THE HORSE. 
69 
threat of punishment, will be highly improper. It is only timid or 
high-spirited horses that acquire this habit, and rough usage invariably 
increases their agitation and terror. 
Slipping till! 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 wanders about, to be kicked and injured by the other horses, 
while his restlessness will often keep the whole team awake. If the 
web of the halter, being first accurately fitted to his neck, is suffered to 
slip only one way, or a strap is attached to the halter and buckled round 
the neck, but not sufficiently tight to be of serious inconvenience, the 
power of slipping the collar will be taken away. 
Tripping. — He must be a skillful practitioner or a mere pretender who 
promises to remedy this habit. If it arises from a heavy forehand, and 
the fore-legs being too much under the horse, no one can alter the nat- 
ural frame of the animal ; if it proceeds from tenderness of the foot, 
grogginess, or old lameness, these ailments are seldom cured. Also if it 
is to be traced to habitual carelessness and idleness, no whipping will 
rouse the drone. A known stumbler should never be ridden or driven 
by any one who values his safety or his life. A tight hand or a strong 
bearing rein arc precautions that should not be neglected, although they 
are generally of little avail ; for the inveterate stumbler will rarely be 
able to save himself, and this tight rein may sooner and farther precipi- 
tate the rider. If after a trip the horse suddenly starts forward, and 
endeavors to break into a short trot or canter, the rider or driver may 
be assured that others before him have fruitlessly endeavored to remedy 
the nuisance. 
If the stumbler has the foot kept as short, and the toe pared as close 
as safety will permit, and the shoe is rounded at the toe or has that 
shape given to it which it naturally acquires in a fortnight, from the 
peculiar action of such a horse, the animal may not stumble quite so 
much; or if the disease which produced the habit can be alleviated, 
some trifling good may be done, but in almost every case a stumbler 
should be got rid of, or put to slow and heavy work. If the latter al- 
ternative is adopted, he may trip as much as he pleases, for the weight 
of the load and the motion of the other horses will keep him upon his 
legs. 
Weaving. — This consists in a motion of the head, neck, and body from 
side to side, like the shuttle of a weaver passing through the web, and 
hence the name which is given to this peculiar and incessant and un- 
pleasant action. It indicates an impatient, irritable temper and a dis- 
like to the confinement of the stable. A horse that is thus incessantly 
on the fret will seldom carry flesh, or be safe to ride or drive. There is 
no cure for it but the close tying up of the animal, or at least allowing 
him but one loose rein, except at feeding-time. 
SOUNDNESS, AND THE PUftfHASE AND SALE OF HORSES. — There are 
few' sources ol greater annoyance, both to the purchaser and the seller 
of the horse, than disputes with regard to the soundness of the animal. 
That horse is sound in whom there is no disease, and no alteration 
