296 THE SO-CALLED "INCAPACITATING VICES." 



creature which nature has endowed only with instinct. Needless torture, 

 though inflicted on a brute, rebounds to strike humanity. But mankind 

 have not yet so emerged from barbarism as to have entirely lost all relish 

 for those prejudices which justify cruelty. The written history of the 

 world is the sad record of a long struggle midst blood and suffering. 

 Only of late years have men dared to relax the laws, and only recently 

 have they sought to lessen crime, by educating the debased to perceive 

 the beauty of goodness. Might not a similar spirit, applied to horses, 

 diminish the number and lessen the fatality of equestrian accidents ? At 

 all events, such a suggestion deserves a trial. It should be experimented 

 with, if not for its novelty, because it proposes the adoption of behavior 

 which must gratify the better feelings of the master, and because it holds 

 forth a reasonable prospect of decreasing some of the more serious evils 

 by which human life is, at the present moment, too frequently en- 

 dangered. 



Before joining in the cry against equine vice, always investigate the 

 act which is adduced to justify the prejudice. Do this quietly. Look 

 fairly at the surrounding circumstances, and think how. these might pos- 

 sibly act upon a timid and a non-reasoning creature. Find out the 

 cause, if possible ; because, by so doing, you will best serve your own 

 interest. Knowing the cause, it is probable you may eradicate the effect. 

 But, before this is undertaken, the party must be prepared to exercise his 

 utmost patience ; for animals are slow to learn, and have to conquer their 

 terrors before they can exemplify the easiest of lessons. Only, once 

 taught, they are retentive scholars; and, by the pride they evince in 

 their acquirements, reward theii? instructor. 



To stimulate the proprietor unto that course of conduct which is 

 recommended above, it surely must be suflScient to remind him that the 

 opposite method has been long as it has been most perseveringly tried. 

 Severity, however, although enthusiastically exemplified, notoriously has 

 only imperiled man, without in any way amending the habits of the 

 animal. Therefore the reader is asked, if it is reasonable to continue 

 the proceeding which, having been largely tested, has induced nothing 

 but misfortune ? 



