TEMPER. 57 



which his nature is susceptible. On the race-course, 

 again, he has often to encounter the (to him) un- 

 natural sound of music, and many strange objects ; 

 perhaps two or three false starts before he gets into 

 a race ; and too often, when doing his best in a 

 race, very severe punishment both by whip and 

 spur. It is in his race, however, and chiefly in 

 the last struggle for it, that the temper of the race- 

 horse is most put to the test ; and, if really bad, 

 he either runs out of the course, to the great dan- 

 ger of his rider, and to the inevitable loss of his 

 owner and those who have betted on his winning, 

 or he " shuts himself up," as the term is, and will 

 not head his horses, although in his power to do 

 so. It is evident, then, that breeders should not 

 send mares to stallions of known bad temper, as 

 nearly all those propensities are found to be here- 

 ditary ; and we could name one or two of the best 

 horses of the present day, who are generally re- 

 jected as stallions to breed racers from, by reason 

 of these propensities. 



It would be absurd to draw a comparison between 

 the English race-horse in training, and the horse 

 of the Desert, " educated,'' as Mr. Gibbon elo- 

 quently says of him, " in the tents, among the 

 children of the Arabs, with a tender familiarity, 

 which trains him in the habits of gentleness and 

 attachment.'' Nevertheless, we are inclined to be- 

 lieve that the tempers of many naturally quiet 

 horses are made uncertain, and oftentimes decided- 

 ly vicious, by want of proper judgment, as well as 

 of good temper, in those who have the manage- 



