Hop′ple.
（Menage.) A device for confining the legs of horses so as to hamper their motion and thus restrain their wandering. A hobble. The devices are principally modes for shortening their step and thus reducing their speed, as well as lessening their inducement to stray, owing to the inconvenience of motion and unaccustomed restraint. a is one intended for training. The pads are strapped around the pastern and above the knee respectively, and are connected to each other by a rubber band rove through a staple on the upper pad, and regulated as to length by the buckles on the lower pad. b is Captain Eagle's hopple, in which the coupling-strap ring moves in staples in the fetlock straps, and does not tend to rotate the latter and thus gall the limb. c has coupling-loops which divide the abrasive motion between them. d has a strap which slips through the ring instead of turning the leg-band.
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| Hopples. |
