162 PRECEPT AND PRACTICE. 



' with both my hands/ In the first place, by the 

 constant use of them "we cause every leap to be more 

 or less an occasion of punishment to the horse. Con- 

 sequently he naturally gets to dislike it, and it is 

 only the fear of greater punishment if he refuses, 

 induces him to jump at all. It is cruel ; it is more 

 than cruel. Men who make a practice of it, if they 

 had the sense of reflection or the common feelings of 

 humanity about them, would see that it virtually 

 amounts to this : they punish a horse if he leaps, and 

 severely punish him if he does not. Nothing can be 

 so brutal or absurd. I grant I have found the neces- 

 sity of using both whip and spur on a sudden emer- 

 gency, but I very reluctantly did so on a good horse. 

 But I unhesitatingly state, what to some persons will 

 more avail than would any advocacy on humanity or 

 kindness, I am quite convinced the frequent use of 

 whip or spur to a horse, so far from insuring his doing 

 the leap safely, has a diametrically opposite effect ; 

 he grows to be influenced more by the fear of punish- 

 ment and shrinking from it than he is by the fear of 

 falhng. Experienced horsemen know well enough it 



