— 186 — 



jnder his body ■with one ring on each side of mm ana three rings 

 on f he 'op of the surcingle ; one of these surcingles will be very use- 

 ful and should hang in every stable. 



To Educate Horses Not to be Afraid of Objects when 



Di-'ving. 



It is impos "ble to overestim te -"he value of the subjoined instruc- 

 fions respecting nervcus and ihying horses, t" erefore on this topic I 

 wish to be particulau.1. "lear ^nd explicit. Let the reader understand 

 that horses take fri?h+ t objects because they fancy that those 

 objects will harm them.; %nd if you c^n by any means appeal to the 

 horse's brain, and satisfy him that ha utt p'>ing to be hurt, you 

 have accomplished your object An I -.■" crdor to do .^o you must 

 have control of your horse. T >lo not mean Ly this that you are to 

 adopt the too frequent course pursued by uany, viz : subduing with 

 th whip, or other harsh means, which will, without almost an ex- 

 ception, increase the fear instead of removing tl.e habit. Again, 

 when a horse shies, the driver commences to jerk on the reins nearest 

 to the obfect, and at once applies the whip, fu'ly determined to 

 master his horse. Both man and horse get excited, and the horse 

 comes off victorious, because he cannot control him by the means 

 used, and the result is that the next time the animal ia frightened it 

 bears a two-fold character — the fear of the object and the fear of the 

 whip punishment. 



It is generally a crude habit of many persons when driving a 

 horse past an object of which he is afraid to begin with " whoa, boy! 

 whoa, boy I whoa, boy !" and when the horse has passed the object, 

 to take the whip and lash him with it, and say " I will learn you to 

 shy/ &c. Now when this treatment is pursued, I claim the horse 

 believes that the object that he was afraid of inflicted the pain, and 

 consequently he is made worse instead of better. Now my theory is 

 to use the whip gently when approaching the object, and compel him 

 to walk right up to it, and let him smell of it, stopping him, show- 

 ing him that it will not hurt him. 



Only use the whip when you give the word of command, speaking 

 with force and distinction, as I believe nine-tenths of our runaways 



