The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



instincts to get away. If you get him, 

 with a snort, to smell and touch your hand, 

 it is triumph indeed. The presence of the 

 old horse helps matters by his example of 

 confidence, and shortens the time of attraction ; 

 but, with patience and the utmost care, the 

 wild horse, even if alone, can eventually be 

 induced to come up to you and give you that 

 touch on the fingers, which means the begin- 

 ning of his friendship. 



After the first touch of his nose on your 

 fingers, the wild horse will want to touch them 

 again. Keep your hand perfectly still ; and 

 the second time there will not only be a touch, 

 but a smell as well. It is his way of taking 

 stock of you, and, if the smell is satisfactory, 

 you are a made man as far as he is concerned. 

 If you are sitting or lying on the ground, a 

 horse will come up to you so much more readily 

 than if you are standing up. To a foal, a man 

 lying down is perfectly irresistible. Keep 

 dead quiet, and by devious ways the foal will 

 come up, and, after a little hesitation, you 

 will feel somewhere just the tip of a wee soft 

 nose. Then somewhere else another touch, 

 and another, and if your savour is good, there 

 follows a downright good smelhng all over. 

 Then that foal is yours ; and you can do any- 

 thing you hke with him, provided you make 

 no sound and all your movements are dead 

 slow. So with the wild horse, the first nervous 



33 



