Vice and Its Correction 79 



boarded up on all sides, will suffice to render any 

 horse melancholy, morose, and finally treacherous. 

 Such living places are the refinement of cruelty, nor 

 is there any possible excuse or reason for such isola- 

 tion. A horse is what you make of him, — he is as 

 plastic as clay, — and if you treat a stallion like 

 others of his kind he will act like them. The 

 screaming, yelling, plunging brute is a living re- 

 proach to and criticism upon his owner's methods. 

 Success in correcting bad, and preventing vicious, 

 habits must prove proportionate to the ability of 

 trainers to proceed along the lines indicated by the 

 horse's limitations, and possible to his intelligence. 

 Such conditions must be combated and overcome by 

 addressing the understanding without needlessly 

 awakening fear, or permitting successful resistance. 

 It rnust always be recognised that, as the horse is 

 much stronger than man, although ignorant of it, all 

 efforts must be made to blind him to the fact, and to 

 deceive him as to his ou-n powers; suffering him, 

 when practicable, to proceed in his rebellion, but only 

 in a manner that will lead to his final defeat and 



