16 The Horse and his Master 



wishes. These should be very simple, and of such 

 a nature as to be understood easily by the horse. 

 From this it follows that in training horses one 

 should not talk to the animals ; this only confuses 

 them. Give few signals and give them as clearly 

 and uniformly as possible. Do not complicate them 

 with other influences, such as the presence of other 

 horses, or undue excitement and the like. Fear and 

 anger also detract from the horse's understanding, and 

 he should not be handled roughly when thus excited. 



Even with the simplest of signals, much patience is 

 often required to get the horse to comprehend what 

 is wanted. The moment he understands and com- 

 pletes the act desired, quiet him and repeat until 

 the idea becomes fixed. If the horse does not un- 

 derstand and we continue to force signals upon him, 

 as a rule he will become stubborn, impatient and 

 perhaps violent. The thing to do, therefore, is to 

 make the signals very simple, so simple that he can- 

 not do other than as commanded, and when he does 

 understand and completes the act, to repeat until 

 the habit is formed. 



Exact implicit obedience from the horse. — From 

 the beginning the horse must be taught that he can- 

 not resist us. This is very important in the training 

 of a horse, as he takes no interest in^-obeying. The 

 safety of the trainer as well as the usefulness of the 

 horse requires that he yield himself completely to 

 the guidance of his master. This implicit obedience 



