VICES ON THE ROAD 117 



the practice of other vices. When the backing is mere 

 skittishness, which we have known it, an encouraging 

 word and a smart smack of the whip have cured the 

 inconvenience. Where the determination is more manifest, 

 take the thing coolly. Satisfy yourself by examination 

 that the harness and its " fixins " are all right. Sometimes 

 the withers are wrung, and the shoulders galled ; and the 

 pain, which may be moderate on level ground and with a 

 tair draught, becomes insupportable when going up a steep 

 acclivity. These things should be seen into, and, if possible, 

 rectified ; for under such circumstances severe punishment 

 produces obstinacy and vice. 



A horse whose shoulders are raw, or have frequently 

 been so, will not start with a cold collar. When the collar 

 has acquired the warmth of the parts on which it presses^ 

 the animal will go without reluctance. Some determined 

 jibbers have been reformed by constantly wearing a false 

 collar, or strip of cloth round the shoulders, so that the 

 coldness of the collar should never be felt ; and others have 

 been cured by keeping on the collar night and day, although 

 the animal is not able to lie down so completely at his ease 

 as without it, which a tired horse ought always to be 

 able to do. When a horse jibs at his work, it has been 

 sometimes useful to line his collar with cloth instead of 

 leather ; the perspiration is more readily absorbed, the 

 substance which presses on the shoulder is softer, and it is 

 more readily eased off at a tender place. 



With horses which have this habit at starting, one 

 method to break them off it is to place a heavy stone 

 behind the wheel ; and the horse, feeling he is unable to 

 back, will generally proceed forward, finding it more 

 easy to do so ; and by carefully continuing this practice, 

 the horse will gradually be broken of the bad habit. 

 Another plan, nearly as good, is to start the horse, if 

 it can possibly be managed, with the back of the machine 

 placed towards a rising ground ; and as it is more difficult 

 at all times to force it backv/ard and forward, besides 

 the hill being against him, he will prefer going forward 

 to backward. Sometimes it will be necessary to lead 

 the horse for a short distance, and when the groom 

 has quitted the reins, a gentle touch with the whip 

 will make him proceed. If, however, he is determinedly 

 obstinate, there will be little chance of succeeding by 



