32 MENTAL QUALITIES OF THE HORSE. 



aggressiveness is often well marked. Teasing a horse is 

 usually effective in developing that undesirable quality. 



Treachery, as I have stated on page 25, is a rare vice 

 in the horse. It is fortunate for horse-owners that it is 

 seldom met with ; for of all equine failings, it is the most 

 dangerous and the most difficult to cure. The treacherous 

 horse, after having gained one's confidence by a more or 

 less prolonged course of docility, may in a moment, without 

 any warning and apparently without the slightest provoca- 

 tion, buck one off its back, kick the trap to pieces, bolt 

 madly away in saddle or harness, savage one, or kick one. 

 And yet, the instant it has effected its deliberately planned 

 purpose, it may assume an air of innocence, and act as if it 

 were the impersonification of virtue. I cannot help giving 

 treacherous horses credit for the possession of a com- 

 paratively large amount of intelligence. 



