286 Our Noblest Friend, The Horse 



batting first, as its elasticity will prevent the evil 

 effects named. 



As to the harness, we begin with the saddle, which 

 is always put on first. It is a curious instance of our 

 stereotyped and unreasoning manner of performing 

 all work about horses that we allow our grooms, 

 almost invariably, to approach the animal from the 

 near side, and to throw the girths over the back, 

 instead O'f placing the pad in place from the off side, 

 which is much more practical, since the man can at 

 once arrange the girths for buckling on the near 

 side, and then go round and draw them up. He usu- 

 ally, however, throws the pad on the back from the 

 near side, pushes the girths over, thereby rumpling 

 the hair, goes round the horse, arranges the girths, 

 and after putting on the crupper, goes back again 

 to buckle up the straps on the near side. The pad 

 should be gently put in place, not hurled roughly; 

 the tail grasped firmly, and after the hair has been 

 carefully arranged in place, it should be lifted high, 

 and the crupper drawn over it and snugly up under 

 the root. Thence the right hand slides along the 



