42 THEORY OF HORSE-CONTROL. 



EFFECT OF THE VOICE. 



The horse's keen perception of sound makes the human 

 voice a powerful means, by association of ideas, of con- 

 trolling and guiding him. As he readily recognises change 

 of tone (see page 19), but not of words ; we should reserve 

 a particular tone for each of our different orders, the 

 number of which should, in this respect, be kept as small 

 as possible, so that ambiguity may be avoided. Also, 

 it is of course well to have only one unvarying word or 

 expression for each order. M. James Fillis says : "To 

 teach a horse ' at liberty ' [in a school or circus] to advance 

 at the walk, trot, or canter, one says ' walk ' in a com- 

 paratively low tone ; ' trot' while slightly raising the 

 voice ; and ' canter' in a loud, commanding tone. If you 

 utter the word ' canter ' softly, the horse will remain at the 

 walk ; if loudly, he will immediately strike off into the 

 canter." I have seen very dangerous animals approached 

 and handled with impunity, merely by " shouting at " 

 them, and terrified ones rendered tranquil by a few gentle 

 words. To obtain the full effect of the voice, we should, 

 while employing it, utilise the principle of association of 

 ideas. As cases in point, I may mention teaching horses 

 to halt (see page 182), and to stand steady (see page 324). 

 As suggested on page 34, we should avoid wearying the 

 attention of the animal by needlessly speaking to him. In 

 fact, we should reserve the use of our voice for occasions 

 on which it is needed to produce a definite effect. 



EMULATION AND IMITATION. 



In breaking, emulation may often be useful by, for instance, 

 infusing " life " into a lazy pupil by " company." We 

 find the benefit of imitation when a frisky youngster, on 

 being put into double-harness, copies the staid demeanour 



