Equine Education 75 



*' hold up " in the overdraw check days, now means 

 (when shifted to the curb-chain) " hold down," 

 Can you wonder that so many " green " horses balk, 

 kick, rear, and throw themselves in their bewilder- 

 ment ? 



It is impossible, of course, within the limits of 

 a book, to give ways and means, methods and man- 

 ners, of " educating " the horse to perform sedately 

 all the offices which we require of him, but the funda- 

 mental rules are invariably the same, and their 

 results are, if intelligently applied, universally sat- 

 isfactory. A certain amount of " horse sense " is 

 required, and ordinary nerve and temper; that is 

 all, and every horse which successfully performs on 

 track or circus ring, park, road, or riding school, 

 has learned his lesson on these general lines of in- 

 struction, which might have been acquired so much 

 more quickly, painlessly, and pleasantly, had reward 

 always been intelligible, caress appropriate, and 

 punishment as rare, as prompt and severe upon occa- 

 sions. Sentiment and theory are slender supports in 



