ILLUSTRATED HORSE-BREAKING. 



CHAPTER I. 

 MENTAL QUALITIES OF THE HORSE. 



Mind Consciousness, ideas, memory, habit, and instinct Intelligence and 

 reason Special instincts and senses Vice. 



MIND. 



AN animal is distinguished from a vegetable by, among 

 other things, the possession of a nervous system, the 

 development of which appears to regulate that of the 

 mental capacity of the individual. In the lowest grades 

 of animal life, the nervous matter, instead of having a 

 definite form, is diffused generally throughout the body, 

 which, in this case, is gifted only with the power of con- 

 tracting on being touched and of absorbing nourishment 

 from its surroundings. In the next few upward steps, 

 we find the nerves arranged in a system of conducting 

 nerves and nerve centres by which the animal can receive 

 and combine impressions from without, and can transmit 

 to its muscles the stimulus for the movements which are 

 necessary to its welfare. By the nerves on the surface 

 of the body becoming modified by use, the senses of sight, 

 hearing, taste, and smell were gradually established. 

 Advance in nervous development is brought about chiefly 

 by the principles that use strengthens a function ; that 

 offspring more or less resembles the parent or parents, 



