28 MENTAL QUALITIES OF THE HORSE. 



to shy and " play up " when leaving their stable, than when 

 returning to it after a long journey. 



The distinction between nervousness and deliberate vice 

 may be easily made, if we observe how a horse acts after 

 we have proved to him that he need have no fear of us. 

 For instance, if we fix up a horse, say, in a " strait-jacket " 

 {see page 143), so that he cannot kick, and continue to 

 " gentle " him over with one hand until he has ample reason 

 to believe that we have no intention of hurting him ; we 

 might justly term him vicious if he kicked out at us, with- 

 out our again touching him, the moment the restraint was 

 removed. I may mention that fear of the near approach 

 of man will often induce a purely nervous animal to kick 

 out, if a person, and especially a stranger, ventures to 

 come within reach. Although horses frequently kick from 

 nervousness, they rarely bite from that cause alone. I 

 think I might venture to define the more or less vicious 

 form of nervousness as the exhibition by the horse of 

 unfounded fear of surroundings which, however startling 

 their effect on him might be in the first instance, he has 

 proved by ample experience will not hurt him. 



The more experience I acquire in the breaking of horses, 

 the more convinced I become that the so-called '' nervous- 

 ness " of animals which have been handled some time, and 

 which have always been treated with kindness, is largely 

 made up of impatience of control, and, in many cases, of 

 active hostility. I make bold to assert that many crafty, 

 dangerous brutes pose before their owners as ill-used 

 victims of a too highly-strung nervous system. Take, for 

 instance, an old saddle-horse, like many I have met, that 



