AGGRESSIVENESS. 27 



acquired, as we may find any day on the racecourse among 

 animals which have been rendered " faint-hearted " by 

 " punishment." Many of these poor things show by the 

 tumultuous beating of their hearts that fear from the 

 mental association of their surroundings with the idea of 

 pain and also, most probably, the feeling of injustice, are 

 the causes of their not " trying." A tendency to " faint- 

 heartedness " is often inherited ; stubbornness may be the 

 result of a habit which, for instance, a timid rider or driver 

 has allowed the horse to acquire by giving it too much of 

 its own way. In jibbers, we may see many degrees of this 

 particularly bad habit, which, other things being equal, is 

 difficult to overcome in proportion to the severity and 

 frequency of the successful contests which the horse has 

 had with his would-be master. Here, the employment of 

 ineffectual punishment or of unavailing force serves only to 

 increase the horse's knowledge of his own power, which we 

 should always strive to withhold from him. If horses could 

 reason better than they do, the vice of jibbing would un- 

 doubtedly be more common among them than it is at 

 present. Laziness is often akin to obstinacy, as we may 

 find in some horses which, without actually jibbing, are 

 always ready to slacken their speed, even if they do not 

 stop entirely, the moment the rider or driver ceases to 

 stimulate them ; although the task required of them may 

 be well within their compass. On the other hand, some 

 of the " gamest " horses require a great deal of " rousing 

 up " in order to make them exert themselves to the utmost. 

 I may define jibbing as refusal to move or to go in a re- 

 quired direction by a horse which understands the. order 

 given, and which is well able to execute it if he wishes. 

 Long-continued privation in youth renders a horse more 

 or less spiritless and inclined to be sulky. 



Aggressiveness. By this term I wish to express the vice 



