22 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



thence rapidly to where you had already arrived, 

 always gaining ground a considerable distance 

 further every time this happens ; the head, ears, 

 neck and body being tenderest, proceed from the 

 back to the root of the tail. 



This must be managed with great dexterity, as 

 a horse is never to be depended on that is skit- 

 tish about the tail. Let your hands fall lightly 

 and rapidly on that part next to the body a 

 minute or two, and then you will begin to give 

 it a slight pull every quarter of a minute, at the 

 same time you continue this augment the force of 

 the strokes, as well as the raising of the tail, 

 until you can raise it with the greatest of ease, 

 which generally happens in a quarter of an hour 

 in most horses, and in others almost immediately. 

 It remains now to handle all his legs ; from the 

 tail come back again to the head, handle it well, 

 also the ears, breast, neck, etc., speaking now 

 and then to the horse. Begin by degrees to de- 

 scend to the legs, always ascending and descend- 

 ing, gaining ground every time you descend, until 

 you get to its feet. Talk to the horse in Latin, 

 Greek, French, English, or Spanish, or in any 

 other language you please, but let him hear the 

 sound of your voice, which at the beginning is 

 not quite necessary, but which I have always 

 done in making it lift up its feet. At the time 

 of speaking to it lift its foot with your hand. It 

 soon becomes familiar with sounds and will hold 

 up its feet, and in a short time the horse will let 

 you lift them and even take them up in your 

 arms. All this operation is no magnetism, no 



