BITING. 445 



for the brutality which is often exercised in attempting to compel a gibbing 

 horse to throw himself habitually into the collar, never yet accomplished the 

 purpose. The horse may, perhaps, be whipped into motion ; but if he has 

 once begun to gib, he will have recourse to it again whenever any circumstance 

 displeases or annoys him, and the habit will be so rapidly and completely 

 formed, that he will become insensible to all severity. 



It is useless and dangerous to contend with a horse determined to back, 

 unless there is plenty of room, and, by tight reining, the driver can make him 

 back in the precise direction he wishes, and especially up-hill. Such a horse 

 should be immediately sold, or turned over to some other work. In a stage- 

 coach as a wheeler, and particularly as the near- wheeler ; or, in the middle of 

 a team at agricultural work, he may be serviceable. It will be useless for 

 him to attempt to gib there, for he will be dragged along by his companions 

 whether he will or not ; and, finding the inutility of resistance, he will soon be 

 induced to work as well as any horse in the team. The reformation will last 

 while he is thus employed, but, like restiveness generally, it will be delusive 

 when the horse returns to his former occupation. The disposition to annoy will 

 very soon follow the power to do it. Some instances of complete reformation 

 may have occurred, but they are rare. 



When a horse, not often accustomed to gib, betrays a reluctance to work, or 

 a determination not to work, common sense and humanity will demand that 

 some consideration should be taken before measures of severity are resorted to. 

 The horse may be taxed beyond his power. He soon discovers whether this 

 is the case, and by refusing to proceed, tells his driver that it is so. The utmost 

 cruelty will not induce many horses to make the slightest effort, when they are 

 conscious that their strength is inadequate to the task. Sometimes the withers 

 are wrung, and the shoulders sadly galled, and the pain, which is intense on 

 level ground and with fair draught, becomes insupportable when he tugs up a 

 steep acclivity. These things should be examined into, and, if possible, rectified ; 

 for, under such circumstances, cruelty may produce obstinacy and vice, but 

 not willing obedience. 



They who are accustomed to horses know what seemingly trivial circum- 

 stances occasionally produce this 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 gibbers have been reformed by constantly wearing 

 a false collar, or strip of cloth round the shoulders, so that the coldness of the 

 usual collar should never be felt j and others have been cured of gibbing 

 by keeping the collar on night and day, for the animal is not able to 

 he down completely at full length, which the tired horse is always glad 

 to do. When a horse gibs, not at starting, but while doing his work, it has 

 sometimes been useful to line the collar with cloth instead of leather ; the per- 

 spiration is readily absorbed, the substance which presses on the shoulders is 

 softer, and it may be far more accurately eased off at a tender place. 



BITING. 

 This is either the consequence of natural ferocity, or a habit acquired from 

 the foolish and teasing play of grooms and stable boys. When a horse is tickled 

 and pinched by thoughtless and mischievous youths, he will first pretend to bite 

 his tormentors ; by degrees he will proceed farther, and actually bite them, 

 and, very soon after that, he will be the first to challenge to the combat, and, 

 without provocation, seize some opportunity to gripe the incautious tormentor. 

 At length, as the love of mischief is a propensity too easily acquired, this war, 



