152 TAMING HORSES. 



wants to start quickly, or looks around and doesn't 

 want to go — there is something wrong, and he 

 needs kind treatment immediately. Caress him 

 kindly, and if he doesn't understand at once what 

 you want him to do, he will not be so much exci- 

 ted as to jump and break things, and do everything 

 wrong through fear. As long as you are calm, 

 and keep down the excitement of the horse, there 

 are ten chances to have him understand you, where 

 there would not be one under harsh treatment, and 

 then the little flare up would not carry with it any 

 unfavorable recollections, and he would soon for- 

 get all about it, and learn to pull true. Almost 

 every wrong act the horse commits is from mis- 

 management, fear, or excitement ; one harsh word 

 will so excite a nervous horse as to increase his 

 pulse ten beats in a minute. 



When we remember that we are dealing with 

 dumb brutes, and reflect how difficult it must be 

 for them to understand our motions, signs, and 

 language, we should never get out of patience with 

 them because they don't understand us, or wonder 

 at their doing things wrong. With all our intel- 

 lect, if we were placed in the horse's situation, it 

 would be difficult for ns to understand the driving 

 of some foreigner, of foreign ways and foreign lan- 

 guage. We should always recollect that our ways 

 and language are just as foreign and unknown to 



