436 
LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
ing cause, so as effectually to prevent the repetition of the mischief. 
Supposing kicking in the stable to have produced it, and the heel- 
post of the stall to be the offending or rather the offensive body, 
either let the post be wrapt in some soft material—such as padding 
or hay-bands—which will save the limb from injury should the 
horse kick against it again, or else let his leg be so fettered that 
he is deprived of the power of kicking; or, should he manifest a 
propensity to kick on one side only, let him either be removed 
into a corner stall where his kicking member will be opposed to 
the wall, or let some furze be nailed against the offending side of 
the stall or stall-post, which will disincline him to renew the con¬ 
test in that direction. Should the kicking appear to have excite¬ 
ment given to it through some play or disagreement with his 
neighbour in the adjoining stall, let one or the other horse be re¬ 
moved into a distant stall or another stable. In a bailed stable, a 
very simple contrivance has answered all the purpose of a furze 
or prickly thorn branch, without having the objections to which the 
prickles in such stables are subject. This consists in procuring a 
piece of coarse linen cloth, of an oblong shape, and dimensions 
regulated by the height of the bail from the ground—say four feet by 
three—and stitching it to the bail in such manner that it hangs down, 
as a swing partition-board would do, between the horses’ standings. 
There is nothing, it is true, anywise resisting in this linen parti¬ 
tion, and yet it is found to answer the purpose of an opposing body, 
insomuch as it has the effect of intimidating the animal from strik¬ 
ing at it, for a time indeed of approaching it. This scare-crow sort 
of influence it might be thought would wear out; and to a certain 
degree no doubt it does so, and sooner, of course, in some instances 
than in others; still, the impression, from the probability of the 
kicking being renewed, will be likely to be revived from time to 
time, since the balk the act of kicking produces operates in refresh¬ 
ing the apprehension. 
Should nothing b}' way of prevention we can devise for the stall 
have the desired effect, we must have recourse to means of shack¬ 
ling or fettering the limbs. In the choice of these—for several me¬ 
thods are in practice—we must be guided by the disposition and 
irritability of the kicker, lest the remedy turn out worse than the 
disease. A well-lined hobble-strap with six or eight inches of 
chain attached to it, buckled on immediately above the hock, so 
that the chain dangles down the leg, and strikes it every time the 
animal kicks, giving him “ a Roland for his Oliver,” is a common 
and frequently an effectual contrivance to break the vicious habit. 
Should the chastisement it inflicts, whenever a kick is made, prove 
insufficient, a wooden log or iron weight may be appended to the 
chain. This failing having the desired effect, fettering both legs 
