This small instrument is made entirely of iron, and riveted firmly to the head-stall. It answers the threefold purpose, to prevent biting, crib-biting, and wind-sucking. All of the foregoing are bad habits for horses, for which there is no effectual cure, but in adopting the use of the above implement. The Stable Is an important matter connected with the proper management of horses. This should be as much as possible of a uniform temperature, cool in summer, warm in winter, and always clean, dry, and well-ventilated. But no air must be allowed to blow directly upon the animal. The horse is a native of a warm climate, and ought to be well protected against cold. The stable should be neither too light nor too dark, nor must the light ever be admitted before the eye of the horse. For judicious and extended arrangement of stables, and management of horses, the inquiring reader is referred to _Stewart's Stable Economy_. CHAPTER VI. THE ASS, THE MULE, AND THE COMPARATIVE LABOR OF WORKING ANIMALS. THE ASS Is a native of Arabia, Persia, and the central parts of Asia and Africa. Like the horse, he goes in troops and displays great natural sagacity, activity, and courage. Job says, "He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth the crying of the driver." Like the horse, too, he has from time immemorial been tamed, and become the faithful servant of man; but unlike him, he is subject to few maladies, is hardy and enduring, and subsists and even thrives on coarse and scanty forage. Thus Job says of his natural haunts, "Whose house I have made the _wilderness_, and the _barren land_ his dwellings; the range of the _mountains_ is his pasture, and he searcheth after _every green thing_." Xenophon, in his Anabasis, a thousand years later, says of one of the Asiatic deserts through which he passed with the army of Cyrus, "that it was full of wormwood; if any other kinds of shrubs or reeds grew there, they had all an aromatic smell; but no trees appeared. Of wild creatures, the most numerous are _wild asses_, which our horses sometimes chased; but the wild asses exceeded them much in speed." Varieties. The different breeds of asses are supposed to be quite as numerous as those of the horse. Four distinct races are mentioned in the earliest scriptures. In modern times we find a similar diversity. There are two kinds in Persia, the largest a slow, heavy brute, used only for burdens; the other smaller and more spirited, and used for the saddle. In Egypt, a considerable though less marked difference exists, those near the Delta being inferior to those which are bred in Upper Egypt and Nubia. In Spain, a difference in size and spirit prevails, greater even than in Persia. The _Zebra_ is nearly allied in size, shape, and character to the wild ass, but his untameable ferocity has hitherto effectually bid defiance, alike to the scourges and caresses, the frowns and the favors of man.