PREFACE. IX. 



hearJess are attracted by the trick?;, and atrocious barbarities, 

 adopted by the bhicklegs among horse dealers. But enlightened 

 self-interest is the most powerful, and by far the most generally 

 applicable antidote to cruelty, and should, at least, save the young 

 horse from the injuries of ignorance, and to him ignorance forms 

 the most substantial danger. 



Let breeders and owners suflficiently understand that the 

 education of the young horse is no question of craft, mystery, or 

 even skilled horsemanship ; bat demands temper, judgment, tact, 

 and qualities only to be found in a superior class of men, and we 

 may hope to see fewer cruel mistakes, and consequently losses in 

 that direction. With horses educated under the eye of those who 

 know how it should be done, and who have a direct pecuniary 

 interest in the result, an entirely dilfereut system would be adopted, 

 with results that would not be uncertain, either humanely, 

 morally, or commercially. 



After seeing the horse, both tame and wild, reduced to 

 obedience by men of various degrees of civilization, in every 

 quarter of the globe, our aim has been to select the system that 

 would give us the best possible horse with the least expenditure 

 of time and trouble. In this we have succeeded beyond our most 

 sanguine expectations, and by the most humane and simple means 

 We therefore record these methols for the benefit of the horse 

 and its owner, certain that, if faithfully carried out, they will not 

 fail to contribute to the welfare and happiness of both. 



For the harness horse we have entirely and invariably 

 succeeded in preventing that vice which has caused the greatest 

 exhibition of cruelty, and the greatest depreciation of value, from 

 which he has ever suffered, and we have the satisfaction of 

 knowing that the adoption of our advice would remove a weight 

 of suffering from the horse, and a load of sin from his owner, 

 that would make the w^orld less sad. 



If we have forsaken the beaten paths of orthodox horse 

 management, and called in question the teachings of those who 

 have long been looked up to as great authorities, our defence 

 must be, that for half-a-century we have gone to a greater Teacher, 

 and have been shewn that they were wrong. 



