Frightened Horses 89 



the best object with which to train the horse to 

 strange things, as we know when it is coming and 

 where it is going, which we are never sure of in the 

 case of an automobile. Choose a road or street 

 where the car-hne crosses, drive the horse up to 

 within, say approximately, one hundred yards of the 

 track and stop until a car passes. If he seems 

 nervous, caress him with the whip by stroking or 

 rubbing his back, and by the command '^ steady.'' 

 Drive over the tracks and something like an equal 

 distance beyond, and stop while another car passes. 

 This time the noise is in the rear. Repeat this 

 process, working the horse closer as each car passes, 

 until he will stand within a few feet of the tracks as 

 it passes. If perchance the car should stop at the 

 crossing, drive the horse up to it and let him feel it 

 with his nose. 



Never whip the horse past an object that causes 

 him fright. At the time he probably is so frightened 

 that he does not notice the blows of the whip until 

 the object is past, in which case he may associate 

 the pain with the object which caused his fright ; or 

 if he does feel the whip, he knows that it cannot do 

 him great injury ; whereas he does not know the 

 possibilities of the object and prefers the blows of 

 the former to facing the latter. In any event whip- 

 ping a frightened horse only increases his excitement 

 and makes him more difficult to drive past the object. 

 The better way is to caress him with the whip and 



