50 THEORY OF HORSE-CONTROL. 



Necessity for exacting implicit obedience from the 

 horse. — As the horse takes Httle, if any, deHght in obeying 

 the orders of man, who is his physical inferior, it is not 

 sufficient for him to clearly understand them ; but he must 

 be made, if possible, to believe from the commencement of 

 his instruction that he cannot resist them. I need hardly 

 say that the convenience and safety of the rider or driver 

 may often require that the horse, in yielding himself 

 absolutely to the guidance of man, shall perform actions 

 which are opposed to the promptings of his instincts, 

 particularly that of self-preservation. The system of trying 

 to induce a horse to obey merely by humouring and petting 

 him is altogether wrong from a practical point of view ; for 

 the horse being a selfish animal as far as we are concerned, 

 can, under such circumstances, be made compliant to our 

 wishes only when they tally with his own. 



While fully admiring the kindness of heart of those 

 enthusiasts who regard a horse as a friend to be won by 

 affection, I must say that the better plan for making him 

 a useful member of society is to treat him as a servant who 

 has to be taught his work, and from whom implicit 

 obedience has to be demanded. Until he does his work 

 honestly and well, the less petting he gets the better ; for 

 he is apt to become headstrong and fractious by a small 

 amount of indulgence in his own way. I entirely deprecate 

 punishing a stubborn horse with whip or spur, which he can 

 resist ; but I insist on the necessity — after proving to him 

 that he has nothing to fear, and after teaching him to 

 understand the meaning of our signals — of impressing on 

 him the fact that he must obey. I shall endeavour, in due 



