16 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
at other times. Their nerves, being more tense, send 
a different message to the brain. I have seen a man 
of robust constitution, but just getting out after a 
long illness, jump like a colt when a piece of white 
paper blew across the sidewalk before him. Now, 
what illness had done for his nerves, high condition, 
. cold air, want of exercise, will do for the nerves of a 
horse, especially if he be a young horse; and the 
moral is, that for shying thus brought about the whip 
is no cure. In fact, even for intentional shying the 
use of the whip does more harm than good; it is per- 
missible only when the horse refuses to approach or 
to pass a particular object. If he cannot be led or 
coaxed forward, then it is well to employ punish- 
ment, for he must never be allowed to disobey. 
The success in equine matters of which Americans 
can fairly boast is due chiefly to the fact that we have 
consulted the equine nature. Our trainers, perceiving 
that the horse is a nervous, timid, and yet docile ani- 
mal, have endeavored to win his confidence, rather 
than to subdue his spirit. Instead of breaking colts, 
we “gentle” them; and that single word developed 
in the daily usage of the stable eloquently indicates 
the difference between the old method and the new, 
between American horse-training and foreign horse- 
breaking. The superintendent of a large stock farm 
states: “At the age of six months we take up the 
colts and gentle them. After several weeks of this 
work they are again turned out. At fourteen months 
old they are taken up and driven double with an old 
horse, and in a short time they are put in single har- 
ness.” In smaller establishments even greater pains 
are taken to domesticate the colt from infancy up- 
