GENERAL RULES. 297 



school is, however, not always within reach, and we 

 must therefore see what can be done with horses that 

 have acquired vice to this extent. 



The first step to be taken in such cases is to restore 

 confidence, and make the horse feel that it will now be 

 subjected to kind and judicious treatment. This must 

 commence in the stable, and the foundation is best laid 

 by the man who feeds and cleans the animal ; and here 

 let it be remarked, that an example of violence or 

 severity given by the owner or trainer but too frequently 

 induces the groom to follow it up, and should therefore 

 be very carefully avoided. If, on the contrary, the 

 groom succeeds in getting the horse to move about in its 

 stall arid turn round, a good foundation is thereby laid 

 for the further treatment, and the trainer will do well 

 to follow it up himself precisely in the same manner, 

 giving the animal a handful of oats, a piece of bread, or 

 a lump of sugar, which most horses are very fond of, 

 whilst others prefer common salt. When you have got 

 thus far, let the groom lead the horse out in a con- 

 venient enclosed space : at first it will be best to put 

 nothing further on it than a snaffle, a surcingle, and a 

 cavesson. When on the ground, the trainer may ap- 

 proach it quietly, and, giving it some tit-bit, make much 

 of it, and then, with the assistance of the groom, fix the 

 reins of the snaffle loosely to the rings of the surcingle, 

 and firmly attach the line to the centre ring of the 

 cavesson, carefully avoiding all compulsion. When this 

 has been accomplished, gather up the lounge-line in 

 a neat and regular coil in your left hand, so that 

 if the horse makes a bolt it may run out without 

 entanglement ; and seizing the line about three or four 

 feet from the cavesson-ring with your right hand, place 



