VICES PROPERLY SO CALLED. 869 



being fed from nose-bags instead of from a manger. We are not of 

 this opinion. Often have we taken note of the time required by 

 cribbers to consume their ration. When they have an ordinary appe- 

 tite it takes them about fourteen minutes to eat two litres of oats ; if 

 they drop a certain quantity of the feed, they will afterwards pick it 

 up again from the ground. The loss of time and food is insignificant. 



CHAPTER II. 



VICES PROPERLY SO CALLED. 



UNDER the above heading we class those serious moral defects which 

 indicate an indocile, stubborn, or irritable nature, a bad education, an 

 ungovernable temperament, an inclination to be aggressive, or to resist, 

 vices which, in a word, render the animal dangerous or almost useless. 



Generally, horses which have these imperfections are called vicious ; 

 they are further designated in various ways, according to the vice with 

 which they are affected. Thus, the balky horse is one which disobeys 

 the command of his driver or refuses to go in the desired direction ; 

 the biter, one which attacks or defends himself with his teeth; the 

 kicker, one which uses his hind-feet under similar circumstances ; the 

 rearing horse, one which raises the fore part of the body to strike or 

 to dismount his rider ; the shyer, one which is easily frightened by 

 accidental things or circumstances for which he cannot account. 



Sometimes vicious horses are qualified as wicked, and at other times 

 as stubborn. There are some, however, for which specific names would 

 be impossible. We will rapidly pass them in review. 



1. EXTERNAL MANIFESTATIONS PROPER TO EACH VICE. 



1st. Balky Horses. The balky horse, as already said, refuses to 

 obey his rider or his driver. 



Balkiness, one of the most common equine vices, is as frequently 

 found in the saddle-horse as in the driving-horse. Sometimes the 

 animal obstinately goes in a direction different from that in which he 

 is desired to go ; sometimes he refuses to go along certain roads, to pass 

 by certain objects or certain houses ; in other cases, he stops, notwith- 

 standing the most energetic efforts of the rider or driver ; or he will 

 insist on going to the right, to the left, forward, backward, or will refuse 

 to advance, to turn, to back, to jump, etc. It is not from fear, but from 



