88 Horses and Horsemastership. 



schooling under unfavourable auspices. Some ignorant 

 stable lads find amusement in teasing a ticklish 

 youngster, and many a docile but high-couraged colt 

 acquires one or other of the vices referred to in this way. 

 A bad-tempered groom will often abuse and ill-treat his 

 charges until they, practically in self-defence, get into 

 the habit of kicking or biting at anything in the shape 

 of a man. Animals whose tempers have been soured in 

 this fashion can rarely be completely cured, simply 

 because their confidence in mankind is at a low ebb. 

 I have, nevertheless, come across several cases where 

 systematic kindness and firmness have worked wonders. 



Horses have a wonderful faculty of quickly discovering 

 whether a man is a horsemaster, and therefore a horse 

 lover, and, of course, fearless, or a creature whose only 

 aim is to get his work done with as little trouble to 

 himself as possible, and who resents am^ that may arise 

 by a savage blow from the brush or currv comb, or even 

 by a kick. Such a man is usually a coward at heart, 

 and is always expecting to be paid back, and who can 

 blame the horse? 



It follows, therefore, that a horse with a bad character 

 for biting or kicking is not necessarily a viciously- 

 inclined animal, and if it should be the reader's lot to 

 get hold of such an one, which is otherwise quite suitable, 

 it is always worth while trying th(; effect of kindness 



