454 BREAKING AND TRAINING. 



became gentle and familiar as a dog ; l»ut toward other representatives 

 of humanity it still was urged by that dread which had been established 

 in its colthood. 



The quadruped, being thus susceptible to impressions, of course re- 

 quires a treatment dictated by wisdom and originating in humanity. No 

 maudlin familiarity must ever be indulged, which may cause the slave to 

 forget it is in the presence of its master. Love delights in humility; 

 but the feelings are traitorous which tempt mortality to assume such a 

 character before its equine dependent. The aptitude for being spoilt 

 pervades all animal life. It is only more strongly marked in the horse 

 than in other creatures. The dog, when too much indulged, loses its 

 affection in its sense of power: it will often snap at the hand which 

 feeds it. The horse requires, at all times, a conviction of authority to 

 restrain its strength. If permitted to indulge its own will, — to stop 

 when the voice says "go on," — it changes from the most subservient of 

 slaves into the most capricious of masters. Therefore man, in his inter- 

 course with the equine race, should, from prudential motives, never be 

 cruel ; but, to anticipate the necessity for punishment, he should remem- 

 ber that nature had created the horse to serve and given it a disposition 

 to obey. 



Kindness, however, is essential. When training a racer, excess of 

 fluid is assuredly inimical to condition. But it is not therefore desirable 

 to place the animal where a morbid longing is certain to be generated. 

 That, however, is now always done. The stable is heated with impurity: 

 fever is the consequence. Food is given dry : the raging thirst of dis- 

 ease is thereby aggravated. Still, the trainer laments many of his horses 

 will not eat, while more fail during his efforts to promote their condition. 

 Could he be persuaded to amend his ways, possibly he would have less 

 occasion to sorrow over imaginary misfortunes I 



Place the horse in a warm, but airy, loose box. Give the water min- 

 gled with the food, or soak the fodder before presenting it. The creature 

 naturally consumes little liquid during health. But if the body be dis- 

 eased, morbid appetites are excited. Now, condition is the perfection 

 of possible health, and the author only complains because modern train- 

 ing is not calculated to attain the end at which it obviously strives. 

 Therefore, much is ruined and little perfected under the prevailing sys- 

 tem. The measures are wrong, simply because they are cruel. They 

 are calculated to provoke resistance rather than win obedience from a 

 simple being. Severity never shows itself so abhorrent as when ex- 

 ercised over the meek and the submissive. 



At the same time that man's power may be perfect, it should be as a 

 law of existence : it should be exercised from the hour of birth, not sud- 



