66 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



tion — that is, that, unless particularly ordered, 

 saddlers never make the forehead bands long 

 enough by an inch on each side, by which the 

 head-strap is brought so close behind the ear that 

 it pinches it into a corner, which causes confine- 

 ment and uneasiness ; in fact, I have seen the ear 

 chafed by it. 



If any one who may read this work holds 

 economy worth consideration, I would suggest to 

 him, that ordering his head-collars to be made 

 with, as it is termed, the flesh side outwards, 

 causes them to wear nearly double the time of 

 others. 



In gentlemen's stables collar- shanks are usually 

 of leather, which are the best — first, for appearance; 

 secondly, they make less noise in running up and 

 down than rope ; and thirdly, when the horse 

 travels with his head-collar on, they roll up neatly. 

 I say shanks : but in speaking of my own, as re- 

 lates to one head-collar, I should only say shank, 

 for I never use but one to each horse : for this 

 reason ; a horse sometimes gets his hind foot over 

 them in scratching his head or neck : this leads 

 often to serious accidents. Of course, where there 

 are two, there is more chance of this occurring; than 

 with one ; but the chance of his getting into this 

 dilemma with two is much greater than the num- 

 bers go ; for from the diagonal direction of each 

 from his head to the rings, they are just in the 



