HABIT. 5 



&c., and to the attacks of wild beasts, exhibit such ex- 

 treme watchfulness against danger, that, even in safe places, 

 they shy at the slighest provocation in a manner which 

 is highly unpleasant to the rider. This instinctive shying, 

 apart from fulness of " beans," " shortness " of work, or 

 love of displaying power, is a faculty which has become 

 comparatively dormant among highly civilised horses. 



As instincts are in the species, so are habits in the 

 individual. The power of a habit in diminishing or 

 strengthening the force of instinct is, as we have seen, 

 well marked. In fact, a large portion of the art of horse- 

 breaking consists in establishing in the animal habits 

 which are opposed to his instincts, especially that of self- 

 preservation. Thus we have the habit of obedience to 

 man, under the influence of which the well-trained charger 

 will have lost his instinctive timidity to such an extent 

 that he will go through flames, or gallop up to a tiger or 

 other terrifying wild beast, on receiving the signal to do 

 so from the hand and leg of his rider. With age, the 

 instincts of every-day life grow stronger in the horse which 

 is in a wild state. He becomes more and more watchful 

 and difficult to capture ; and his love of freedom and 

 impatience of control increase with his years. Hence, the 

 later his education is attempted, the harder will it be to 

 impart. 



A habit, to be fully established, must have become 

 automatic, in which process memory (or the power of 

 connecting ideas) plays a large part. The 'bus horse 

 which has learned to associate the sound of the bell or 

 of the conductor's foot on the platform, with the idea 

 of going on, will have acquired the habit of starting forward 

 the moment he hears the well-remembered signal. 



Memory, as I have indicated, co-exists with conscious- 

 ness, and is possessed by all animals which are capable of 



