General Rules. 223 



girths, etc., also caressing the animal, if obedient, and 

 avoiding to push it prematurely to the verge of resist- 

 ance, trusting rather to gradual progress than to violent 

 measures. All horses are very susceptible to, and grate- 

 ful for, kindness. 



As an enclosed space is not always available, it will 

 be well to point out what can be done without it, in case 

 of necessity. Some horses refuse to leave their stable, 

 either from natural sluggishness or indisposition to leave 

 their companions. A man on foot armed with a whip 

 will often succeed in driving them away, but in this case 

 it is his will and not yours that has prevailed, and there- 

 fore little real progress is made. It is much more ad- 

 visable in such cases to lead the animal away to some 

 distance, taking with you a nosebag with some oats, of 

 which you give a handful now and then. You may 

 after a time mount your horse, and when on its back 

 give it a handful of oats from the saddle before attempt- 

 ing to go farther, getting its head, of course, in the 

 proper direction. If you find this not to succeed at first, 

 dismount again rather than risk a conflict, lead the ani- 

 mal out a couple of miles, and give it the whole contents 

 of the nosebag at some convenient place, taking each 

 day a diflerent road, and never feeding twice in the 

 same place. You may always ride home, and this will 

 be your opportunity for acquiring control over its neck, 

 head and hind legs : the more it hurries back to its sta- 

 ble the better will you be enabled to do this work.* 



Or if it be a case of attachment to the stable compan- 

 ions, then put a rider on one of these, whose business it 

 will be to keep sometimes alongside of your own horse, 

 at others ahead, or again in the rear, making circuits, 

 riding away and returning — the nosebag with oats may 



* It will be well to dismount at some little distance from the stable 

 and lead the horse home, never repeating this operation in exactly the 

 same place. 



