216 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
soon follow the power to do it. Some instances of com- 
plete reformation have occurred, but they have been rare. 
When a Horse, not often accustomed to gib, betrays a 
reluctance to work, or a determination not to work, com- 
mon sense and humanity will demand that some considera- 
tion should be taken, before measures of severity be re- 
sorted to. The Horse may be taxed beyond his power. 
He soon discovers whether this is the case, and by re- 
fusing to proceed, tells his driver that it is so; and 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 might produce ob- 
stinacy and vice, but not willing obedience. 
Those who are accustomed to Horses know what seem- 
ingly trivial circumstances occasionally produce this vice. 
A Horse, whose shoulders are raw, or that have frequent- 
ly 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 de- 
termined gibbers have been reformed by constantly wear- 
ing a false collar, or strip of cloth round the shoulders, 
so that the coldness of the usual collar should never be 
felt; and others have been cured of gibbing by keeping the 
collar on night and day, although the animal is not able to 
lie down so 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 collars with cloth instead of leather; the 
perspiration 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 pre- 
tend 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 with- 
out provocation sieze some opportunity to gripe the in- 
cautious groom; and then, as the love of mischief is a pro- 
pensity too easily acquired, this war, half playful, and 
half in earnest, will become habitual to him, and will de- 
generate into absolute viciousness. Nothing can here be 
done in the way of cure; kindness would aggravate the 
evil, and no degree of severity will correct it. Preven- 
tion, however, is in the power of every proprietor of 
Horses. While he insists on gentle and humane treat- 
ment of his cattle, he should systematically forbid this 
horse-play. It is that which can never be considered as 
operating as a reward, and thereby rendering the Horse 
tractable; nor does it increase the affection of the animal 
for his groom, because he is annoyed and irritated by being 
thus incessantly teased. 
GETTING THE CHEEK OF THE BIT INTO THE MOUTH. 
Some Horses that are disposed to be mischievous try to 
do this, and are very expert at it. They soon find what 
advantage it gives them over their driver, who, by this 
manoeuvre, loses all command. Harsh treatment is here 
completely out of the question. All that can be done is, 
by some mechanical contrivance, to render the thing diffi- 
cult or impossible, and this may be managed by fastening 
a round piece of leather on the inside of the cheek of the bit. 
KICKING. 
This, as a vice, is another consequence of the culpable 
habit of grooms and stable boys of teasing the Horse. That 
which is at first an indication of annoyance at the pinch- 
ing and tickling of the groom, and without any design to 
injure, gradually becomes the expression of anger, and the 
effort at mischief. There is no cure for this vice; and he can- 
notbe justified whokeepssuch a kickingHorse in his stable. 
Some Horses acquire a habit of kicking at the stall or 
the bail, and particularly at night, from mere irritability 
and fidgettiness. The neighbouring Horses are disturb- 
ed, and the kicker gets swelled hocks, or some more 
serious injury. This is also a habit very difficult to cor- 
rect if suffered to become established. Mares are far more 
subject to it than Horses. 
Before the habit is inveterately established, a thorn bush 
or a piece of furze fastened against the partitition or post 
will sometimes effect a cure. When the Horse finds that 
he is pretty severely pricked he will not long continue to 
punish himself. In confirmed cases it may be necessary 
to have recourse to the log, but the legs are often not a 
little bruised by it. A rather long and heavy piece of 
wood attached to a chain is buckled above the hock, so as to 
reach about halfway down the leg. When the Horse attempts 
to kick violently, his leg will receive a severe blow from 
this, and the repetition of the blow will soon teach him to 
be quiet. 
( To be continued .) 
