TRAINING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 1 5 



follow US. Now, take a colt that is afraid of a fixed 

 object, see how he will walk round and round it, 

 snorting from time to time, and gradually getting 

 nearer, until he puts his nose upon it. The 

 nose is the forehand of the horse, and it is by using it, 

 and by exercising the sense of touch or feeling, that 

 he makes himself acquainted with any thing that 

 he may have been frightened of at first. So you see 

 how injudicious and absurd it is to beat a horse 

 for being afraid of any particular object, because 

 by doing so you increase his fear of the same, as he 

 naturally connects the abuse he receives with the object 

 of which he is afraid. Some horses confirmed in 

 shying (although perhaps only through some defect in 

 their eyesight), that have been treated in this manner, 

 will even shy at every dark stain on a road, and after 

 doing so you will see them give a jump, and then cringe 

 expecting the whip. 



It is natural for a horse to remove anything 

 that causes him annoyance. If a fly alights upon 

 his mane you will see him shake his head ; if on his 

 breast, knock it off with his mouth ; if on the fore-leg 

 strike the ground ; if on his quarters, switch his tail and 

 knock it off (if he can); and if anything touches 

 him behind he kicks to remove it. Thus kicking is one 

 of the natural laws of the horse, and I claim that the 

 process of teaching a horse not to kick under the old 

 system (if it ever does succeed) is never terminated. 



