SLIPPING THE HALTEIU 383 



may depend upon it, that battling on our part .will only serve to 

 augment affright and arouse resistance on his, and that the most 

 judicious coursij we can pursue is to persevere in mild forbearaut 

 usage. 



Shying on coming out of the stable is a habit that can rarely 

 or never be cured. It proceeds from the remembrance of some 

 ili-usage or hurt which the animal has received in the act of pro- 

 ceeding from the stable, such as striking his head against a low 

 door-way, or entangling the harness. 



When the cure, however, is early attempted, it may be so far 

 overcome that it wiU be unattended with danger or difficulty. 

 The horse should be bridled when led out or in. He should be 

 held short and tight by the head, that he may feel he has not lib- 

 erty to make a leap, and this of itself is often sufficient to restrain 

 him. Punishment, or a threat of punishment, will be highly im- 

 proper. It is only timid or high-spirited horses that acquire this 

 habit, and rough usage invariably increases their agitation and 

 terror.* 



SLIPPINa THE COLLAR OR HALTER. 



This is a trick at which many horses are so clever, that scarcely 

 a night passes without their getting loose. It is a very serious 

 habit, for it enables the horse sometimes to gorge himself with 

 food, to the imminent danger of staggers ; or it exposes him, as he 



* Note by Mr. Spooner. — This vice or habit — for it ranges between the 

 one and the other — exists in every variety of degree. There are more horses 

 that shy than do not : when the practice exists in a slight degree, it is a mat- 

 ter of no consequence, but when the animal, instead of merely looking at the 

 object of alarm and dwelling a little in his pace as he approaches it, stops 

 suddenly, or turns round, or swerves considerably, the habit becomes a dan- 

 gerous vice, and is exceedingly objectionable. There is more afiectation 

 than real fear about this habit, the horse making use of every unusual ob- 

 ject as an excuse for the indulgence of his skittishness, or his obstinacy. 

 There are often some strange eccentricities connected with it. Horses wiU 

 often pass a frightful object without the least fear ; but if, perchance, there 

 is a puddle in the road, or a stick of timber lying beside it, imagination ap- 

 pears to paint the object in the most hideous colors or portentous forms. 

 Horses shy most in the country, where there are but few objects to meet; 

 and they rarely exhibit this propensity in the crowded streets of the metro- 

 polis. 'ITie objects are there far too numerous to allow an excuse for shying, 

 or would soon weary them of the habit ; indeed tJ e very best method of 

 curing the vice is to use the animal in crowded streets. Though shying is 

 often connected with imperfect vision, it is rarely produced by actual disease, 

 and, therefore, its existence does not augur unsound eyes. Too great con- 

 vexity of the eye is certainly often connected with shying, so that objects are 

 refracted too quickly, and thus are imperfectly painted on the retina. 



Shying horses are frequently made much worse by rough usage ; instead 

 of which they should always be treated with gentleness and firu>neFB, whicL 

 «ystcm, ID many itistances, will succeed in effecting a cure. 



