780 VETERINAEY HYGIENE 



defeat the object in view; firmness and kindness, with 

 good hands and a good seat, are the four qualities most 

 difiicult to find in combination, but are the secrets of 

 success. 



If as foals, yearlings, or two-year-olds the young animals 

 have been used to be haltered, handled, taught to lead and 

 turn, tied up, feet lifted, wisped, and petted, the remainder 

 of the work is simplicity, for they are already two-thirds 

 broken. 



When temper is shown by them it is no use meeting it 

 with temper, but it may be met by restraint ; the animal 

 must be shown how powerless he can be rendered, but 

 without violence of any kind. Lessons of restraint may 

 require more than one administration, but they are effective, 

 and the time comes when unconditional surrender is made 

 and no further resistance offered, provided he has been 

 treated kindly though firmly throughout. 



The contrary renders him suspicious, shy, and timid, 

 there is an utter want of confidence shown by him in every- 

 thing ; he is always on the look-out for trouble, and if so 

 constituted he becomes vicious. It is well to remember 

 that vice is more frequently the result of injudicious train- 

 ing than the fault of the horse. 



The late Captain Hayes did excellent work in popularis- 

 ing rational methods of horse education. We shall have 

 both in this, and the chapter devoted to military hygiene, 

 to refer to the training of horses for saddle and draught, 

 and shall aim at inculcating the modern to the exclusion 

 of the seventeenth and eighteenth century systems. 



Both a horse's manners and paces are undoubtedly 

 improved by judicious training, yet there is a limit beyond 

 which improvement cannot go. A naturally clumsy mover 

 may be improved, but can never be made into a sharp, 

 active horse. A naturally clever horse may be made into a 

 brilliant hunter. If a horse cannot jump naturally, no 

 amount of training can make him ' clever ' ; if he is a 

 clumsy, unsafe mover with low action, and built on bad 

 lines, the trainer may effect some improvement by various 



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