RESTIVENESS 34 1 



although we may use means to counteract a particular 

 vice, whether by compulsion or gentle measures, he 

 may exhibit that vice when we are off our guard and 

 are the least expecting it. Force may bring him to 

 obedience, and he may succumb to him who has had 

 the determination to subjugate him ; but when mounted 

 by another he is extremely likely to break out again. 

 A horse that kicks in harness may be driven with 

 safety by a cautious and experienced driver or coach- 

 man, but still there is no certainty of his not exhibiting 

 the same trick years afterwards ; indeed, most horses 

 which have been kickers return to it again. 



However high the temper which the horse may 

 exhibit, we would recommend that he should be broken 

 from his vices by kind and soothing means, and these 

 exercised with patience for a considerable length of 

 time ; and force should only be resorted to when all 

 other means have failed. 



There have been several striking instances of 

 persons who possessed the power of taming vicious 

 horses by gentle measures ; the most remarkable is 

 recorded in the Rev. Mr Townsend s " Statistical 

 Survey of the County of Cork," who remarks, that 

 although the following circumstances appear almost 

 incredible, yet they are nevertheless true, as he was 

 an eye-witness to them : — '* James Sullivan was a 

 native of the county of Cork, and an awkward, ignorant 

 rustic of the lowest class, generally known by the 

 appellation of the whisperer ; and his profession was 

 horse-breaking. The credulity of the vulgar bestowed 

 that epithet upon him from an opinion that he com- 

 municated his wishes to the animal by means of a 

 whisper, and the singularity of his method gave some 

 colour to the superstitious belief As far as the sphere 

 of his control extended, the boast of veni, vidi, vici, 



