EFFECTS OF TREATMENT. 387 



ease with which many fine horses, though previously of 

 the very best character, have been changed into dangerous, 

 unreliable brutes, by a little carelessness which allowed them 

 to run away, or by abusive treatment which aroused the 

 temper into uncontrollable resistance, making them after- 

 ward practically unsafe and worthless for use. And on the 

 same principle, when understood and properly applied, a 

 bad character can be neutralized and overcome so as to 

 establish a reliable condition of docility, as shown and 



FIG. 269. Result of good FIG. 270. Result of bad 



influences. influences. j 



proved in the many cases recorded in this and other chap- 

 ters of this work. 



The better to explain this, I give a variety of illustra- 

 tions showing the effects of bad treatment and intensely 

 exciting influences upon the nervous system. Understand- 

 ing these principles and applying them properly, it is often 

 wonderful to what a degree the brain can be acted upon 

 in making a horse either gentle or vicious ; showing that it 

 is not only not difficult, but even easy, to make the most 

 vicious, unmanageable horses as gentle and obedient to 

 control as if they had always been of the best character. 



It is a recognized fact that the horse partakes largely 

 of the character of the owner. If he is kind and gentle, 



