VICE. ^'7 



Vice. — The term vice in the horse is used in such various 

 senses that I am unable to supply an exact definition of it. 

 Perhaps I might be permitted, for convenience sake, to say- 

 that, from a saddle and harness point of view, it includes 

 all unruly habits and tricks which militate against the 

 safety or comfort of the ordinary rider or driver. We 

 might therefore sub-divide it into deliberate vices, and those 

 arising from impatience of control or nervousness. I need 

 hardly say that, by deliberate vices, I mean those which 

 the horse practises for the gratification of his own 

 ends, in direct opposition to the well-understood and 

 legitimate orders of man ; and those which prompt him 

 to make unprovoked and hostile attacks on man or other 

 animals. 



Stable vices I may define as those which produce in- 

 jurious or unpleasant effects either on the horse or on his 

 attendants, while he is in his stall or loose box, or while he 

 is entering or leaving his abode. 



What we are pleased, from our point of view, to call vice 

 in the horse, is, as a rule, manifestations of his instinct of 

 self-preservation, and has nothing to say to innate turpi- 

 tude. In combating, therefore, so-called vice in the horse, 

 we should not resent (as too many of us are inclined to do) 

 his non-compliance with our wishes as a personal affront ; 

 for he owes no allegiance to us beyond that of the weaker 

 mind to the stronger. 



There is 2. pscjido form of nervousness which is a common 

 vice among horses that are well fed, underworked, and are 

 ridden or driven by timorous people. I may point to the 

 far greater tendency these so-called nervous horses have 



