VICIOUS STALLIONS. 299 



TREATMENT FOR VERY Vicious STALLIONS. 



Vicious stallions require very careful management. In 

 determining the treatment, a great deal depends upon the 

 temperament of the horse, and how greatly his resentment 

 has been excited. A horse that seems the worst is not al- 

 ways the hardest to break ; in fact, if he has never been 

 fooled with much, he may be, in many instances, the very 

 easiest to manage ; and when once subdued by the methods 

 of subjection given here, it will not be difficult to hold the 

 character good by careful after-treatment. 



If a stallion of moderately good disposition be partially 

 broken or subdued, and that for a number of times, it may 

 be very difficult to afterward make him reliably gentle. 

 Or when once thoroughly subdued, if he is whipped or 

 managed in such a way as to again excite him to resist, it would 

 require the most thorough course of treatment to produce 

 the same degree of docility as before ; for by such success- 

 ful resistance the horse is taught a degree of cunning and 

 treachery that it is next to impossible to break up. On this 

 account it is of the greatest importance that the treatment 

 of these cases, when once undertaken, should be very care- 

 ful and thorough. 



For a really dangerous horse whose head cannot be 

 reached with safety, the best course is to subject him first 

 to the Second Method, which will give sufficient foundation 

 to use the other methods with more success. Subject him 

 next to the First Method, throwing rapidly as long as he 

 will get up, or until he will not try to resist. It is rarely 

 this will not make the horse, in a general way, submissive ; 

 but as it is necessary to make the impression as intense as 

 possible upon these doubtful cases, this treatment should 



