8 The Horse and his Master 



The sense of feeling requires patient training. — 

 In the beginning the horse must be accustomed to 

 handhng by his master. The horse should permit 

 every part of the body to be rubbed, but care should 

 be exercised in touching the back of the front legs, 

 the belly and the front of the hind legs, as these parts 

 are very sensitive. Early in life he learns that pres- 

 sure apphed at the halter indicates that he should 

 move forward, and later he learns that a backward 

 pressure on the bit indicates to move backward. 

 The horse familiarizes himself with external objects 

 by the touch, particularly with the nose. 



Often horses show much alarm at strange objects 

 in familiar places, such as an empty bag lying in the 

 paddock or a hat by the roadside. The horse will 

 usually walk a few steps toward the object and then 

 circle round and round it, gradually reducing the 

 circle, getting nearer and nearer, until finally he puts 

 his nose on the object. He does this to touch the 

 object, and not primarily to smell it. After thus 

 touching the object the horse's alarm disappears. 

 This is simply the animal's method of getting ac- 

 quainted with the strange object. Because of this 

 the horse should be permitted to feel strange objects, 

 such as the harness, the shafts and the like, in order 

 that he may become familiar with them. If this 

 precaution is taken before the harness is placed on 

 the horse's back or before being hitched into the 

 shafts, much needless confusion may be avoided. 



