STABLE VICES. 155 



Timid grooms are always too close, or too far away from 

 a kicker. When the man must come within reach of the 

 heels, he should stand as close to them as possible. A blow 

 thus becomes a push, seldom injurious. 



When the horse is a ferocious kicker, so malicious and 

 determined that it is very hazardous to approach him even 

 ■with a rod — which in such a case, however, oftener irritates 

 than intimidates — he must be placed out of the way in a re- 

 mote stall, the partitions of which should be high and long. 

 A long rope must be attached to the head, nearly the same as 

 for a savage biter ; but this, instead of drawing the horse's 

 head up to a ring at top of the stall, draws him backward so 

 far that the head can be seized before entering the stall. As 

 long as the man keeps well forward with his hand on the head, 

 he is safe from the heels. This rope is not attached at the 

 stall-head ; it is supported in front by a ring placed in the 

 travis near its top, and about three feet from the head-post. 

 In some cases, a small door in the partition is requisite, through 

 which the horse is fed and watered. When the door is large 

 enough to admit a man, and the horse not a biter as well as 

 a kicker, it renders a side-line unnecessary. 



Refusing the Girths. — Some horses are difficult to 

 saddle. When the girths are tightened, or as the man is in 

 the act of tightening them, the horse suddenly drops on his 

 knees as if he were shot. Sometimes he rears up and falls 

 backward. This is a rare occurrence. It is generally termed 

 a vice, but it is difficult to understand it in that light. The 

 horse sometimes cuts his knees to the bone by the violence 

 with which he falls, and I should think he would not do that 

 if he could help it. I am inclined to believe that the fall is 

 involuntary, but how a tight girth should produce it, can not 

 be told. In one horse that often, but not always threw himself 

 down when the girths were tightened,! thought I could discover 

 something like a broken rib, yet it was doubtful ; I could not 

 be sure about it. 



Whatever be the cause, the horse should stand deep in 

 litter when he is saddled, and the girths should be tightened 

 by degrees. Let him stand a few minutes after the saddle is 

 on, before the girths are full drawn, and never make them 

 needlessly tight. 



There are one or two other stable vices so unimportant, 

 that I think they deserve no notice. Refusing the crupper 

 and shying the bridle are among them. These, and similar 



