HOW OBEDIENCE IS TAUGHT 



209 



in danger. Given a bad will and a bad disposi- 

 tion, other good qualities such as agility, strength 

 and powers of resistance, are of no value because 

 the horse will not place them at our disposal. The 

 horse with a good nature yields service freely and 

 out of hand. In order to get the sly and untrust- 

 worthy horse to obey he must always be kept uni- 

 ted and this very often cannot be done. 



Obedience is much more necessary in a strong, 

 well-fed horse than in a weak and ill-fed one. 

 With a weak horse there is still some possibility 

 of liolding him back by physical strength but 

 none witli a strong one. The bad-tempered horse 

 who attacks is not suited for the pui-pose of riding 

 because he is not afraid of punishment and is 

 therefore not susceptible of persuasion to obedience. 

 He requires many powerful means of material 

 coercion, and if we succeed in overcoming him by 

 them , after having been set free he again attacks 

 man and is a continual danger to man. In our 

 countries the entires are rarely reducible to obe- 

 dience, and for this reason are not suited for the 

 purpose of riding. 



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