SHYING 



without a warranty, of course, as even if his rider or driver 

 can control him, it is no pleasure to go about in constant 

 dread of an accident occurring if vigilance is relaxed for an 

 instant. Confirmed shyers are, however, not very common, 

 but there are hundreds of otherwise very serviceable horses 

 which, owing to defective vision or natural nervousness, 

 possess a pet aversion to some particular object, or a certain 

 part of a road, which they always shy at. In many cases this 

 tendency may be reduced, if not cured, by gentleness and 

 firmness, the only thing to do being to insist upon the horse 

 approaching the object that scares him, and having a good 

 look at it. If he can be got to smell it, so much the better, 

 and if the lesson can be repeated a few times he may get 

 over his nervousness altogether. A horse will very often 

 shy suddenly at something he sees which terrifies him, 

 thereby displaying the possession of a gift of self-preserva- 

 tion for which he is scarcely to be blamed, but the usual 

 fate that befalls him is to receive a thrashing, which simply 

 convinces him that his apprehensions were well founded, as 

 he naturally will associate the chastisement with the object 

 that scared him. On the other hand, if he is gently remon- 

 strated with at first — rougher language may be resorted to 

 later — and made to face the imaginary danger, the horse is 

 likely to arrive at the conclusion that he made a mistake, 

 and will therefore be wiser in the future. Each case of shy- 

 ing, however, should be dealt with on its own merits, and it 

 must never be forgotten that no animal is more easily con- 

 trolled by the human voice than the horse. If the shyer 

 suddenly whips round and refuses to face the cause of his 

 terror, some one will have to try and lead him up to it, but 

 the rider or driver should never dismount in case he may 

 take it into his head to bolt. An effective remedy for shying 

 in the case of some horses is to increase the size of the 

 blinkers so that the animals can scarcely see where they are 

 going, but this, of course, is impossible when riding horses 

 are concerned. Working a shyer in a pair alongside a 

 steady horse is also occasionally the means of gaining him 



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