46 THE HORSE : ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT. 



a ring attached to the manger. When the halter is tied 

 to the ring without the plug, and the horse goes to scratch 

 its mane or neck, it gets the halter underneath the heel of 

 its hind foot and throws itself down. In some cases a 

 horse has been known to break its neck in this way, or 

 rupture its neck, and sometimes never recover. . 



It may seem ridiculous on my part to mention this, 

 as many of my readers have always been accustomed to 

 horses since their boyhood, and will say at once, "Anyone 

 knows a plug or weight must be put on the end of the 

 halter, which fastens them to the manger." Such people 

 as these must forgive me for bringing forward such a simple 

 thing as this, but it must be remembered there are so 

 many fresh people buy horses, both for work and pleasure, 

 who know nothing whatever of the habits of the animals, 

 or how they should be tied up in the stable — and some of 

 those who do know about it seem never to realise the 

 importance of carefulness in these little matters — or what 

 serious consequences may arise if these are neglected. 

 I have come across serious accidents on account of people 

 tying the horses up without a plug on the end of their 

 halter in the stable. A horse should not be left one hour 

 with its harness off, unless there is a plug or weight on the 

 end of the tether. Many people during the last few years 

 have used a chain in preference to the rope, as it lasts 

 much longer, but where this is used it makes a great noise, 

 and if the stable happens to be near the dwelling house it 

 is very annoying. 



