872 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



strike each foot with a hammer, in order to make sure that he lets him- 

 self be shod without difficulty. The neglect of this precaution may 

 result in very serious consequences ; for animals which are difficult to 

 shoe are always a great inconvenience to their owners, and too often 

 the cause of accidents to blacksmiths and other persons. When the 

 horse is merely lazy, the inconvenience is comparatively trifling ; he gets 

 himself carried, as the saying is, and the farrier can relieve himself of 

 a portion of the weight by means of a rope fastened to the pastern and 

 passed around the thorax. But when the animal absolutely refuses to 

 allow his feet to be manipulated, his shoeing becomes difficult and 

 dangerous. In fact, it is then necessary to place him in a stocks or travis, 

 and sometimes to throw him down upon a soft bed of straw, to succeed 

 in the attempt. We see, then, to what inconveniences one is subjected 

 at each successive shoeing of the horse. The risk of personal injuries, 

 and of wounds inflicted by the horse upon himself, and the dangers to 

 which one is exposed when it becomes necessary to employ violent 

 means, make it judicious to reject him, or, should the vice not have 

 been perceived at the time of purchase, to get rid of him. 



5th. Biters. We designate by this term horses which use their 

 teeth against persons who approach them, groom them, mount or lead 

 them, as well as those which use them as weapons of defence against 

 other animals. This vice is undoubtedly most common in stallions, 

 which often show around their lips, nostrils, sides, and upper border 

 of the neck, and the withers, evident traces of the struggles they have 

 had with their neighbors and rivals. In whatever direction they 

 gratify their vicious propensity, they all eventually become very dan- 

 gerous. Some have been seen to plunge ferociously upon their victim, 

 trample him underfoot, bruise him, and rend him, as if impelled by a 

 furious rage. As a rule, dealers do not hesitate to put them up for 

 sale, especially when the vice is not very marked. Hence purchasers 

 should leave no means untried to recognize them. They usually set 

 back their ears, pucker their nostrils, curl up their lips, stretch out 

 their heads, and show their teeth when any one passes within reach of 

 them. Sometimes, however, they appear very docile, accustomed as 

 they are to the grooms ; at other times their apparent gentleness is due 

 only to their being cowed down by the remembrance of past punish- 

 ments or their dread of future ones. As soon as they change masters 

 their vicious and aggressive nature quickly reasserts itself. It is then 

 important that the new owner should approach them himself, and caress 

 and stroke them gently, so as to avoid startling them. Such animals 



