48 THE AMERICAN HORSEWOMAN. 



is punished by the lash of these silence-loving 

 tyrants, in whose opinion the horse has enough 

 occupation and excitement in gazing at the 

 blank boards directly in front of his head. If 

 these boards should happen to be whitewashed, 

 as is often the case in the country, constant 

 gazing at them will be almost sure to give rise 

 to shying, or even to occasion blindness. If the 

 reader will, for several minutes, gaze steadily 

 at a white wall, she will be able to get some 

 idea of the poor horse's sensations. 



Is it then to be wondered at, that an animal 

 of an excitable nature like the horse should, 

 when released from the oppressive quiescence 

 of his prison-house, act as if bereft of reason, 

 and perform strange antics and caperings in 

 his insane delight at once more breathing the 

 fresh air, and seeing the outside world. But, 

 while the horse is thus expressing his pleas- 

 ure and recovering the use of limbs by vig- 

 orous kicks, or is expending his superfluous 

 energy by bounding out of the road at every 

 strange object he encounters, the saddle will be 

 neither a safe nor pleasant place for the lady 

 rider. To avoid such danger, and to compen- 

 sate, in some degree, the liberty-loving animal 

 for depriving him of his natural life and placing 

 him in bondage, he should be given, instead of 



