Stable Vices. 83 



easy to do it, as the horse invariably jibs in the most awk- 

 ward and dangerous places in which to fight him. In har- 

 ness the jibber will not start, he runs back, and if whipped 

 or punished, will plunge and throw himself down. Such 

 animals are quite unfitted for private use. 



Shying. This bad habit may arise from timidity, defec- 

 tive eyesight, or bad temper. If from timidity, it can only 

 be overcome by gentle usage and allowing the horse to 

 pass the object without taking any notice of his fear be- 

 yond patting and encouraging him ; to chastise him is 

 worse than useless and senseless. If it arise from defec- 

 tive vision, it will be incurable, as it will be impossible 

 for the animal to see objects otherwise than through a 

 distorted medium. If it arise from vice, which is fre- 

 quently the case, the horse must be made firmly but tem- 

 perately to pass the object at which he shies ; having 

 passed it, continue the ride ; do not return and pass it 

 again and again, as that only irritates him ; and when he 

 finds he is mastered, he will daily improve. 



Most of the above defects and vicious habits, if not 

 absolutely caused by bad and injudicious treatment and 

 breaking, are often increased by it ; nor is this to be won- 

 dered at, when we consider the class of men who are ge- 

 nerally employed to break young horses, their roughness, 

 ignorance, and often drunkenness. They break them all 

 in the same way without any reference to their different 

 and peculiar tempers and dispositions, whereas a little 

 care and thought would check and frequently prevent 

 faults and defects, which, in some cases, become incur- 

 able and highly dangerous, and render the horse compa- 

 ratively unsaleable. 



There are many other minor faults, too numerous to 

 mention here, most of which are capable of cure, or, at 

 any rate, of great amelioration, in the hands of a good 

 horseman, but the less experienced will do well to pur- 

 chase only such horses as are steady and suitable for their 

 work. 



