2 VICE IN THE HORSE. 



may induce a young and undisciplined horse to rub 

 itself against a wall, to crouch, and even to lie down, 

 or to throw up its head, and perhaps to rear. The 

 breaker at once sees, in these ordinary actions of an 

 animal that has hitherto been permitted to follow 

 its own devices, signs of a vicious and headstrong 

 disposition, and he flogs the horse for doing that 

 which was, under the circumstances, natural and 

 without sinister motives. The next time that the 

 colt wishes to scratch its side, or feels the pinching 

 of the saddle, or is hurt by the bit, it will remember 

 the punishment that followed its previous effort 

 for relief, and, nervous, excited, and foreboding 

 evil, but still in ignorance of any real wrong on its 

 part, it will rush up to the wall, or throw itself 

 down, or rear higher than it intended. Another 

 whipping, and we have a dangerous habit fixed in 

 the animal's mind, a habit that cannot be eradicated 

 under the course of treatment by which it was in- 

 duced, and therefore in all probability the horse 

 becomes vicious. 



Because certain of the movements that are em- 

 ployed in the schools for disciplining the horse are 

 used for show in the circus-ring, there is now 

 a prejudice against anything that savours of the 

 7nandge. These movements are useful in prepar- 

 ing horses for any purpose, although not < abso- 



