THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 67 



month's trial, and a few words may here be said as to the best 

 method of dealing with them. 



A determined kicker will be likely to do considerable damage 

 to the vehicle behind him. If the horse sets to work with an 

 evident intention of kicking, it will be well for the groom to 

 jump down at once and lift up one of the fore-legs. This will 

 render it out of the animal's power to continue kicking, and it" 

 is better to tie it up with a handkerchief until he can be un- 

 harnessed, rather than run the risk of having the trap kicked to 

 pieces. If a horse bolts with you, recollect that, like the captain 

 of the ship, the driver should be the last to leave. Far more 

 accidents have happened to people from jumping out of a 

 runaway carriage than to those who sat still on the box and 

 endeavoured to obtain mastery over the animal. Keep his 

 head as straight as you can, and if you can face him up a hill, 

 your advantage is naturally all the greater. 



If a horse is an inveterate jibber, it will be found difficult 

 to cure him of the propensity, though it may be done by putting 

 him in double harness with a horse bigger and stronger than 

 himself, who will fairly drag the refractory animal along. 

 Cures are said to have been effected by tying a horse up at a 

 spot where he began to jib, and depriving him of food until he 

 will advance in the desired direction to obtain it ; but such a 

 cure is by no means always practicable. If you are in a crowded 

 thoroughfare when a horse jibs or backs, it is better at once to 

 admit that he has got the best of you, and to turn his head in 

 the direction that he wishes his tail to go. If a horse jibs in 

 single harness in the country, back him in the direction you 

 want to go, even for as far as a mile. He will get so disgusted 

 with being backed, that when you turn him round he will be 

 glad to go the way you wish to drive him. 



A not uncommon sight in the streets of London is the 

 spectacle of an inhuman wretch kicking in the ribs an unfortu- 

 nate horse which has fallen on the pavement, and urging it with 

 every sort of violence to get on its legs again, though oppressed 

 by a heavy weight on the shafts and with no better foothold 



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