FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



tomed hand, he will prove as biddable. " Go 

 on" may mean "stop" to him; "Whoa" may 

 produce accelerated speed ; " go away " may make 

 him come to you, provided he has been used to 

 so construe these commands, — and your actual 

 words are immaterial ; the tone and gesture are 

 the only mediums effective. 



In "educating" a horse one should carefully 

 remember three vitally important facts which 

 never change as characteristics, although they 

 may vary in degree. First, a horse is a fool, and 

 he is a coward. Nature intended that this should 

 be the case, in order that his failing should make 

 him distrustful ; that this foolish distrust should 

 render him timid because of his suspicions; and 

 that the combination of these characteristics should 

 prompt him, once his fears from whatever trivial 

 cause are thoroughly aroused, to use his chief 

 means of protection (his speed) in flight. A 

 horse will, of course, fight when cornered, as will 

 any moral weakling ; but, save for a saucy colt, 

 which may now and then run at you, or an occa- 

 sional stallion which has been made savage by 

 solitary confinement and improper handling, 

 there is no such thing as any attempt to seek an 

 encounter with man, whose scent is disagreeable 



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