HOW THE HORSE LEARNS 143 



The ideas which are afterwards translated into 

 actions by the horse originate in objects, or events, 

 or aids which have made an impression upon his 

 senses of sight, hearing or touch and on his ins- 

 tincts. Acting upon his senses by objects, impres- 

 sions and aids, we may produce in him associations 

 calculated to give rise to the ideas of the actions 

 we wish him to perform or which we desire to 

 teach him. We give him the idea of coming to- 

 wards us by showing him the sieve in which he is 

 given oats. The horse does not come to us for our 

 sake but for the sake of the oats which are in the 

 sieve, which he knows to be in the sieve, but the 

 oats call forth in him also the idea of coming 

 to us. 



To teach the horse a movement or cause him 

 to perform a movement we must first of all : 



1. Inspire him with the idea of it by showing 

 him some object connected with it, by giving him 

 a suitable aid, and then by whatever means, find 

 the way to constrain him to put the idea in practice. 



2. As soon as he makes the movement (whe- 

 ther well or badly does not matter) signs of appro- 



