NERVOUS HORSES. 185 



If he again sees the same object, he will expect the same 

 punishment, his fear will become increased, and he will 

 naturally try to escape all the more violently. 



All horses are not equally timid. Some are more impres- 

 sionable on one side than on the other, whether accidentally 

 or naturally, which fact gives rise to the saying that some 

 horses are nervous on the near side, and others on the off. 



We may note that wall-eyed horses are always nervous. 



It is often wrongly said of a horse that he is nervous, when 

 he is only fresh or green. It would be more correct to say 

 that he is in the air, that he wants to use his muscles and 

 extend himself, or, in other words, that he is in the position 

 of a child who, having been for a long time quiet, begins to 

 play and frisk about. In such cases punishment and caresses 

 are equally useless. What we ought to do is to give him 

 what he wants, namely, plenty of exercise. Send him along 

 for two or three miles, and after that he will be per- 

 fectly quiet. 



There are certain horses which are restless by nature, and 

 are constantly on the alert to notice anything they may see 

 or hear. They are afraid of all sorts of imaginary things, they 

 make sudden starts at every moment, and are consequently 

 very disagreeable to ride. Give them lots of work to cool 

 them down and pats on the neck to give them confidence. 



The number of the different kinds of nervous horses is so 

 large, that it is impossible to enumerate them all. There 

 are, however, certain ones which I would like to particularise. 

 Some are afraid of everything which goes past their head, 

 or everything which overlooks them, such as a carriage, 

 omnibus, a low bridge, or carriage entrance. All things of 

 that kind frighten them. People say that these horses are 

 afraid of their heads being hurt. They are, however, abso- 

 lutely indifferent to things which are low. 



Other horses are afraid only of things on the ground, such 



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