118 WARRANTY OF 



sometimes successfully adopted ; but an excess in this 

 course frustrates the object, and the result is the 

 reverse of what is desired. 



The same is the case with the horse : by raising his 

 passions to a certain pitch, you bring out the evidences 

 of his high spirit in the most graceful action ; but, if 

 you venture a little too far, you raise in him a dangerous 

 spirit of opposition the more dangerous as such cases 

 occur only to bad horsemen, who unfortunately depend 

 entirely upon sheer strength for getting out of the 

 difficulty ; the natural consequence being that the 

 horse is victorious, and from that and subsequent 

 victories acquires a vice most difficult to cure. 



Considering this subject of great importance, not 

 only to the owner, but to the noble animal whose 

 welfare every one acquainted with horses cannot fail 

 to have at heart, I dwell upon this subject in the hope 

 of making proper treatment, and the consequences of 

 ill-treatment, well understood by all but especially by 

 those who ignore the fact that it is possible to rouse 

 a horse's temper beyond their own notion of what is > 

 right, even if that horse is not by nature vicious and 

 of proving to the most obtuse the absurdity, danger, 

 and barbarity of excessive and improper punishment. 



For, it is but seldom that the horse requires 

 correction, and even then mildness will, in most 

 instances, accomplish your purpose. 



Let, then, mercy go hand in hand with firmness and 



