AFFECTION. 19 



known to injuriously affect his appetite. I think we must 

 accept the fact that his affection towards man, however 

 highly it might be cultivated, is too slight to admit of its 

 being utilised in our service. I have observed that horses 

 in whom the instinct of gregariousness is strongly de- 

 veloped, are frequently sulky, or at least have their hearts 

 somewhat " behind their work " when alone, evidently on 

 account of their thoughts being with their absent -com- 

 panion or companions, instead of with the business at 

 which they are engaged. The horse exhibits little or 

 no love for the admiration of man, which in the dog is a 

 valuable means of education. We may often find a dog 

 striving to win our approval by bringing us a stone to 

 throw away, and thus to give him an opportunity of showing 

 his cleverness by retrieving it. 



The sexual or reproductive instinct is often a great hin- 

 drance to the success of equine education. Some mares 

 are always more or less " in season," or are liable to become 

 so if anything rubs against their hind quarters. When 

 afflicted with this form of nymphomania, they are, as a 

 rule, " jady," apt to kick, and otherwise unreliable. The 

 entire, from combativeness engendered by sexual rivalry, 

 sometimes shows a strong tendency to " savage." The ex- 

 perience I have had among wild and unbroken horses leads 

 me to think that the vice of attacking with the teeth is 

 either sexual or acquired ; for geldings, which have been 

 emasculated young, and which have not been brought 

 under the influence of man, exhibit it to a very trifling 

 extent ; although, under provocation, they will freely lash 

 out behind, cow-kick, or strike out with their fore legs. 



Sense of hearing. The horse, agreeably to the anecdote 

 told on page 15, and as we might infer from observing the 

 almost constant play of his ears when he is in the open, 

 pays great attention to sounds, and is very quick to mark 



?* 



