26 MENTAL QUALITIES OF THE HORSE. 



different circumstances. The process of rendering a fero- 

 cious dog or savage tiger helpless for the time being, as 

 we might do to the horse by Rareyfying him, or by other 

 horse-taming methods, would not prevent either the dog or 

 the tiger from flying at us the moment he was free from 

 his trammels. 



Cotwage or pluck in the horse. — A man, in the facing 

 of danger, may, by a purely intellectual effort, overcome 

 his instinct of self-preservation. Here we have the resultant 

 of two opposing forces. Thus, brave men have often, 

 even from motives of abstract right, faced certain death, the 

 terrors of which they have keenly felt the whole time. 

 Others have been equally self-sacrificing under the purely 

 instinctive influences of anger, jealousy, emulation, or love 

 of admiration. Although there are no words to exactly 

 express these two kinds of feelings, we may, for con- 

 venience sake, apply valour or bravery to the former ; 

 courage or pluck, to the latter. This, I need hardly ex- 

 plain, is an arbitrary use of words on my part ; yet the 

 distinction is worthy of consideration. The facing of danger 

 in the horse, as far as I have been able to observe, is 

 entirely the result of instinct, of habit, or of a combination 

 of the two ; and has consequently no intellectual 

 element. The term " courage," as used by horsemen, 

 signifies that feeling (whether simple or compound), 

 under the influence of which the horse will strain every 

 effort to obey the orders of his rider or driver. In, 

 its transmission, the effect of heredity is often well 

 marked. This most valuable quality can be easily lost by 

 mismanagement. 



