12 RIDING AN"D TRAIJiTING SADDLE-HORSES. 



the victor, a high-spirited animal may be made incurably 

 vicious, when, by milder treatment, he could be subdued 

 without endangering his usefulness. A rebuke in a harsh 

 tone of Yoice will generally suffice to correct a horse, and 

 he will not know how to resent it. The best way to con- 

 trol the horse is through firmness and kindness, but 

 timidity is worse than severity in inducing vice. 



The young horse soon becomes tractable, and, as long 

 as his temper is unruffled, he desires to do that which is 

 required of him. Until the spirit of rebellion is awak- 

 ened, he is as anxious to avoid the perils of battle as his 

 master should be. If, upon an occasion, he declines to 

 perform some movement that is required of him, let his 

 attention be turned to that which will please him, and 

 his obedience in this will induce his obedience afterwards 

 to the first demand. To give up to him after a battle 

 will confirm his obstinacy, but he will soon forget his 

 unnoticed defiance. Under proper treatment he will in 

 time yield to the will of his master, without dreaming of 

 resistance. 



The story of Tarleton taming his savage steed with 

 bloody spurs, and the vivid descriptions of the manner in 

 which the Mexican breaks the spirit of the mustang, may 

 pass to adorn the pages of a romance, or to heighten the 

 interest of a traveller's tale. But, aside from the cruelty 

 and peril of such methods, there remains the fact that 

 horses so broken submit for the time only, and the 

 struggle is to be repeated more or less often. Except in 

 those rare cases of horses naturally vicious, and they are 

 lunatics, fear is the mastering passion of the horse. It 

 is cowardice that drives him to desperate resistance 



