In case of runaway, beside the electric and asphyxiating treatment already referred to, the animal may be blinded and quickly brought to a standstill. Movable blinds may be used which habitually stand well out from the eyes, but which may be instantly drawn closely over them by the simple pulling of a cord. The sudden darkness and the impossibility of directing his course, brings an instant realization of the existence of other dangers beside the original bugbear. BALKING. RESTIVENESS. Definition. Common in ass and mule. Causes: low condition; overloading; nervousness; sluggish nature; irritable driver; shoulder sores; poor collar; hard bit; sharp or sore maxilla; sores in angle of mouth; mares; racial tendency; going from stable; a psychosis. Symptoms: stands stock still; plunges, but won’t draw; will stamp, bite, kick, rear, buck, crowd on wall; lie down. Breach of warranty: sound price; willfulness; balking of raw horse; diagnosis from nervous disorders; sores, etc. Time in which returnable. Treatment: preventive; curative; distract attention; cord on ear; whiff of ammonia or capsicum; closing nostrils; blindfolding; tying up the fore leg; stroking nose, eyes or ears; tapping flexors of metacarpus; move in circle with head tied to tail; coax to go. In general terms this has been defined as a refusal to obey. Usually in solipeds it is a refusal to move as directed with a load, under the saddle, or in hand. Though essentially a vice, it may become such a fixed habit that it appears to dominate the will of the animal and may thus be called a psychosis—a mental infirmity. It is much more common in asses and mules than in horses, in keeping with their more obstinate disposition and too often harsher treatment. There may be simple refusal to pull. This often comes from overloading, and especially when the animal has been sick or idle, and comes back to work with soft flabby muscles unequal to any violent exertion. After one or two ineffective efforts he sets himself back in the harness refusing to try again and the vice is started. Ordinary loads on bad roads full of holes from which it is impossible to drag the wheels have a similar effect. The danger is greater if the animal is naturally of a nervous or impatient disposition, and if he makes a desperate plunge forward and fails at once to move the load. Such a horse hitched with a slow steady mate is liable to have expended his effort before the latter has had time to join him in the pull, and it becomes impossible to move the load because the two cannot be started simultaneously. The conditions are aggravated if the driver is irritable and by voice and acts further excites the already too excitable animal.