A GGRESSIVENESS. 3 1 



doubtedly be more common among them than it is at 

 present. Laziness is often akin to obstinacy, as we may 

 find in some horses which, without actually jibbing, are 

 always ready to slacken their speed, even if they do not 

 stop entirely, the moment the rider or driver ceases to 

 stimulate them ; although the task required of them may 

 be well within their compass. On the other hand, 

 some of the " gamest " horses require a great deal of 

 " rousing up " in order to make them exert themselves 

 to the utmost. I may define jibbing as refusal to 

 move or to go in a required direction by a horse which 

 understands the order given, and which is well able to 

 execute it if he wishes. Long-continued privation in 

 youth renders a horse more or less spiritless and inclined 

 to be sulky. 



Aggressiveness. — By this term I wish to express the vice 

 some horses have of attacking men or other animals without 

 sufficient provocation. Horses are said to " savage " when 

 they use their teeth as weapons of aggression. Entires are 

 specially prone to this mode of assault, and, if they succeed 

 in overthrowing their opponent, to increase their advantage 

 by kneeling on him. Mares delight most in kicking. My 

 experience — gained chiefly in South Africa — of absolutely 

 unhandled horses is, that when caught for the first time, 

 they will strike out freely in front, lash out behind, or cow- 

 kick, but that they will very rarely attempt to bite. The 

 acquisition of that fatal knowledge of his own power to 

 injure or terrify his enemy, especially if resentment for 

 the infliction of pain be added to it, is without doubt the. 

 chief cause of aggressiveness. A hereditary tendency to 



