THE SO-CALLED "INCAPACITATING VICES" 293 



When a horse is thus impelled, it is, as was Insisted upon in the " Illus- 

 trated Horse Doctor," useless to tug at the reins or to slash with the 

 whip. Such acts may aggravate the peril, but they cannot check the 

 movement, which originates in a dread that lifts its victim above all 

 earthly restraints. The brain is then excited and confused ; the pain, 

 which the body shall fail to recognize, nevertheless may prove an ad- 

 ditional stimulant to the wildness that approaches near to positive 

 despair. 



The quadruped is not to blame. It has been guilty of no fault. Its 

 behavior may displease its present master; but the horse has no ability 

 to struggle with a fear which was generated by disease. The alarm was 

 the offspring of a cause beyond the aid of medicine and removed from 

 the help of surgery. Such an animal, however, should not be left en- 

 tirely to its fate; for "running away" is apt to become more frequent 

 upon repetition. The eyes, thus afflicted, should be covered when the 

 quadruped is taken abroad ; for it is safer to sit behind a creature which 

 is sightless, than one which is possessed only of a dangerous or of an 

 imperfect vision. 



Then, to explain the motives for that forbearance and to render clear 

 the prudence of that gentleness which the reader has been recommended 

 to practice. Let it be inquired, can pain be esteemed a corrective of 

 terror ? It was an apprehension of suffering which created the alarm. 

 To render such a dread a reality, does not appear to be the readiest 

 method of dispelling the feeling which has been generated by the imagin- 

 ary possibility of agony being encountered. The quickest plan by which 

 any particular sensation can be destroyed, certainly is to excite another 

 emotion that is the opposite of the one we are desirous should be dis- 

 pelled. Then awaken an assurance of security, and, of course, alarm is 

 annihilated. It may not be a popular or an heroic line .of treatment 

 which the author has presumed to propose; but, assuredly, the safest 

 way to destroy a fear is to kindle an emotion which shall be antagonistic 

 to that it is desirable to remove. 



Such conduct, however, would be directly opposite to what is at 

 present generally exemplified by the majority of mankind. A horse 

 bolts, or it runs away, and the act is hastily concluded to originate in 

 a "vicious propensity" which the animal delights in indulging. The 

 creature is spoken of as a "bolter." The topmost speed and the blindest 

 flight is, by equestrians, regarded as the gratification of a malicious spirit, 

 and, thus considered, only elicits a firm resolution to subdue its exhibi- 

 tion at every hazard. The reins are sawn and the whip is plied, until 

 agony has driven terror to madness, and some awful disaster puts a 

 termination to the unsightly proceeding. 



