40 THEORY OF HORSE-CONTROL. 



although it may make the horse stand steady while it is 

 being employed, its application, whether on upper lip or 

 ear, will almost certainly render him subsequently more or 

 less difficult to handle near the former seat of pain. The 

 same object may be urged against the use of the cavesson 

 (see page 131) for inflicting blows on the horse's nose, 

 with a like object. The practice of jerking the reins so 

 as to hurt the " bars " of the animal's mouth, with the 

 intention of punishing him for unsteadiness, is still more 

 reprehensible ; for as long as the reins are associated in his 

 retentive mind with the idea of pain, so long will he receive 

 with suspicion, fear, or resentment, all orders conveyed to 

 him through the reins, and consequently his usefulness will 

 be more or less impaired for any service that demands 

 pluck and " cleverness." These remarks apply to the 

 employment of the spurs, and to the whip in all its forms. 

 In fact, the use of all such " aids " or indications, as we 

 shall see more fully in the following chapters, should be 

 reserved, as far as practicable, for their legitimate work of 

 telling the horse what his master wishes him to do. If we 

 accept the axiom that one of the chief duties as breakers 

 is to establish a clearly understood code of signals between 

 ourselves and the horse, we should not increase the 

 difficulty which all horses have in comprehending these 

 signals, by rendering their meaning ambiguous to him, as 

 we would do, were we sometimes to use them as definite 

 orders, and at other times, as the means of inflicting punish- 

 ment for faults which the horse may or may not know he 

 has committed. 



The fact that a horse, like a child, has a keen sense of 

 injustice, fully accounts for the readiness with which his 

 temper may be spoiled by punishment unconnected in his 

 mind with the committal of a fault. Nothing can be more 

 opposed to reason than to reward a horse for doing wrong, 



