12 GENERAL REMARKS AND INFORMATION. 



the animal has been used very badly, and the driver 

 has been lashing him, the poor thing appears to 

 struggle for dear life, and knocks himself about terribly. 

 When a horse falls down, the first thing is to get some- 

 one to keep its head down, as a rule it cannot hurt 

 itself much if that is kept down. I need not say the 

 harness should be loosed as much as possible, but, in 

 cases where it cannot be unbuckled, it is better to cut 

 a strap so that the whole harness can be cleared off. 

 I might just mention here, many people get a little 

 excited when trying to undo the traces, and so run a 

 risk of getting kicked. Instead of doing that, the hames 

 should be taken out of the collar, then they are already 

 loosed. Only about three months before writing this 

 chapter I saw a horse down in London, and the poor 

 thing was hustled and thrashed to make it get up. 

 This frightened it so much, it cut itself all to pieces. 

 It would be well if people who have anything to do 

 with horses would think a little before treating them 

 so cruelly, it would be much better for the poor 

 animals. Horses have feelings just the same as human 

 beings, and though they cannot speak they know almost 

 every word that is said to them. They understand 

 when they are spoken to angrily, just the same as when 

 they are spoken to kindly. 



