STABLE HABITS. 14£ 



mately so terrified and unruly, that he must be backed out. 

 This habit may be prevented by wider doorways, and more 

 care in going through them. When attempted early, it may 

 be so far overcome that it will be unattended with danger or 

 difficulty. The horse ought to be always bridled when led 

 out or in. He should be held short and tight by the head, 

 that he may feel he has not liberty to make a leap, and of 

 itself this is often sufficient to restrain him. Great care must 

 be taken to keep him off the door-posts. Punishment, or a 

 threat of punishment, is improper. It is only timid or high- 

 spirited horses that acquire the habit, and rough usage in- 

 variably increases their agitation and terror. The man must 

 be gentle and quiet. After the habit is fairly established, it 

 is seldom entirely cured ; the horse may become less un- 

 manageable, but still continue to require precaution. Some 

 are much worse than others. Some may be led out, quite at 

 leisure, when blindfolded ; others when they have the harness- 

 bridle on ; a few manage best when neither led nor re- 

 strained, but allowed to take their own way ; and a few may 

 be ridden through the doorway that can not be led. When 

 the horse is very troublesome, each of these ways may be 

 tried. Some shy the door only in going in, others in coming 

 out. 



Eating the Litter is sometimes regarded as a peculiar 

 habit. It does not, however, deserve this name. If the 

 horse have too little hay he will eat the straw, selecting the 

 cleanest and soundest portions of it. But this is not what is 

 meant. He eats the dirty litter, the straw which has been 

 soiled by the urine. This he does only at times. It indi- 

 cates a morbid state of the stomach and bowels. Put a lump 

 of rock-salt in the mang'er. It is the salt contained in the 

 litter that induces the horse to eat it. 



Licking themselves, other horses, the mangers, the ground 

 and the walls, and eating earth or lime, arise from the same 

 cause. The hair of horses often contains a good deal of salt 

 deposited in perspiration, and it is to obtain this that the 

 horses lick the skin of themselves and others. Give a piece 

 of rock-salt, and if the horse eat earth, or lick a lime-wall, 

 let him have a lump of chalk in addition to the salt. Place 

 them in the manger and leave them there. The lick is some- 

 times connected with fever, and requires other treatment. 

 [Clay is very beneficial occasionally in small quantities, when 

 snow is on the ground, or horses are so confined that they 

 can not get to the ground ; or a few roots with the dirt at- 



