l38 THE STUD. 



vitals ; nor must w^e retaliate by correction, that 

 would only make things worse the next time, for 

 then, instead of becoming quiet so soon as the 

 momentary alarm or astonishment is over, the 

 animal will become terrified at the fear of punish- 

 ment likely to follow an act that it will in no 

 way prevent a repetition of. I grant it requires 

 some, or great, if you please, command of temper 

 to caress, and, as it were, encourage such a living 

 galvanic battery, after giving so severe a shock ; 

 but it is the only way likely to soften the effect 

 of both the cause and the act. One piece of 

 advice I give without reservation, and it will be 

 found good : " let no impatient man buy a start- 

 ing or shying horse at any price." 



Now, to ride about London streets, if a man is, 

 from circumstances, compelled to pay so heavy a 

 penalty for locomotion as I hold riding on horse- 

 back in the streets to be, I would, of the two 

 evils, prefer starting to shying ; for we will not 

 suppose our reader to have so bad a seat on his 

 horse as to be thrown out of his saddle by a start, 

 when he is aware he is on a horse that frequently 

 gives one. The starter usually gives a sudden 

 jarring motion with his forelegs, draws himself 

 up, stares, and perhaps snorts; his act is only a 

 sudden stoppage of progression, and possibly he 

 does not diverge in a lateral direction a yard from 

 his track : the object of alarm gets out of sight, 



