 on that account, attribute any blame to him; and, in 

 order to enable you to succeed in effecting a return of 

 the animal, you must be in a position to prove that he 

 was, under proper management, addicted to shying pre- 

 vious to your purchasing him. Facilis decensus averni I 

 Bad habits are far easier to inculcate or to acquire than 

 good ones. 



It is easy to sell or to buy a horse, be he good or bad, 

 but impossible to furnish, or acquire suddenly, the art 

 of managing him properly. 



The above remarks as to the ease with which a horse 

 contracts a habit of shying apply with equal force to all 

 other habits which may be induced in him, either 

 inside or outside the stable; such as biting, kicking, 

 plunging, jibbing, savaging, etc. 



SKITTISHNESS. 



Horses that are highly fed, and at the same time un- 

 derworked, frequently acquire a way of spasmodic start- 

 ing and playfulness, and are then called skittish; such 

 horses being, by the uninitiated, not uncommonly called 

 shiers. As the skittishness goes off on the horse being put 

 to serious and hard work, it is not to be deemed a VICE. 



MEDICINE. 



A dose of medicine given to a horse, even though he 

 require it, may make him unsound, until the physic has 



