BRAINS VERSUS MUSCLES. 85 



rider could hardly see on his hands and knees, or to travel safely 

 in the darkness of night. His taste and smell direct him un- 

 erringly in the choice of herbage, or in the rejection of water 

 from a contaminated vessel, whilst his sensitive muzzle is the 

 oracle he appeals to, as superior to all his other powerful senses, in 

 deciding upon the danger or safety of any suspected object. 



174. — In memory of a road once travelled, in finding a far- 

 distant home through a trackless wilderness, or in reading the 

 concealed intentions of a would-be captor, the horse has some 

 perceptions superior to man. But whilst in physical power and 

 special senses man stands a pigmy by the side of the equine giant; 

 in reasoning power, he is the all powerful giant by the side of an 

 insignificant pigmy, and is called on to deal with an animal so 

 entirely in his power as to demand all the compassion, gentleness, 

 and forbearance that a noble nature is so anxious to extend to any 

 helpless object that has no means of resistance; no hope of a 

 defender. 



175, — With so much physical inferiority and so much mental 

 preponderance, the policy of the horse trainer should evidently 

 be to avoid any approach to a physical conflict, and to meet his 

 pupils' superior strength with the irresistable appliances of reason. 

 With good judgment and sufficient caution, it is in fact wonder- 

 fully easy to give such a simple animal the impression that he has 

 no power to resist your will ; but if once you allow him to provoke 

 you into a trial of strength against strength, in which he is sure 

 to succeed, the spell is broken and you have lost an advantage 

 which you can never again completely recover. The horse that 

 has once pulled at one end of a rope whilst you pulled at the other, 

 and has thus discovered that you are nobody in such a contest, or 

 that has shown you his heels, and seen how fast you fly from 

 them, has learned a lesson that he will never forget ; and will 

 never be made quite so gentle and obedient as one which has 

 never acquired that piece of information. 



176. — On the other hand, if he has ever been severely hurt 

 in his first contact with man and his appliances; has been 

 whipped, spurred, galled, had his jaw wrenched, kicked his legs 

 to pieces, or has turned a somersault with a lounging line, a tether 



