36 HORSES SHOULD BE PROVED BEFORE USING. 



HORSES SHOULD BE PJROVED BEFORE USING. 



Hence, if a colt is wild or vicious, or learned to run 

 away and kick, making control hazardous and doubtful, it 

 is essential to true success to subject him to such necessary 

 treatment as will assure of his perfect docility and safety in 

 handling or driving under the most exciting and dangerous 

 circumstances, as it is then that perfect docility becomes 

 most valuable, and is as much a true necessity in guarding 

 against accident, as the making of steam boilers so strong 

 and testing them by such increased pressure as will insure 

 against the possibility of exploding under the pressure ne- 

 cessary in use. It is no excuse to claim that the horse got 

 suddenly frightened, kicked, and ran away, making control 

 impossible. Such a possibility should be guarded against 

 by subjecting the horse to treatment which will both pre- 

 vent and overcome such a possibility, which can be easily 

 done by the ordinary course of subjection. Hence, when 

 a horse is impulsive and dangerous, liable to kick or run 

 away, or is at all doubtful, he should not be driven until 

 subjected to this necessary precautionary treatment, and is 

 not to be hazarded until made thus safe. There is no more 

 necessity or sense in hazarding an accident by the use of 

 horses that are so unsafe that they will not submit to the 

 most ordinary causes of excitement, such, for example, as 

 being touched by the wagon or cross-piece of shafts, fear of 

 top umbrella, refusing to be obedient to the most ordinary 

 restraint and guidance of the bit when pulled upon, no 

 matter how excited, than there is in hazarding a boiler 

 known to be so weak as to give way under any greater pres- 

 sure than is barely necessary for ordinary use. 



But in tracing back causes of unusual derangement, we 

 should look back, too, to those of a constitutional charac- 

 ter, inherited from the sire or sires by causes which excite 

 or derange the mind or nervous system, as the condition 

 of the mind at the time the sires were brought together, 

 must largely influence in forming the character of the colt. 

 Hence the stallion, though of a gentle character, if excited 

 and maddened at the time of so using, will almost with 

 certainty cause the colt to be naturally vicious. So in rela- 

 tion to the mare; if subjected to exciting, abusive treatment, 

 the disposition of the colt must be affected by it. Many 



