-14- 



uatural disposition, the remainder being the direct result of 

 vicious training, or rather of tlie absence of training, and the 

 substitution of something which, under that name, first produces 

 and then fosters the faults for which the animal is punished ; 

 while often the punishment is ineffectual, because the animal 

 has no conception of why it is made to suffer. 



Education is as essential to the horse as it is to man, and in 

 each case it must proceed on the same general principles. The 

 first grand lesson to be learned by each is that of subjection to 

 authority ; the child is taught that by his parent ; the horse 

 must learn it from his trainer. But, after that, knowledge is re- 

 quired, and this must be imparted by methods adapted to the 

 nature that is to be cultivated. The object of this book is to 

 show in what that knowledge consists and how it may be com- 

 municated to the horse, and so impressed upon his memory that 

 it will never be forgotten. The methods of breaking and train- 

 ing the horse, herein taught, will, if early applied, prevent his 

 acquring any of the faults which, under former s^^stems, have 

 proved so numerous ; while the treatment recommended for cor. 

 recting bad habits, already formed, will prove effectual in even 

 the most stubborn cases, and with the most intractable disposi- 

 tions. The reader will not be asked to accept any unproved 

 theory, but will be instructed in a sj'stem which, although sub- 

 jected to the severest tests, has never failed to accomplish the 

 desired results. That it may require patience and self-control 

 on the part of the instructor cannot be denied ; but so does the 

 instruction of a child, the breaking of a dog to the gun, or even 

 the training of a vine to its trellis ; but the satisfactory results 

 which are certain to be attained will furnish an ample reward. 



