888 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



all the excretory products which accumulate on the skin are removed, 

 and the hairs are cleansed of all foreign bodies that may adhere to 

 them. 



d. Again, training, or dressing, constitutes an important means 

 of preparation for the sale. By gentleness, caresses, and appetizing 

 delicacies the dealer by degrees teaches the horse to allow himself to be 

 approached, to be harnessed, to have his members touched and his feet 

 raised ; thus, also, his disposition is rendered more docile, he becomes 

 accustomed to his master's voice and person. The dealer leaves no 

 means untried : patience, kind treatment, intimidation, rebukes, brutal 

 blows, and narcotics, successively employed to tame him, if he be ill- 

 tempered, irascible, or vicious, and to dominate him by the mere fact 

 of his trainer's presence. 



When the training is completed, the most intractable animal has, 

 usually, become docile and obedient, is easily harnessed, saddled, bri- 

 dled, and mounted ; he no longer manifests fear of noises, people, and 

 things, simply because of the fear which the sight of his master awakens 

 in him. When he passes into other hands, however, often everything 

 changes its aspect : the defects reappear, and are the more readily 

 attributed to the unskilfulness of the purchaser, as the latter had not, 

 by his own showing, suspected them at the time of the sale. Fortu- 

 nately, these dishonest tricks are not resorted to by dealers who have 

 any regard for reputation. The good effects of the training which 

 they give to their horses are permanent, and many dealers will take 

 back, without objection, animals which do not suit their customers. In 

 such cases, however, it should not be forgotten that if the seller con- 

 sents to take back the animal, it is upon the well-understood condition 

 that the purchaser shall not go to his neighbors for one that suits him 

 better. The exchange which is offered to him always deprives him of 

 much of the self-confidence which he felt before he made his first mis- 

 take, and it is then that he should be especially cautious in his selec- 

 tion, so that the second transaction be not unsatisfactory, for he is at 

 the mercy of the man with whom he deals. 



It is by training that the pleasure-horse acquires the swan-like curve 

 of the neck which is so much admired in such animals. An instrument 

 of torture, called the cavalier de bois, is employed for this purpose. It 

 consists of two bars of wood crossed thus, X, consequently diverging 

 above and below from their point of intersection, and held in place 

 upon the back by means of an ordinary surcingle. It is so arranged 

 that, when the animal is bridled, the reins can be attached to a buckle, 

 by means of which they can be shortened at will. Nothing is then 



