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.
Lesions of various kinds, such as shoulder bruises, abscesses, abrasions
and callouses, saddle bruises, callouses, abscesses or fistulæ cause
acute pain whenever the effort is made, and render the animal more
impatient and indisposed to try again.
Too small a collar or one that fits badly (too narrow, uneven) has often
a similar effect.
Among other causes may be named a hard bit harshly used, a sharp edge of
the lower jaw bone where the bit rests in the interdental space, sores
of the buccal mucous membrane in this situation, and caries or necrosis
of the superficial layer of the bone. Also chaps, ulcers, or cancroid of
the angle of the mouth.
Young horses, that are as yet imperfectly trained, are more readily
driven to balk than old trained animals.
Mares are more subject to the vice than geldings, by reason apparently
of a more nervous disposition, but much more because of the excitement
to which they are subjected, under the periodic returns of _heat_.
Pench speaks of rare hereditary cases in which the habit is
uncontrollable and the animal incurable.
Friedberger and Fröhner accuse chestnut and sorrel horses as being
especially liable to balk.
However started the continued exercise of the act fixes it as an
incurable habit a virtual psychosis. Yet the inclination of the animal,
his likes and dislikes to a certain extent control its manifestations,
thus a horse rarely balks in going home, and shows it mostly in going in
the opposite direction, and above all on a new or unknown road.
The _Symptoms_ vary greatly in different cases. One animal stands stock
still propping his legs outward and absolutely refusing to budge. This
may occur even in the stall when it is attempted to take the animal out.
When on the road he is usually willing to turn and go back, but no
persuasion by voice or whip can force him forward.
Other horses make ineffective plunges forward but never throw weight
enough into the collar to overcome any resistance.
Still others stamp, bite, throw themselves to one side rather than
forward, rear up, strike with the fore feet, and if whipped kick with
the hind. Some will throw themselves down and struggle in this
condition.
Under the saddle the animal may crowd against a wall, rear, kick, buck
or even throw himself down in his efforts to dislodge the rider. These
violent manifestations however rather belong to vice than mere balking.
Trembling, perspiration, frequent rejection of urine, and general
acceleration of pulse and breathing may manifest a severe nervous
disorder.
_Diagnosis._ It is often important to pronounce upon the exact nature of
this trouble so as to determine whether the seller is responsible for a
breach of warranty given or implied. As regards implied warranty a
_sound price_ for an animal sold to do a given kind of work implies a
mutual understanding that the animal is not physically or psychically
incapacitated for such work.
The balking horse is one that obstinately refuses to perform a piece of
work for which his physical condition seems to be well adapted. The
_willfulness_ of the refusal is the important feature. In case of such a
serious drawback to the value of a horse, the presumption of fraud on
the part of the seller is unavoidable, in case he failed to mention the
habit to the purchaser, but of course this is even more emphatically
certified if he has warranted the animal as a _good worker_, or _kind_,
or _true in work_.
On the other hand he cannot be held responsible for the failure to
perform an act in case the horse has been overloaded when fat or out of
condition, or if he has sores on back, withers or shoulders, a badly
fitting collar, a severe or large clumsy bit, or sores on the lower jaw,
or indeed any temporary physical infirmity, to which the balking can be
fairly attributed.
Balking is not to be confounded with nervous affections (paretic,
spasmodic, congestion) in which the failure to obey is not due to lack
of will, but to lack of power. Nor must it be confounded with the
inability of the paralysis of lead poisoning. It is perhaps most likely
to be confounded with that lack of both sensory and motor power which
attends on ventricular dropsy and other chronic affections of the brain.
In such cases (immobility, coma) the habitual dullness, drowsiness,
general hebetude, and lack of energy contrasts strongly, with the
strength, vigor and general life of the animal which suddenly, willfully
and incorrigibly balks.
The balky horse which has no such nervous disorder as an excuse, no
badly fitting harness, no lesion on shoulder, back, limbs nor mouth, no
unsuitable bit, no special softness nor poverty of condition, no slow,
ill-adjusted mate, no impatient driver, and no excessive load, nor
impassable road, but which jibs without excuse, as a willful
disobedience, may well be cause for annulling a sale. In most European
countries such a horse can be returned to the seller and the sale set
aside within 3 days (Austria), 4 days (Prussia), 5 days (Saxony), 9 days
(Hesse).
_Treatment_. This should be preventive by avoiding the various causes
above enumerated, for if the habit is once contracted it is too often
impossible to establish a permanent cure. The horse is largely a bundle
of habits and the first act of disobedience has given a bias to the
nerve cells of the cortex cerebri which like a planted seed tends to
reproduce itself whenever an opportunity offers. With every successive
act of the kind, the impression on the nerve cells becomes deeper and
more indelible and the habit fixed the more firmly.
In slight recent cases in the milder dispositions the vice may be
overcome by some resort which engages and engrosses the animal’s
attention. Among these may be named tying a cord round the root of the
ear and tying it down; giving an inhalation of ammonia or a sniff of
powdered capsicum; closing the nostrils until the horse struggles to
breathe; blindfolding for a few minutes; tying up one fore leg until
thoroughly tired; even stroking the nose or ears until the fret is
overcome. Immediately following on any one of these methods, move the
horse gently to the right and left and call him confidently to _get up_.
Some will start if gently tapped with the toe below the knee until the
foot is lifted and repeating this a few times in succession, then, after
a few steps, reward with an apple, sugar or piece of bread, and don’t
push too far at a time but repeat the lesson often. If among the first
exhibitions of the vice it may be met by occupying the time in a
make-believe fixing of the harness until the animal ceases to fret, then
standing by his head, tap him on the croup with a whip and call him to
go on. Or he may first be moved to the right and left and then ordered
to move. A rather wearisome treatment is to place in the stall with a
man behind him who taps him on the rump every few minutes, preventing
composure, rest, or sleep, and keeping this up without interval for
twenty-four hours or even double that time if necessary. If he goes well
when hitched, he is driven but if he balks, he is returned to the stall
and the treatment continued.
Magner, who mentions all these methods, reserves his highest
commendation for the method of tying the horse’s head round to his tail
and letting him turn in a circle until he is giddy and falls over. Some
stubborn cases get habituated to turning in one direction and continue
obdurate until the head and tail are tied around on the other side and
the rotatory motion reversed. When thoroughly dazed by this treatment,
the animal is hitched up and will usually move on. If there is still an
indisposition, stand by his head and tap the croup with a whip, calling
on him to start. Or subject him to further rotatory treatment.