PRELIMINARY HINTS. 



GENEKAL CONDITIONS AND PRINCIPLES. 



I HAVE explained and illustrated the principles of my 

 treatment before the class. I would here call your atten- 

 tion to conditions which underlie success in the applica- 

 tion of those principles. 



Horses are not all alike. In size, intelligence, and dis- 

 position, they show great extremes of character. The 

 horse has also a certain way of reasoning : he is moved to 

 be bad or good by the impressions made upon his nervous 

 system, and the side of the intelligence acted upon, and 

 the intensity or not of the impressions. If I can, by an 

 impression of only a few moments, so excite a horse that I 

 can spoil him, and form a habit which has a controlling 

 influence for life in fixing the character, it is evident the 

 true key of success in either preventing or breaking up 

 such an impression or habit, is to make a stronger impres- 

 sion upon the opposite side of the nervous system in a 

 negative manner ; simply holding and enlarging upon that 

 advantage, until it becomes the primary and controlling 

 impression upon the reason of the animal. To make this 

 idea clearer, I would add that all animal functions and 

 physical manifestations are of a positive and negative char- 

 acter. Through these manifestations we have the charac- 

 ter according to the influence brought to bear upon it ; for 

 example, hate is the inverse action of love, and love is the 

 inverse action of hate. A lady is sitting in a car holding a 

 child she loves ; a rough man comes in, and tramples upon 

 the infant ; the woman's detestation of the man will be 

 exactly in proportion to the love she bears the child. 

 The most deadly hatreds are those excited from the 

 intimacy and confidence of family and social relations, 

 as proved by experience. Every organ of feeling can 



