8 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
room on Christmas night, in the animal’s professional 
capacity, and the consequent results to the china, will 
occur to the reader as a similar case. But although 
such instances must necessarily be rare, and are not, 
perhaps, exactly to be imitated, it is possible for 
every horse-owner to cultivate the social and affec- 
tionate side of the animal’s nature by talking to and 
caressing him, by visiting him in the stable, by mak- 
ing him little gifts, from time to time, of sugar and 
other dainties. Petting like this undoubtedly tends 
to render high-spirited horses more tractable and safer 
on the road than they would be otherwise. 
Mustangs that have been allowed to run wild on the 
prairies until they are broaght to the East and sold 
can rarely be broken so as to be safe in harness; but 
ponies of the same breed that have been in actual use 
by the Indians are very trustworthy. Such ponies, 
like Arab horses, have become domesticated, and cease 
to regard human beings as their natural enemies. 
Few persons, moreover, realize how much a nervous, 
timid horse dislikes to be left alone, especially amid 
terrifying or even unusual surroundings. I once 
brought on a steamer from Portland to Boston a 
high-strung Morgan mare that I had owned but two 
weeks. She had never travelled thus before, and 
during the first hour or two, if I left her alone for 
a moment, as happened once or twice, she became 
distressed and alarmed in the highest degree, sweat- 
ing profusely and struggling to get loose; but when I 
returned she would immediately become calm again, 
rubbing her nose against me as much as to say, “ For 
Heaven’s sake, don’t leave me alone.” The same 
horse (I have her still), when tied in front of a 
