2 THE HORSE 



and needs the same kind of man to handle him and take 

 care of him. "A horse is hke a child," said an old 

 circus trainer. "He appreciates kind treatment and 

 rapidly learns to love the attendants who greet him 

 with pleasant words and a caressing pat, and in nine 

 cases out of ten he will prove to be a willing pupil." 



No matter how well fed a horse may be or how easy 

 may be his work, if he has a brutal driver or groom he 

 will never be In an easy frame of mind, and conse- 

 quently will never be in really good condition. " What 

 is the reason," said one teamster to another, "that 

 Phin's horses always look so bad? He feeds well." 

 " Why ! " said the other, " Phin is like a wasp around a 

 horse;" and that explains exactly the attitude of some 

 men to their horses. 



This same sensitiveness is what makes the horse so 

 Interesting, so capable of training and development, so 

 responsive to the sHghtest word, sign, or touch. Here 

 Is an animal highly organized, spirited, docile, and, if 

 well treated, beautiful — a creature so wonderfully con- 

 trived that a man might spend a dozen lifetimes In 

 learning how to ride, drive, shoe, handle, and train 

 him — to say nothing of curing him when he is 111, or 

 healing him when he Is Injured. To some persons, and 

 I trust that the reader is Included among them, this 

 animal Is the most Interesting thing In the world. 



