58 HORSES 



over horses entirely by the superiority of mind 

 over brute strength, and that a loss of temper is 

 an exhibition of weakness which brings us down 

 to their level. 



Whatever you may do with older horses, you 

 must never allow yourself to get irritated or angry 

 with young ones under any circumstances, and if 

 you have not sufficient control over your temper, 

 you had better leave the task to others. 



The natural instinct of a horse is to fear man, 

 and that is one of the first things you have to over- 

 come. Most of those disconcerting tricks to which 

 young horses are liable are the outcome of fear, 

 and they really become vices by improper handling. 



The qualities that go to make a perfect horse- 

 breaker are useful in every phase of life. He must 

 be cool ; his nerves and temper must be under 

 absolute control ; there must be no vacillation or 

 indecision in his composition, and he must not 

 know fear. Lastly, he should be rigidly firm, 

 unvaryingly kind, and always patient. This may 

 sound to you rather an alarming catalogue of 

 virtues, but if your health and nerves are good, 

 all the rest is merely a question of will. 



There are a great many methods of handling 

 young horses, and several books have been written 

 on the subject, but the most practical I have come 

 across is one by Captain Hayes. This work I will 

 recommend to you if it is your intention to tame the 

 unbroken colt, but I have not space here to go fully 

 into the matter. 



