ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. Ill 



being dreadfully alarmed by one kind of object, wbicb to 

 another is not at all forniidable. When a horse finds 

 that he gains his object by turning round, he will often 

 repeat the turning without cause, pretending to be alarmed 

 and looking out for excuses for it. This is not at all 

 uncommon, and with timid riders leads to a discontinuance 

 of the ride, by which the horse gains his end for the time, 

 and repeats the trick on the first occasion. In genuine 

 shying from fear, the eyes are more or less defective ; but 

 sometimes this is not the cause, which is founded upon 

 a general irritability of the nervous system. Thus there 

 are many which never shy at meeting wagons or other 

 similar objects, but which almost drop with fear on the 

 sight of a small bird flying out of a hedge, or any other 

 startling sound. These are also worse, because they give 

 no notice, whereas the ordinary shyer almost always 

 shows by his ears that he is prepared to turn. For shyers 

 the only remedy is to take as little notice as possible, 

 to make light of the occurrence, speak encouragingly yet 

 rather severely, and to get them by the object some how 

 or other. If needful, the aid of the spur and whip may 

 be called in, but not as a punishment. If the horse can 

 be urged by the object at which he is shying without the 

 whip or the spur, so much the better; but if not, he must 

 do so by their use. Whenever fear is the cause of shying 

 punishment only adds to that fear; but when vice has 

 supplanted fear, severity sliould be used to correct it. As 

 a general rule, the whip need never to be used, unless the 

 horse turns absolutely around, and not then unless there 

 is reason to suspect that he is pretending fear. If only 

 he will go by the object, even with a " wide berth," as 

 the sailors say, he may be suffered to go on in his way un- 



