HINTS ABOUT HORSES.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3902, 30 April 1877, Page 2

HINTS ABOUT HORSES.

KIND TEEATMEXT. | I About "Balkixg." — A writer in the Golden Rule makes some very sensible remarks on this subject. If the education of the colt has been conducted in accordance with correct principles he will not balk. Balking on the part of colts is, for the most part, the result of the trainer's ignorance or passion. Pulling and whipping on the part of the trainer or driver, over-loading, sore shoulders, or ill-fitting collars, these are the causes that Aake horses balk. But if you have a horse oi^jolt that balks, while one cannot, without a personal knowledge of the subject, tell you what to do, we can tell what not to do — never whip. If he won't go lethim stand still and think it over. He will very often think better of it, and after a few moment's reflection and a few tosses of the head go on of Ms own accord. Or if this does not answer, get out of the waggon and pat him and talk to him kindly. A horse is very susceptible to kindness, and the writer says he has known more than one quite vicious horse soothed into good behavior byafewgentlepatsfromalady'sglovedhand on the moist neck and veined muzzle. Sometimes it is well to loosen a strap or start a buckle. The mere act of unchecking and rechecking the animal has sometimes answered the purpose. It took his attention oft" in another direction, changed the current of his thought, and broke up his purpose and determination , to resist. For this same reason an .apple, or a bunch of grass from the roadside, or a handful of oats, or a few kernels of corn, will often accomplish what an hour of beating could never effect. Contact with horses, and an actual experience in teaching them, is one of the finest disciplines a man can have. 'Sjjfe. grows to love the colt he is teaching, ainSfi no nature is utterly depraved in which is going on the exercise of affection, no matter how humble the object may be. His employment makes it necessary for him to think, and this keeps intellect, which might otherwise have no development, alive. The language of the stable is not, as many pious and ignorant people imagine, all slang. Care and anxiety are felt in the groom's room, and consultations held upon the issue of which the health and safety of valuable property depend. Plans are formed and methods of procedure adopted, upon which fame and vast sums of money come and go. Faults of nature and errors of education and practice are corrected, and the trainer discovers that in schooling God's creatures he is being schooled himself. Horses Eating Dirt. — A correspondjeat of the JV. I". Tribune asks why horses and mules eat dirt when turned out of close stables, to which Professor Low replies: — Most commonly the habit is an indication of acidity of the stomach, and to be corrected by improving the . digestive functions. Horses are at a special disadvantage in the matter of stomach complaints, inasmuch as they cannot rid themselves by vomiting of anything that disagrees, and are unable even to belch up accumulated gas. Then the stomach is much too small to allow of heavy feeding or the formation of much gas without injuries over distention. Hence, of all domestic animals the solipeds should be fed with. the greatest care and judgment. Like human beings, they have their periods of acidity or heartburn, and having no opportunity of taking soda or magnesia, they lick the lime from their walls or the earth from their pathway. For temporary relief a piece of chalk may be kept in the manger, but we should see to remove the radical evil by giving a better tone to the stomach. Feed sound grain and hay in moderate amount and at regular intervals, and don't drive or work hard for an hour after each meal lest digestion should be impaired. Give a few carrots, turnips, or other roots, if available ; water regularly, and never just after a meal, and put an ounce of commom salt in the food or water daily. Any existing weakness of digestion should be corrected by a course of tonics, such oxide of iron, 2oz ; calcined magnesia, 2oz ; powdered mix vomica, Hdrains ; powdered fennel seed, 2oz ; mix. Divide into 8 powders, and give one morning and night. The habit has been sometimes caused by a deficiency of mineral matters in the food grown on very poor soils, but this may be corrected by similar treatment.

A tailor who, in skating, fell through the ice, declared that he would never again leave a hot goose for a cold duck.