422 KINDNESS TO HORSES. 



which no amount of kindness on our part can subdue. 

 Some of these animals allow us to get on their backs 

 and carry us quietly, so long as we permit them to 

 proceed at their desired pace ; but as soon as we 

 attempt to assert ourselves in this matter, they dis- 

 play their sullen tempers in various ways, either by 

 plunging, pulling, or setting up other defences against 

 our authority. If we insist on our orders being 

 obeyed, they show fight, or more usually a sullen 

 nagging resistance that continues the whole time we 

 remain on their backs, and they carry out the same 

 programme every time we ride them. With such 

 nasty tempered brutes, breaking is of no avail, for 

 they are quiet as long as we allow them to set the 

 pace and carry us as they like. A breaker who is 

 a good horseman and possessed of extreme tact and 

 patience, which of course is necessary, may continue 

 the fight longer than an ordinary rider cares to do, 

 but he can produce no permanent result, for he is 

 unable to give the animal a new heart. Therefore, 

 when we consider the important question of manners 

 in a horse, we should first learn all we can about the 

 disposition and temper of the animal both in and out 

 of the stable. Given a sound foundation to work 

 upon, that is to say, a placid generous tempered horse, 

 we may confidently set to work in polishing up his 

 manners as may be required, but with the sullen 

 brutes I have described, it is a useless task. We 

 find much the same thing in some human beings. 

 George Moore, in his novel, Esther Waters, graphic- 



