The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



instincts working in the horse's mind ; for 

 there is only one way to perfect success in the 

 handUng of a wild and nervous unbroken, fully- 

 grown horse or mare. Wrongly handled, the 

 animal is spoilt for life. Rightly handled, 

 the subjection and cure of its nervousness and 

 wildness can be made quite permanent. 



The nature of the horse, as unbroken, is to 

 suspect and counter every act of a man ap- 

 proaching it, whom it regards as a potential 

 enemy. If there are a number of men direct- 

 ing their attention to him and they run, swing 

 their arms about, and shout when approaching 

 him, any doubt upon this point vanishes, and 

 the horse becomes quite certain that they mean 

 harm to him, and that in prompt escape lies his 

 only safety. Realise that this means destruction 

 of all confidence at the very commencement of 

 your entering into relations with him. 



An advance to an unbroken horse must 

 always be obUque and indirect, in absolute 

 silence, dead slow, and without any movement 

 of hands and arms. Unless the ordinary 

 groom or helper is drilled into this dead quiet 

 and dead slow procedure, he will spoil every- 

 thing at the start. The quickest way of getting 

 on to good terms with the horse is to do every- 

 thing so quietly and dead slow, that, not only 

 is he not scared, but so that he hardly pays 

 any attention to what you are doing. 



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