DISPOSED TO KICK IN HARNESS. 129 



kick at lis Instead of the air. I shoukl certainly 

 buy such a horse, if In other respects I liked him ; 

 I would much sooner refuse one apt to kick 

 hounds, which many are inclined to do. 



KICKING, OR DISPOSED TO KICK IN HARNESS. 



If a horse is at all inclined to kick in harness, 

 let me strongly advise a buyer to listen to no 

 excuses made for his having done so. He may go 

 quietly for a week, month, or year ; but, unless 

 he Is a mere inexperienced colt, kick again he 

 w^Ill, so sure as he is a horse. If, after knowing 

 what harness means, a horse kicks, he is not to 

 be radically cured of the propensity ; believe no 

 breaker who promises to "take it out of him." 

 Speaking, therefore, as In this case I suppose 

 myself to be doing, to the generality of persons 

 who want a horse for general use in harness, I 

 advise them to at once reject one that has kicked, 

 at any price and under any circumstances. 



In seeming contradiction to such advice, I have 

 had several kickers ; have bought them knowing 

 them to be such ; nor, supposing a horse to possess 

 some most rare qualifications to make amends for 

 it, do I much care about a merry kicker : but 

 then It must be for a carriage, where I can so 

 hamper the gentleman that he can do no mischief, 

 between a good pair of gig shafts to instance ; but 

 K 



