406 BROKEN KNEES. 
bility of recovery is too likely to be seized upon as a positive guarantee 
of perfect restoration; and the possible evils which may have been 
alluded to, confusion causes the individual not to remember. Therefore 
silence is wisdom in these cases, however slight the broken knee may 
appear in the first instance. 
Broken knees are principally caused by the imprudence of him in whom 
authority is invested. Certain people imagine the public admire the man 
who chastises a horse. Such persons slash away for every trivial error. 
Every imaginary fault is punished with the whip, which too often curls 
around parts that should be respected. The animal, pained and fright- 
ened, thinks only of the slasher behind it, and entirely disregards the 
path upon which its eyes should be directed. The cutting is incessant, 
and the horse’s pace is incautiously fast. An impediment is encountered , 
the animal trips; it is cast to the ground with violence, while the man 
is probably rendered fitter for a hospital than for the continuance of his 
travels. 
Other riders and drivers always visit with severity the slightest indica- 
tion of weak limbs. A sudden drop or a false step is, to such people, the 
signal for the reins to be jagged, the voice to be raised, and the whip to 
be freely exercised upon all parts of the animal’s body, but mostly about 
the face and ears. The man likes to behold the poor creature shake its 
head, and loves to imagine he is then teaching the terrified quadruped 
to be careful. Equine pupils, no more than human scholars, are to 
be tutored by barbarity, which may slay the reason long before it can 
instruct the mind. Composure is imperative to the acquirement of any 
knowledge. Thrashing calls forth terror, and alarm is synonymous with 
confusion of mind. The horse is susceptible of a fear which humanity, 
happily, finds it difficult to conceive; and how far such a creature is 
calculated to be educated by cruelty, the intelligent reader is left to infer. 
Could the animal argue, it might plead that the weakness objected to 
was caused by exertion made in man’s service; that the stumbling gait 
was consequent upon no negligence on its part; that it afforded the 
beaten wretch no pleasure to have the knees broken, but, if the quadru- 
ped might profess a choice, it would prefer not falling down, etc. ete. If 
such pleas were properly considered, they perhaps might still the turbu- 
lence of the punisher. 
The great majority of these injuries are consequent upon the prejudice 
or thoughtlessness of mankind. Popular admiration is, in this country, 
much in favor of a good crest. Every animal, no matter how nature 
may have formed the neck, must carry a good head. The rider, there- 
fore, drags upon the bridle, while the form of nearly every gentleman’s 
harness-horse is distorted by the bearing-rein. The constraint thus 
