A Plea for a Useful Tw>tter 313 



courage cruelty. Even in the human family, control by intimidation is 

 too often resorted to and smothers the best traits of character. 'Above 

 all, it kills self-reliance. It is so with the horse, for fear of punish- 

 ment is not apt to develop courage in a horse any more than it does in 

 man. 



A physical coward may be pardoned when his stature gives him a 

 disadvantage in a fight, but a moral coward has not even the excuse 

 that a horse has, namely, that of being in ownership and subjection 

 bound to one man. So why talk of fear being the only motive of the 

 good service of a horse? In nine cases out of ten when there is any- 

 thing wrong with a horse the man behind will prove not only to be the 

 coward, but also the fool, in this combination of owner and servant. 

 All animals should be ruled with a firm though gentle hand ; but there 

 is evidence enough among harness horses of the folly of the education 

 by fear or intimidation. This arraignment of the horse on the score of 

 fear and general stupidity is sadly out of harmony with the results 

 attained from the training of our harness horse. 



Had this animal been treated on the general principle of intimida- 

 tion we could not to-day boast of the achievements in the development 

 of the harness horse. While obedience may carry within it some fear, 

 it is more largely a matter of feeding and housing, and hence a conse- 

 quent habit on the part of the horse, and this habit is the more easily 

 confirmed if the horse is treated well and without intimidation. While 

 the character and disposition of the horse varies in the individual, as it 

 does in the human family, the majority of the horses can be improved 

 by gentleness rather than by cruelty. I cannot even grant the demand 

 that the domineering habit of man should at least be allowed to spend 

 itself on animals instead of on defenseless women and children. For, 

 men who have this lust of power should be restrained by law in either 

 case, and should be legally prevented from training our harness horses. 



The great success of the trainers of the harness horse seems to 

 disprove such a course of treatment. Although the difficulties con- 

 fronting the trainer are many, he has time and again overcome them 

 by his level-headedness and his patience. Sometimes he achieves 

 fame because of his perseverance with one horse, at other times be- 



