GENERAL REMARKS. ^ 



153 



if the other parts had not been touched, This is particularly the 

 case in relation to the hind quarters.. Now, when a colt or horse 

 is broken as ordinarily done, and goes off all right when put in 

 harness, it is taken for granted that he is as gentle and safe as can 

 be expected. He has not been subjected to any treatment that would 

 assure his docility when touched from behind ; consequently, if, by 

 carelessness or accident, the rein is caught under the tail, or the 

 breeching strap breaks, or there is some other cause of derangement 

 that lets the cross-piece or whiffletree come suddenly against the 

 quarters, these parts being practically unbroken or not accustomed 

 to such contact, the horse is li- 

 able to be so frightened and ex- 

 cited as to kick, and once started 



Fie. 203. , Fig. 204. 



Points Showing the Expression ot Confirmed Kickers. 



In the habit, there is increased inclination to do so until confirmed in 

 it. Now, all this can be prevented without the least difficulty by 

 fifteen or twenty minutes' proper' treatment, as explained in the 

 chapters referred to (Golt-Training and Fear), requiring only, 

 excepting in very serious cases, the very simplest treatment, and 

 even when the case is very dangerous or vicious, the treatment is 

 not at all difficult, so that in point of fact nearly every case of this 

 character, no matter how vicious the colt in the light of our present 

 knowledge and experience, may justly be accepted as invariably 

 the result of ignorance and bad treatment. In the first chapter I 

 have explained that the principle of teaching the horse to do any- 

 thing is exactly the same as in overcoming a habit, the only differ- 

 ence being that it is reversed, so that the key to success is in being 

 able to combat the habit directly and thus overcoming all inclina- 

 tion to resist. If it is a matter simply of overcoming fear, as in the 



