882 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



are not applicable to animals left unbridled upon the public road. 

 There is only one way to manage these that we know of: that is, to 

 grasp their heads firmly and seize them by the nostrils. On the whole, 

 the wisest thing to do with reference to a horse addicted to running 

 away is to get rid of him as soon as possible ; the pecuniary loss that 

 may result is not to be thought of for an instant, in view of the irrep- 

 arable accidents which might be the consequence of retaining him in 

 one's service. 



§ 2. General Causes of Vices (whether ascertained, prob- 

 able, OR surmised). 



The causes of vices are as yet but little understood, on account of 

 their extreme complexity. Their influence is either temporary or per- 

 manent ; this, in our opinion, explains the relative curability of the 

 untoward manifestations to which they give rise. 



Most authors who have made a study of this question concur in the 

 opinion that heredity is one of these causes. 



" Every horse," says De Lafont-Pouloti,^ " which is indolent, indo- 

 cile, timid, bad-mouthed, balky, stubborn, cowardly, skittish, or spite- 

 ful to man, is to be rejected, however perfect he may be otherwise ; his 

 get will have the same disposition." 



Hartmann thinks likewise that the oflTspring may inherit the good 

 qualities as well as the bad ones.^ 



Brugnone would exclude from reproduction all horses which are 

 skittish, too ardent, ill-natured, indocile, kickers, or biters ; also the 

 lazy, the irascible, and the cowardly.^ 



Demoussy* asserts that physical resemblance is not the only simi- 

 larity transmitted to the descendants, but that the latter inherit also the 

 moral qualities of their ancestors. For example, the shy horse would 

 usually beget timid colts. The great-grandchildren of Cardinal and of 

 Jaumont, and quite a number of the progeny of Curde would (accord- 

 ing to him) be distinguished from their contemporaries by their 

 excessive irritability and their irascible disposition. 



Professor Grognier^ speaks of moral tifualities which, transmitted 

 through many generations, have ultimately become race-types, such are 



1 De Lafont-Pouloti, Nouveaux regimes pour les haras, p. 23, Turin, 1787. 



2 Hartmann, Traite des iiaras, translated from the German, 2e 6d., p. 74, Paris, 1788. 



3 Brugnone, Tralt6 des haras, translated from the Italian by Barantin de Montehal, p. 53, 

 Paris, 1807. 



< Achille Demoussy, Traits complet des haras, p. 60, Tulle, 1833. 



6 L. F. Grognier, Cours de multiplication et de perfectionnement des diflKrents auimaux 

 domestiques, p. 239, 3e 6d., revised by Magne, Paris, 1841. 



