USE AND ABUSE OF SPUES. 67 



so long as it is possible to do so, in his zeal to advance ; 

 when that begins to flag, by working the bit in his mouth 

 he is induced to proceed ; when this fails, a very slight 

 touch of one spur becomes necessary, to be increased only 

 as required. When excitation on that side is found to 

 have lost its effect, it is tried very gently on the other ; 

 and thus does the wild rider proceed, until he ends the 

 distance by coming in violently spurring with both heels 

 at every step of a gallop, that, from sheer faintness, has 

 dwindled down to a rate of hardly six miles an hour. 



Now a civilized traveller almost invariably commits 

 not only the unnecessary cruelty but the error of using 

 his spurs the moment his horse, as he fancies, requires 

 them ; by which means he for a very short time en- 

 courages, and then so completely discourages his poor 

 weak animal that he often fails altogether to get to the 

 end of the distance which his wild comrade, without 

 the slightest desire to be merciful, has rapidly and scienti- 

 fically accomplished. 



In the management, however, of horses in England, 

 the conditions of the case are totally different. Tied to 

 mangers, in which they feast on dry oats, beans, and hay, 

 no sooner do they leave their stables than the very sight 

 of creation animates them ; every carriage that trots by, 

 and every rider that passes, excites them. When brought 

 into condition, and then encouraged to compete against 



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