THE ETHICS OF HORSE-KEEPING. 



somest, or the gentlest, or the most intelligent, or the 

 toughest, of animals. If these qualities fail, we come 

 down to minor excellences, such as the fineness of 

 his coat, the beauty of its color, the silkiness of his 

 mane, the length of his tail, or the nobility of his 

 descent. It is quite possible to buy for a small sum 

 horses of unexceptionable pedigree ; and though a 

 well-bred weed or screw really travels no better than 

 a " dunghill," yet his breeding will always command 

 admiration, and cast a reflected glory upon his owner. 

 The point of superiority may be this or that ; enough 

 that it distinguishes your horse from the ruck of 

 horses, and justifies in some measure, at least to the 

 world at large, the pride and pleasure that you take 

 in him. This reference to the opinion of others as a 

 guide for our affections, even when a human being 

 constitutes the object, is one of those vile traits that 

 lie hid in the murky depths of our nature. Was it 

 not remarked by George Sand, who knew the human 

 heart, and certainly took no pessimistic view of it, 

 that men love women not for what they think of 

 them, but for what they suppose other people to 

 think of them ? 



And yet there is another aspect of the matter. 

 Just as disinterested affection, or something approach- 

 ing it, may exist between man and woman, so it is 

 possible to be fond of a horse, and to be happy in his 

 well-being, with no admixture of those baser feelings 

 to which I have alluded. I wish that you, gentle 

 reader of this book, might be induced to try the fol- 

 lowing experiment. We will suppose that you have 

 a stable with an unoccupied stall in it, and by prefer- 

 ence, though it is not essential, that a paddock is 



