858 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



CHAPTER I. 



WHIMS AND VICIOUS HABITS. 



WE designate as whims, bad or vicious habits, a certain number 

 of acts, resulting in most instances from idleness, which the horse free 

 from restraint incessantly repeats, without any other motive, in reality, 

 than the gratification of desires which at length become imperative, but 

 which always more or less interfere with his complete utilization. The 

 subjects of these whims may be classified as follows : 



1st. Horses which loll the tongue, double it up, or continually pro- 

 trude it from the mouth. 



2d. Horses which strike the lower lip against the upper. 



3d. Horses which rub the lower extremity of the head against the 

 manger, or the tail against surrounding objects. 



4th. Horses which shake the head up and down or jerk the reins. 



5th. Horses which grasp the branches of the bit with the lower lip. 



6th. Horses which tear their blankets with the teeth. 



7th. Horses which rest one hind-foot upon the other. 



8th. Horses which lie down cow-fashion. 



9th. Horses which strip their halters. 



10th. Horses which roll as soon as they are harnessed, or upon 

 entering the stable after working. 



llth. Horses which trot in the stable. 



12th. Horses which paw in the stable. 



13th. Horses which weave like a bear. 



14th. Horses which eat earth. 



15th. Horses which crib or suck wind. 



We pass over divers other vices of too little importance to deserve 

 mention here. They consist most frequently of a kind of sudden, 

 convulsive, and involuntary movement of certain regions, which the 

 animal has inadvertently contracted by degrees, and which has no 

 other effect than that of rendering him ungraceful. Ordinarily, this 

 contraction has its seat in the face, in some of the nasal muscles, the 

 lips, the cheeks, or the eyelids. At other times it takes place in one or 

 other of the muscles of the head ; the latter then shakes by slight jerks, 

 more or less marked and more or less frequently repeated according 

 to circumstances. Finally, there are cases in which the same phe- 

 nomenon is observed in the muscles of the neck, which determines 



