250 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



having no assistance whatever, since none can be had with- 

 out the desire to give it. The next point is, how can one 

 train a horse so as to have over him the power of control 

 to which I refer ? I reply in two words by confidence. 

 Confidence presupposes consent. To obtain that end, there 

 must be an entire absence of fear on the horse's part. I 

 have not struck a horse or colt with a whip in fifteen years, 

 except, perhaps, a crack of the crop when he was going at 

 his fence in a shifty gait that showed he was in a change- 

 able state of mind. 



In schooling a horse, there is nothing, as I said in the 

 chapter on training, like throwing him down. It does not 

 hurt him or frighten him, and from that moment he has 

 the greatest respect for you, and begins to believe in you. 

 He has seen a practical demonstration of your power. 

 You are, in other words, obtaining his consent to be 

 governed. 



In advancing a theory of mind-power horsemanship, I 

 have given free rein to what is not, I am convinced, alto- 

 gether fanciful speculation, in the hope that readers, once 

 their attention is directed to the subject, may be induced 

 to experiment on their own account. If the hypothesis 

 stands the necessary tests, it may teach horsemen practical 

 lessons, to the mutual advantage of themselves and their 

 mounts. For myself, I believe that such a mind power of 

 control does exist, in greater or less degree, in nearly every 

 one, and is undoubtedly susceptible of cultivation. At any 

 rate, when one considers its efficacy, as powerful as it is subtle 

 in given instances, the least that can be said of it is that 

 it is worth trying for. 



