78 Our Noblest Friend, The Horse 



breeds contempt in animals as in any other depend- 

 ents, and must be as promptly checked in the one 

 as in the other case. Otherwise this playfulness may, 

 in the case of the animal, lead him to presume too 

 much upon good nature, and the jest may in unex- 

 pected fashion turn to earnest. Quiet firmness works 

 prompt reform, however, and there is no fear of 

 incorrigibility resulting if the animal is handled with 

 ordinary judiciousness. Once in awhile a horse 

 becomes thoroughly savage, or unmanageable in 

 other directions, but if so, the poor brute is insane in 

 some way, and not responsible for his actions. Stal- 

 lions, through the utterly erroneous idea that they 

 must not be used and handled as other horses, are 

 not infrequently set down as vicious and dangerous. 

 Plenty of work, fearless handling, and a stable en- 

 vironment which ensures sociability and companion- 

 ship with their kind, soon reform all but the most 

 hardened offenders — which could never have been 

 classed as such had the most ordinary intelligence 

 been used in their bringing up. The solitary and 

 monotonous confinement of a box stall, tightly 



