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CHAPTER III. 

 HORSES WITH VICES. 



Nervous Horses — Horses which throw their heads about — Horses which 



run away. 



NERVOUS HORSES. 



It is usually said that a horse which is nervous will jump 

 to one side or spin round, when the sight of some object or 

 some noise makes him stop. 



Any horse can be more or less surprised, according to its 

 degree of impressionability. Happily all horses are not 

 timid. 



The impressionability of a horse can be greatly diminished 

 and modified by breaking. Custom establishes mutual confi- 

 dence between horse and rider. If the animal has not been 

 beaten, or violently forced up to the object of his alarm, and 

 if the presence of his rider reassures him, instead of frighten- 

 ing him, he will soon become steady. 



It is a sound principle never to flog a horse which is 

 frightened by some external object. We should, on the 

 contrary, try to anticipate or remove the impression by 

 " making much " of the animal. 



I have already said that a horse has but little intelligence. 

 He cannot reason, and has only memory. If he is beaten 

 when an object suddenly comes before him and startles him, 

 he will connect in his mind the object and the punishment. 



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