RESTIVENESS AND VICE. 141 



and persevering rider eventually gets his horse to pro- 

 ceed, in most cases at the expense of severe punishment 

 and some unwished-for excitement; and it is quite 

 possible that ever afterwards he will be carried by the 

 animal wherever he wishes to go without remonstrance. 

 The horse is no fool; on the contrary, he is most intelligent, 

 and he sees that his game won't do with that particular 

 man. He has tried it on, and found it fail, so he does 

 not waste more time and trouble. But, on the other 

 hand, with the timid rider he found his plan of action 

 answer ; and, rely upon it, he will never carry him in a 

 docile manner again, unless he happens to be ground 

 down with work, or unless from some other cause a 

 contest is considered undesirable by himself. Rearing 

 and kicking are usually considered vice ; but this horse I 

 should not call vicious, though he has done both. He 

 reared because he had probably found from experience 

 that the proceeding usually got him his own way. He 

 had no wish to fall back and crush his rider, or to hurt 

 him in any way. Very likely he did not kick with the 

 hope even of kicking him off; he merely wanted to 

 frighten him, and so gain his end. Allowed to go home 

 in the first case supposed, he went quite quietly, and had 

 no objection to carry his rider. The objection was not 

 to the rider personally, but to his course of action. In 

 a stand-up fight let those laugh who win, those who lose 

 not bear malice. Neither in losing nor winning would 

 this sort of horse bear malice. He would not object in 

 the stable to the presence of rider No. 2 more than that 

 of No. 1, the vanquished ; and so I should not call him 

 a vicious horse. These sort of rebels are invariably curs 

 at heart, which may be a consolation to their owners. 

 If the rider goes on long enough, he will eventually gain 



