NERVOUSNESS. 29 



snorts with apparent terror at anyone who approaches him, 

 and is ready, on the sHghtest chance of reaching his mark, 

 to strike out in front, or lash out behind, if saddHng or 

 mounting him be attempted. His nervous emotion the 

 first time he was taken in hand, or the first time he per- 

 formed his unpleasant tricks, may have been thoroughly 

 genuine ; but its exhibition enabled him more or less 

 successfully to resist control. This act of insubordination 

 having revealed to him the knowledge of his own power, 

 which is a pleasurable sensation to every animal, was 

 naturally repeated on every available occasion, until the 

 vicious habit became confirmed ; although its necessity 

 may have been disproved to him scores of times by the fact 

 that the saddling or mounting had been accomplished 

 without the infliction of any pain or irritation to him, 

 however great the trouble may have been to the groom or 

 rider. As in horses, so do we find among dogs, that 

 nervousness often degenerates into ferocity. The young 

 dog who barks violently from nervousness, on seeing that 

 the noise he makes causes persons in his vicinity to run 

 away, is tempted to follow them, and, having discovered his 

 own power, is apt to exercise it, with the usual result that 

 he becomes bad-tempered and vicious. 



I am inclined to think that nervous horses are not as 

 " game " as their more placid fellows, and am thoroughly 

 convinced that the majority of so-called nervous horses 

 are sulky, treacherous brutes. Although there are ex- 

 ceptions to this rule, it would be most unwise to ignore 

 the fact that the repetition of any trick which tends to 

 render an animal difficult of control, whatever way it may 



