72 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[CHAP. 



This lotion should be always kept on hand, 

 ready mixed, and should be mopped on to the 

 affected shoulder. After an hour the horse can 

 be worked. Any abrasion or unevenness on the 

 collar that caused the lump must, of course, be 

 removed. 



279. Breast Collars. P. 36d, e, h, shows the 

 breast strap (wrongly termed breast collar) now 

 used in the British artillery and in most light 

 vehicles on the American continent. For light 

 work and galloping artillery there is nothing 

 better than this type, if it is properly fitted. The 

 breast strap has often been abused, generally 

 due to its not having been properly fitted. The 

 strap must not be too high, so as to cut into the 

 gullet. For this reason the top edge is hollowed 

 out in front of the gullet. It must not be too 

 low, or it will interfere with the movement of 

 the upper arm (humerus), which moves forward 

 very considerably as the foreleg is extended. 



The motion of the shoulders causes a strap 

 collar to move to and fro in a see-saw motion ; 

 hence it is of the utmost importance that the 

 material should be kept perfectly soft and 

 pliable and that no lumps or uneven stitching 

 be left inside to cause injury. The inside of all 

 collars must be thoroughly soaped with good 

 harness soap to keep the leather soft. This does 

 not apply to collars that are not lined with 

 leather. 



The traces of breast straps should be attached 

 to whiffle-trees (see P. 36) to take up the oscilla- 

 tions (see Sees. 256 and 273). The strap must be 

 broad if it is for heavy draught, but, as explained 

 above, the width is necessarily limited. It should 

 be lined with a seamless piece of leather. These 

 precautions are not so necessary with light buggy 

 harness. I have seldom seen a buggy horse 

 suffer from sores produced by the breast strap. 

 With heavy breast straps the supporting strap 

 may cause crest or wither troubles ; a zinc or 

 stiff leather shield should be used to take the 

 weight off the neck. Artillery wheel-horses 

 have metal shields over the crest, above which 

 two straps pass, one for supporting the breast 

 strap, and the other for supporting the pole. No 

 pole chains are used. The strap supporting the 

 pole must be very carefully adjusted. As a rule, 

 pairs of horses are harnessed with ordinary 

 collars, but in the British Service wagon pairs 

 are harnessed with breast harness, the pole 

 chains being fastened to a ring in the breast 

 strap. 



For ordinary collars the leather lining, I 

 think, is superior to any other kind, as it is so 

 much more easily kept clean and soft. 



280. Harness. When harnessing a horse, 

 great care must be taken that every buckle is 

 done up properly, that no buckles are twisted, 

 that the horse is securely fastened to the vehicle, 

 and that the traces are of equal length, the 

 harness lying flat all over. For light vehicles no 



breeching is necessary (see P. iile-h), but when 

 any weight is to be kept back, breeching should 

 be used, although it must be remembered that 

 a horse can hold back more with his neck than 

 he can with his hindquarters. The breeching 

 must be horizontal and loose enough to allow 

 the width of one's hand to pass between it and 

 the horse's thigh. It must be about from 10 in. 

 to 1 ft. below the root of the dock ; if much 

 lower it will hinder the movement of the thighs, 

 whilst when in its correct place it presses, when 

 in use, against the powerful triceps, biceps and 

 adductor magnus muscles of the hind limbs. 

 The hip straps which support the breeching 

 must be loose when the horse is in draught. 

 Two of these are usually necessary. The front 

 one is called the loin strap. 



P. 36# shows the neck yoke attached by 

 straps direct to the breeching, so that the horse 

 holds no weight back with his neck, but entirely 

 with his hindquarters. P. 132/z shows the neck 

 yoke attached to the back straps, so that the 

 horse holds a load back chiefly with the collar. 



281. Crupper. The crupper strap must be 

 loose enough to allow two fingers to pass 

 between it and the horse's croup. The dock- 

 piece must be kept soft and pliable and must be 

 well padded. It must fit properly. A draught 

 horse's crupper is best made with a small buckle 

 on one side, so that it can be undone when 

 harnessing the horse, the crupper being passed 

 under the tail and buckled up. 



282. The traces must be of equal length, and 

 should be attached at their rear end to a 

 whiffle-tree, as described in Sees. 256 and 273. 

 The traces of horses in a team must be long 

 enough to allow from three to four feet space be- 

 tween the nose of the wheeler and the tail of the 

 leader. The hames must lie evenly in the 

 grooves of the collar and be both at the same 

 level. The wither straps should not be tight, 

 and the free ends of the hame straps of pair 

 horses should point inwards, i.e. towards the 

 opposite horse. The belly band that is attached 

 to the back pad should allow one finger's-breadth 

 between it and the horse's belly ; with heavy 

 draught horses this strap is generally left quite 

 loose. The belly band attached to the traces 

 should admit two fingers between it and the 

 belly when the horse is in draught. 



283. Harnessing-up. We often see horses 

 harnessed incorrectly into the shafts. Horses 

 are sometimes harnessed too far back, so that 

 when in motion the tail rubs continually against 

 the splinter-bar or the splashboard. Besides 

 irritating the horse, it may spoil the look of the 

 tail. It is the result of carelessness and want of 

 observation. A horse should be harnessed well 

 away from the splinter-bar or splashboard. In 

 the case of a "dump" cart (P. 118e) this is very 

 important, although such a vehicle, when made 

 by one who has studied the subject, would not 



