The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



standing near a horse, you can see a certain 

 nervous tremor, and an expression in the eye 

 of the animal, that tell the tale with unfailing 

 accuracy of his treatment of his charges ? in 

 private. When a groom gets a kick or a bite 

 in a stable from an animal, who has been long 

 under his charge, the occurrence tells against 

 the man rather than against the horse. Such 

 a groom is never the comrade of his horses, 

 and, but for the fact that they have to look 

 to him for their food and drink, they would 

 prefer to have no truck with him at all. When 

 they are turned out to grass, his entry into the 

 field is the signal for them to move away and 

 he can never get near them ; sometimes not 

 even with the customary bait of a feed ; they 

 know him too well. On the other hand, to a 

 groom who is their well-loved comrade, his 

 incoming is welcomed with neighs and a racing 

 scamper up to him ; feed, or no feed. 



To a groom, so out of sympathy with his 

 horses that they are afraid of him, it is the 

 worst mistake to entrust one of them to him 

 to break into harness. Such a man is sure 

 to be short-tempered. The horse views with 

 suspicion every new thing that the groom does, 

 and is prepared for defence, and, if need be, 

 for revolt. The man has not the intelligence 

 to understand horse-nature, or his horses would 

 not be afraid of him, and his one idea, if things 

 do not go well, is force and punishment. 



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