874 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



made very slanting in front ; it then becomes impossible for him to 

 raise his forearms very high without striking his knees against the 

 bottom of the manger. 



7th. Horses which back. — The importance of this vice has 

 been recognized for a long time past, for Gabriel Meunier/ in the midst 

 of an enumeration of very different matters, exclaims, " Du cheval 

 qui recule. . . . Libera nos, Domine .'" 



Although more difficult than ordinary progression, backing is an 

 act which every horse properly dressed should be able to perform when 

 required. There are some, however, which back without any apparent 

 motive ; others do it as soon as they are touched with the whip, or 

 when they are in the hands of unskilful drivers or inexperienced 

 riders. A similar result is produced when the animal inclining his 

 head to one side, iia the endeavor to rid himself of flies, for example, 

 hooks the inferior cross-bar, which unites the two branches of the bit, 

 against the end of one of the shafts. We have also seen it occur in 

 cases of turning a four-wheeled carriage by holding the horse by the 

 bridle, when the lines have remained attached to the dasher ; finally, it 

 is often the consequence of fear or of pain occasioned to the bars by brutal 

 tractions upon the reins. 



Whatever the cause which produces it, horses having this habit are 

 always very dangerous, especially in large cities, where they may back 

 through shop- windows, knock against other vehicles, injure the passers- 

 by, etc. Outside of good training and careful driving we know of no 

 practical means to remedy this evil. It is important, then, at the time 

 of purchasing an animal, to ascertain that he is free from the habit. 



8th. Kickers. — " A cheval rueur d'avant passe," says a proverb 

 of the sixteenth («ntury,^ which may be translated, " With a kicking 

 horse, pass in front." 



This vice consists in kicking as a means of attack or of defence. 

 All horses, however, do not kick in the same manner. Some kick at 

 the riding-boot, when they endeavor to strike, with one of their pos- 

 terior members, the leg of the rider as he is about to mount. Others 

 kick cow-fashion, give a kick like a cow, forcibly projecting one hind- 

 foot forward and outward, like a cow, to reach a person standing near 

 their corresponding anterior member. Again, there are some which 

 kick backward with only a single posterior member. But generally it 



1 Gabriel Meuuier, Tr6sor des sentences, sixteenth century. 2 Mimes de Baif. 



