8 MENTAL QUALITIES OF THE HORSE. 



great force. When, however, obedience to the rein is 

 taught (as I shall explain further on) in a manner which it 

 is impossible for the horse to resist, the intensity of the 

 impression produced will be superior to that of almost any 

 opposing agency. Here the action, which is the result of 

 the strongest motive, will, in almost all cases, be in accord- 

 ance with the teaching of the discipline which the horse had 

 previously found to be irrresistible. We must disabuse 

 our minds of the old fallacy (which has done much to retard 

 progress in the art of horse-breaking) that quick methods 

 are necessarily less permanent in their effects, than those 

 which demand a much longer time for their carrying out. 

 In saying this, I in no way wish to convey the idea that 

 repetition is useless. On the contrary, it will be needed 

 in almost all cases to confirm a habit, no matter how 

 strong the first impression may have been. Acting on 

 the principle of intensity of impression, with suitable 

 repetition, we shall obtain far better breaking results in 

 a tenth of the time required by those who depend chiefly 

 on repetition. 



The power of memory is, like instinct, susceptible of 

 cultivation. 



Connected with memory, there are three points to 

 which I would wish to direct the attention of my readers : 

 (i) With age, the power of making new associations of 

 ideas becomes diminished ; (2) fatigue, either mental or 

 physical, impairs this power ; and (3) the greater the 

 number of associations made with the same idea, the 

 weaker do each of them become. From this we learn, 

 that in teaching horses we should begin with them when 



