VICES AND BAD HABITS. 827 



reward him by caresses, soothing words, or a lock of hay. 

 This wins for you his gratitude and affection, and with a 

 little pains, he will readily follow you and obey your call. 



VICES AND BAD HABITS. 



Bearing. — This is a vice which is not very common, at 

 least in a dangerous form. It can generally be prevented 

 by the use of the martingale. 



Another good preventive, in the case of saddle-horses, 

 is, when the horse is about to rise, to touch him with the 

 spur, on one side only ; this will cause him to stop to lift 

 the hind leg on that side, and if he persists in his attempt 

 the spurs may be used vigorously, first on one side, and 

 then on the other, but not so fast as to prevent the horse 

 from raising his hind legs alternately, as he is spurred. 

 The least touch of the curb bit will cause some vicious and 

 badly trained horses to rear, while those which have been 

 thoroughly trained, as by the system of Baucher, will rear 

 slightly, to a great height, or not at all, as their rider may 

 desire ; but it is obvious that horses so delicately trained 

 should not be ridden by unskilful persons, lest the awk- 

 wardness of the rider should cause unexpected curveting. 



Kicking. — It is impossible for a horse to kick, while 

 one of his fore legs is strapped up, as we have described ; 

 and if a horse has the habit of kicking in harness, he 

 may be driven a few times with only three legs to walk 

 on. -We may, after that, have a strap, long enough to 

 reach to the hand when in the wagon, fastened around 

 the pastern of the near side fore leg, and passing through 

 a ring in the harness. We now drive the horse slowly^ 

 and, at the first laying back of the ears, jerk up the foot, 

 and leave him powerless to kick. In this manner this 

 worst of all vices, in harness horses, may be effectually and 

 permanently cured. 



