VICES ON THE ROAD 115 



coverlet purposely drawn over the back, that he might not 

 reach the hay from behind. We next passed the cart alto- 

 gether, but it was a few paces only, and then turned him 

 round to the other side of it ; but his whole mind was so 

 intent on the clover that, with the most trifling symptoms 

 only of alarm, he fell to again on the hay, which finished 

 lesson the first. 



Our next attempt was made with a sieve full of corn, 

 presented to him on an empty stomach, which he could 

 only reach from the tail-board of a tilted waggon — an 

 awful object! After a few snortinga and sniffings, here 

 also hunger overcame his fears, and he munched tlie oats 

 with great relish ; but when the waggon was put into motion, 

 his dread for a little time got the better of his appetite, and 

 the flapping of the covering of the tilt appeared to him most 

 portentous. His fears even in this case, however, soon 

 gave place to confidence, by the tact displayed by a groom 

 to whom he was much atttiched. This man mounted the 

 waggon, and, resting on the tail-board, ofl"ered tlie oats to 

 the horse, at the same time calling and encouraging him. 

 This worked wonders ; nor shall we readily forget the 

 knucker of acknowledgment with which the confiding 

 brute followed the groom's call as the waggon moved on, 

 occasionally dipping his nose into the sieve. After a few 

 more lessons of a similar kind, one or two of which were 

 varied by giving him hay from the window of a stage- 

 coach, he lost all fear of carriages, and his former owner 

 would willingly have taken him back at a very considerable 

 increase of price." 



We introduce this merely as an instance of the truth 

 of an opinion entertained by most observant sportsmen, 

 but often acted against by grooms, that the punishment of 

 blows will very seldom cure vicious habits originating in 

 fear. All startings and fears of every description are only 

 increased by them, for the horse in these cases associates the 

 dread of two evils instead of one — that of the object itself, 

 and that of the punishment which is to follow ; the 

 consequence of v/hich is, that his resistance is doubled. 

 How common is it with thoughtless })ersons, when a horse 

 shies at an object, to force him up to it by blows ; by which 

 means we are confident that no horse was ever cured of 

 shying, but, on the contrary, he has always been rendered 

 doubly timid. It is, however, not amiss, when a horse 



