36 THE HORSE. 



to any other objects, convincing me that their shying, 

 when in health and spirits, was pure affectation. It 

 is a thing seldom, perhaps never, thought of or at- 

 tended to, which however detracts nothing from its 

 consequence, to accustom colts, during their break- 

 ing, to all the chief objects of terror, which occasion 

 the vice of shvino-. After a colt shall have been a 

 considerable time in hand, and his education nearlv 

 finished, should he be a careless and blundering goer, 

 not sufficiently bending his knees, he should be fre- 

 quently, but with great care, (beware broken knees,) 

 exercised daily in a slow trot, over rough and uneven 

 roads. 



To connect vices with their anomalies together, I 

 once had a fine hunting mare, an incorrigible biter; 

 as a proof of which, before she came into my posses- 

 sion, but I was unapprised of it, she had killed a 

 stable boy ; yet her biting was entirely confined to 

 the stable, nor did she ever show either that or anv 

 other kind of vice abroad, riding perfectly quiet. 



SECTION VII. 



The usual time for castration has already been 

 pointed out ; to which may be added that, such ope- 

 ration on the horse is in no country so universal as 

 in Britain and Ireland. Indeed, the alleged cruelty 

 of the practice is an old theme of reproach upon us. 

 The operation, it must be acknowledged, is painful 

 and barbarous ; but it may well be questioned, 

 whether its pains are not counterbalanced to the vic- 

 tim, by the future avoidance of those occasioned an- 



