208 MEMORY. 



quietly with her as ever. This is almost like reason. 

 When I first got on after her ill usage, a fear of its repe- 

 tition made her plunge with me : had I punished her for 

 it, she never would have carried me again ; but finding I 

 did not, she got confidence. She had never been hurt 

 by my wife or the boy, so she was quiet with them ; 

 but she had her suspicions of strangers roused, so she 

 would not carry them : I sold her to a friend, who 

 acted like a reasonable man : he begged the boy of 

 me ; took the mare home, and began by feeding and 

 caressing her for several days before he attempted to 

 mount her, and then got on her in her stable : she 

 carried him as quietly as she did the boy, but she 

 never would let any stranger mount her ever after- 

 wards without trying to get him off. She gradually 

 got better, but never could bear any one she was 

 unused to. 



I bought a mare for a friend some time afterwards, 

 and was warned that, though perfectly quiet and good 

 tempered, if struck in the stable with a stick, the 

 water-brush, currycomb, or even the hand, she would 

 lash out immediately. This was the case : a man 

 might give her a pat on the haunch if he wanted her 

 to move over in her stall, and spoke to her to tell her 

 what he wanted ; but a smack with the back of the 

 hand, even as a correction, sent her heel or heels flying 

 in a moment. No doubt this all arose from having 

 been beaten in her stall. 



Having shown the effects of improper and ill usage 

 of horses, I will give one of the effects of fright. This 

 occurred also to a mare my wife used, but in a pony 

 phaeton : her great merit was her perfect docility and 

 good temper. I was riding her one day ; a carriage 

 came behind us, knocked the galloway down on her 

 side, sending me under the feet of the horse that drew 



