The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



have had his willing co-operation ; and never 

 once has he been scared or frightened by any- 

 thing that you have asked him to do. 



More horses are spoilt in breaking into 

 harness than in any other way. The horse is 

 easy enough to teach ; but it is so difficult to 

 really teach the man. The usual British 

 groom cannot be taught anything. He has 

 his own ways, from which he will not depart, 

 however much trouble you may take to try 

 and convince him that they are detrimental 

 to the objects in view, namely, the breaking 

 of the horse without scaring him, and without 

 making him believe that man is an enemy. 

 He will listen, respectfully enough, to all you 

 have to say ; and, immediately your back is 

 turned, will straight away do again what he 

 did before. Follow such a groom on his heels 

 into the stable, and you will find that the 

 horses, who always welcome you with a whinny, 

 turn nervously away from him and lay their 

 ears back. His bed-rock idea is that he must 

 always exhibit to his charges his mastery over 

 them. When grooming them, he speaks 

 roughly. He makes them move over smartly, 

 and, if they do not move over smartly enough 

 to please him, he hits them with the brush. 

 He picks up their feet roughly. When he is 



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