ECCENTRICITIES. 1G7 



liiiu effectually without hurting him, lie will often not pull a 

 second time, but if we tie him up with a chain that cuts into his 

 neck, he will generally pull at it again and again, and not 

 unfrequently until he kills himself. If we fix a bundle of straw 

 behind a kicking horse, he will not kick long at it. but if he cuts 

 his legs at each kick against the splinters or iron work of a 

 carriage, he will probably kick as long as he has a leg left to kick 

 with. If we carefnlly take off a young horse's bridle, so tliat 

 the bit comes out of his mouth without hurting him, he will soon 

 quietly help us to take it out of his mouth : l)ut if in taking off a 

 bridle, we awkwardly twist the bit so as to seriously hurt his 

 tongue or jaws, he will for months or years afterwards pull 

 violently on it whenever he finds the slightest hitch about it. 

 The horse that has again and again been put into the collar, and 

 finds that no harm comes of it, gets at last to suspect none, and 

 takes it easy under all circumstances, but if lie gets seriously 

 beaten or hurt, in any of his early lessons, he is always ready to 

 expect some great calamity in connection with a tightly pressing 

 collar, and will stick up to receive any amount of punishment in 

 the most unexpected and unaccountable manner, whilst each 

 beating that he receives will cause the habit to be more confirmed, 

 and the sticking up to be more frequent and more obstinate. 



;373. — There are other strange facts in connection with the 

 horse's habits, which it is desirable to understand in dealing with 

 him. Thus, if he hurts his neck or head in pulling back, he will 

 pull back the more, but if he hurts his tail in doing so, he will 

 often not pull back at all ; on the other hand, if he hurts his tail 

 or legs by kicking, he will kick the more, but if he seriously hurts 

 his mouth by doing so, he will not kick again. By carefully 

 observing the peculiar instincts of any animal in our charge, and 

 meeting them with our superior reason, we can make the horse our 

 obedient servant without being our tortured victim ; we can cure 

 most of his bad habits and secure our own safety by some simple 

 stratagem ; we only convert his eccentricities into real dangers, 

 and abandon our natural superiority when we attack them with 

 savage cruelty. 



074. — Xo horse would guide easily and pleasantly to a bit 



