FEAR 225 



lias made him peculiarly excitable and he has an 

 imagination which magnifies everything, and has 

 become proverbial. It may be said that fear does 

 not arise, but is innate in the horse. To call it 

 forth the motion of a leaf in the wind is sufficient. 



Signs of fear. 



Eear is rarely so powerful and sudden in its 

 onset as not to allow of being perceived first. Even 

 in cases of sudden fear there is a moment of fore- 

 warning which is very brief, but which may be per- 

 ceived by the practical and attentive eye, which 

 all those who handle horses should have. Usually 

 the horse gives forewarning of fear by signs of 

 gradually increasing intensity if it is not excep- 

 tionally and peculiarly sudden. The signs of fear 

 are shown by the horse in a gradually increasing 

 degree, and in the direction of the object of fear. 



These signs are : — assuming an attitude of 

 attention by looking and listening, — pricking up 

 the ears restlessly forward and backward, and in 

 the direction in which he thinks he has heard a 



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