62 OBJECTS MUST BE SEEN FROM DIFFERENT POSITIONS. 



under such circumstances ; and very often, too, a horse is 

 forced into this habit by being run into from behind. 



MUST SEE THE OBJECT FBOM DIFFERENT POSITIONS. 



It is one of the peculiarities of the horse to understand 

 and be reconciled to an object or cause of excitement only 

 from the position and circumstances brought to his notice. 

 This seems to be on account of the horse's reasoning powers 

 being so limited as to be unable to retain the same under- 

 standing of the object beyond the position from which it 

 was seen. 



Every progressive change of position requires almost the 

 same care and patience as that preceding. For example : if 

 in teaching a horse to submit to an umbrella, if it were 

 shown only from the near side, upon carrying it to the off 

 side, it would inspire nearly as much fear as at first from the 

 near side, or there may be an aversion to some particular 

 object ; or resistance may be inspired only under certain cir- 

 cumstances. You may succeed in getting a colt gentle to 

 be rode from the near side, but an attempt to mount him 

 from the off side would make him resist. 



If a horse is afraid of an umbrella while in harness, he 

 may be taught to care nothing about it out of harness ; but 

 if not taught to feel and understand its character in harness, 

 he would be apt to be as much frightened at it in that posi- 

 tion as if he knew nothing about it. 



This seems to puzzle many well-meaning men, and is often 

 the cause of much disappointment. 



A horse that is afraid of an umbrella is brought forward 

 to illustrate the management of such habits. In a short 

 time the horse will bear the umbrella over and around him 

 in any manner, without seeming to care any thing about it. 

 The owner is pleased with the belief that his horse is broken ; 

 when in harness at some future time, he raises an umbrella 

 behind the animal, and is astonished to find him almost as 

 bad as ever, and he is disappointed. But when it is seen, in 

 the first place, that it is often necessary to repeat the treat- 

 ment, to expect the animal to be broken of the habit 

 by a single indirect lesson, only tends to defeat success. 

 For the inability to control the horse, and force upon him 

 the object of aversion, may cause trouble, since the least 



