A FEW FACTS ABOUT ALL HORSES. 33 



probably learn more of the life about you than 

 you would from any number of teachers and 

 books, no matter how good they are. 



Just as each of us has a different disposition 

 or character, so each animal has its particular 

 character or disposition. And the more you 

 treat each animal according to its own dis- 

 position the greater will be your power over 

 that animal. 



You will remember that at the beginning of 

 this chapter you read, that before horses were 

 tamed by man they wandered in large herds over 

 wide and immense plains. Now this statement 

 is borne out by observing the habits of your 

 horses, especially of the young horse, the foal. 



If horses lived in herds on wide plains, their 

 principal weapons of defence and of escape from 

 their enemies must have been their great pace 

 and endurance in travelling. If therefore the 

 young foal, almost directly it was born, could 

 not have galloped fast, the enemies of the wild 

 horse would soon have captured and killed all 

 the young foals, and so, it would not have taken 

 very long before the race of horses would have 

 come to an end. 



To give the young foal the speed that was 

 necessary to preserve its life, it is provided 

 from birth with very long legs, looking like a 

 horse on stilts. And, if you observe a colt, you 



