96 Horses and Horsemastership. 



bottie of water over the animal's head as he came up- 

 Aiiother is to " give him a fall'" by jumping off at the- 

 psychological moment and pulling the horse over. I 

 tried this once, and spent three weeks in bed as a result. 

 I " cured'" my horse by selling him to a cab proprietor, 

 and I believe that or a similar way is the best method 

 of dealing; with a confirmed rearer, unless the horse is 

 so valuable as to make it worth while handing him over 

 to a trustworthy trainer, in the hope that he may cure 

 him, for the job is not one which an amateur can usually 

 successfully undertake. 



From the foregoing observations it will be clear that 

 vices almost invariably have their inception in bad 

 usage, either from brutality or ignorance. If, therefore, 

 it is possible to trace the history of a confirmed vice to 

 the start, it will, as a rule, be found that the horse was. 

 asked to do something which, from lack of ability, due, 

 perhaps, to some defect or insufficient training, he was 

 incapable of doing, and that when he rebelled there was 

 a fight in which the horse came off best. A good horse- 

 master never forces a horse to do anything until he has 

 first ascertained that the animal can do it and only 

 refuses wilfully, and even then he will never encourage 

 a fight unless he is absolutely sure that he, and not the 

 horse, will win. 



