336 THE HORSE. 



GETTING THE CHEEK OF THE BIT INTO THE MOUTH. 



Some horses that are disposed to be mischievous try to do this, and 

 are very expert at it. They soon find what advantacre it gives them over 

 their driver, who by this manoeuvre loses ahnost all command. Harsh 

 treatment is here completely out of the question. All that can be done is, 

 by some mechanical contrivance, to render the thing difficult or impos- 

 sible, and this may be managed by fastening a round piece of leather on 

 the inside of the cheek of the bit. 



KICKING. 



This, a-s a vice, is another consequence of the culpable habit of grooms 

 and stable-boys of teasing the horse. That which is at first an^ indication 

 of annoyance at the pincliing and tickling of the groom, and without any 

 design to injure, gradually becomes the expression of anger, and the effort 

 at mischief. There is no cure for this vice ; and he cannot be justified who 

 keeps such a kicking horse in his stable. 



Some horses acquire a habit of kicking at the stall or the bail, and jDar- 

 ticularly at night, from mere irritability and fidgettiness. The neigh- 

 bouring horses are disturbed, and the kicker gets swelled hocks, or 

 some more serious injury. This is also a habit very difficult to correct 

 if suffi}red to become established. Mares are far more subject to it than 

 horses. 



Before the habit is inveterately established, a thorn bush or a piece of 

 furze fastened against the partition or post will sometimes effect a cure. 

 When the horse finds that he is pretty severely pricked he will not long 

 continue to punish himself. In confirmed cases it may be necessary to 

 have recourse to the log, but the legs are often not a little bruised by 

 it. A rather long and heavy piece of wood attached to a chain is buckled 

 above the hock, so as to reach about half way down the leg. When the 

 horse attempts to kick violently, his leg will receive a severe blow from 

 this, and the repetition of the blow will soon teach him to be quiet. 

 . A much more serious vice is kicking in harness. From the least annoy- 

 ance about the rump or quarters, some horses will kick at the most vio- 

 lent rate, and destroy the bottom of the chaise, and endanger the limbs of 

 the driver. Those that are fidgetty in the stable are most apt to do 

 this. If the reins should perchance get under the tail, the violence of the 

 kicker will be most outrageous ; and while the animal presses down his 

 tail so tightly that it is almost impossible to extricate the reins, he con- 

 tinues to^ plunge until he has demolished every thing behind him. 

 i This is a vice standing foremost in point of danger, and which no treat- 

 ment will often conquer. It will be altogether in vain to try coercion here. 

 If the shafts are very strong and without flaw, or if they are plated with 

 iron underneath, and a stout kicking strap used, which will barely allow 

 the horse the proper use of his hind limbs in progression, but not permit 

 him to raise them sufficiently for the purpose of kicking, he may be pre- 

 ■ -vented from doing mischief ; or if he is harnessed to a heavy cart, and 

 thus confined, his" efforts to lash out will be restrained: but it is a very 

 unpleasant thing frequently to witness these attempts, although ineffectual, 

 to demolish the vehicle ; and the shafts or the kicking strap may possibly 

 break, and extreme danger may ensue. A horse that has once begun to 

 kick, whatever may have been the original cause of it, can never be de- 

 pended on again ; and he will be very unwise who ventures behind him. 



