KIND TEEATMENT A NECESSITY. 243 



"Whatever may have been its original source, the Racer has been 

 greatly improved by the mixture of Arab blood, through the means 

 of the Godolphin and Darley Arabians. The celebrated horse Eclipse 

 was a descendant, on the mother's side, of the Godolphin Arabian, that 

 wonderful animal which was rescued from drawing a cart in Paris, and 

 which was afterwards destined to play so important a part in regener- 

 ating the breed of English Racers. He was also descended, on his 

 father's side, from the Darley Arabian. 



The best-bred Horses are generally the most affectionate and docile, 

 although their spirit is very high and their temper hot and quick. 

 There are few animals which are more affectionate than a Horse, 

 which seems to feel a necessity for attachment; and if his sympathies 

 be not aroused by human means, he will make friends with the near- 

 est living being. Cats are great favorites with Horses, and even the 

 famous Chillaby — called, from his ferocity, the Mad Arabian — had 

 his little friend in the shape of a lamb, which would take any lib- 

 erties with him, and was accustomed to butt at tlie flies as they came 

 too near his strange ally. The Godolphin Arabian was also strongly 

 attached to a cat, which usually sat on his back or nestled in the man- 

 ger. When he died the cat pined away, and soon followed her loved 

 friend. 



These examples are sufficient to show that the ferocity of these an- 

 imals was caused by the neglect or ignorance of their human associates, 

 who either did not know how to arouse the affectionate feelings of the 

 animal or brutally despised and crushed them. The Horse is a much 

 more intellectual animal than is generally supposed, as will be acknow- 

 ledged by any one who has possessed a fiivorite Horse and treated it with 

 uniform kindness. 



There is no need for wliip or spur when the rider and steed under- 

 stand each other, and the bridle is reduced almost to a mere form, as 

 the touch of a finger or the tone of a voice js sufficient to direct the 

 animal. We are all familiar with the elephantine drayhorses that 

 march so majestically along with their load of casks, and which instan- 

 taneously obey the singular sounds which continually issue from the 

 throats of their conductors, and back, stop, advance, or turn to the 

 right or left, without requiring the touch of a rein or the blow of a 

 whip. The infliction of pain is a clumsy and a barbarous manner of 

 guiding a Horse, and we shall never reap the full value of the animal' 

 until we have learned to respect its feelings, and to shun the infliction 

 of torture as a brutal, a cowardly, and an unnecessary act. To mal- 

 treat a child is always held to be a dastardly and unmanly act, and it 

 is equally cow^ardly and unworthy of the human character to maltreat 

 a poor animal which has no possibility of revenge, no hope of redress, 

 and no words to make its wrongs known. Pain is pain, whether 



