FATIGUE. 49 



Fatigue may be used as a valuable adjunct to other 

 means of control, but should seldom be employed alone ; 

 for its effects usually are as transitory as the sensation 

 itself. Thus, if we, while riding or driving a bolter, allow 

 him, in order to cure him of his vice, to run himself to a 

 stand-still, we shall in all probability find the animal quite 

 as ready, if not more so, to run away the next time he is 

 " fresh." In such a case, the fact of the horse having been 

 allowed to do the very thing he wanted to accomplish, in 

 defiance of the wishes of his would-be master, can produce 

 no good effect in forming in him the habit of obedience. 

 Fatigue may often appear to be the sole cause of the quiet- 

 ness evinced by an animal under treatment of some of the 

 breaking methods I shall describe ; but this on examina- 

 tion will be found to be incorrect. Even the fatigue caused 

 in, say, rendering an unruly horse quiet to shoe behind, by 

 keeping him on the ground and " gentling " him (see page 

 164), is out of all proportion small compared to the amount 

 of control obtained. One of the best examples of the fact 

 that it is the feeling of powerlessness to rebel, and not the 

 sensation of fatigue, which compels obedience by these 

 methods, is furnished by the experiment of making a 

 violent horse, like an Australian buckjumper, quiet to 

 mount by tying him head and tail (see page 351) ; the 

 effect produced being striking ; the feeling of helplessness, 

 evident ; and the amount of fatigue, small. 



At the same time, we must not forget that the effect 

 of exercise is very useful in making a horse which is full 

 of spirits and " beans," attend to the work we give him 

 to do. 



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