EASIER PUPILS. 193 



432. — A horse that is always to be used as a shaft liorse, or 

 to go behii)d in a long team may advantageously be taught the 

 guiding words '* Hie" and " Hoot," instead of " Haw" and 

 " Gee," so that he can be directed in one direction whilst his 

 leaders are turning in the other. 



433. — It will be seen that we have given the word " whoa" 

 no place in our small vocabulary. It is a word so universally 

 abused, and one so liable to be apphed, with an endless 

 variety of meanings, by each thoughtless busy body that 

 approaches a horse, that it is best to let it alone altogether, and 

 not confuse your horse with the use of a word which you vrill not 

 be able to limit to any one meaning. 



434. — Having settled upon the words to be used, the next 

 business is to teach the horse to understand them. You cannot 

 too distinctly bear in mind that your difficulty will be in getting 

 your words understood, not in getting them obeyed. Once get 

 them understood and they will be obeyed fast enough. Your 

 pupil is only two wilhng, too nervous, too timid. Any careless 

 man can teach an ox to guide to the whip and voice, because the 

 ox is less timid, less sensitive, less willing to exert himself, 

 so that careless blows and loud words have not the same fatal 

 effect upon him that they have upon the horse. For the same 

 reason the old fashioned lymphatic cart horse was more easily 

 taught this business than the more nervous horse of the present 

 period, and the cart horse more easily than the blood horse. 



435. — You must approach the young horse as you would 

 approach a foreigner who does not understand a word of your 

 language, not as you would approach a deaf man, or an inatten- 

 tive boy. He can hear better than you can, and is never 

 inattentive to any new sound, so that shouting and whipping 

 will only hopelessly confuse and alarm him, and render it impos- 

 sible for him to give you the calm attention and placid obedience 

 you want to ensure. 



436. — All the words demanding action and exertion will be 



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