THE HORSE 



CHAPTER I 

 THE NATURE OF THE HORSE 



^ I ^HE horse Is subject to many distressing infirmities. 

 There are certain forms of spavin, for example, 

 so painful that they produce a peculiar emaciation of 

 the loins which is easily recognized. What, to take 

 another example, is navicular disease? Simply the 

 decay of a certain small bone in the foot, and this 

 decay often progresses so far that the bone Is largely 

 eaten away. It may be imagined how much the animal 

 suffers In stepping on a foot so diseased. 



The horse, as everybody knows, is also an excessively 

 nervous, sensitive creature, and suffers greatly from 

 harsh treatment, even though it stops short of being 

 brutal treatment. The reason why horses are more 

 docile In the hands of women than of men Is that a 

 woman's voice and touch are more gentle than those of 

 a man.^ 



This sensitiveness is not confined to race horses. The 

 work-horse Is often as sensitive as a trotter or runner, 



1 Dr. Reginald S. Timmis in Modern Horse Management, one of the 

 very best books on the horse ever published, says: "I remember a 

 thoroughbred mare that understood by my face whether I was angry or 

 pleased, and by smiling I could make a distinct impression upon her." 



[I] 



