CAEE AND MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 797 



of reasoning power such an object should not prove alarm- 

 ing, for if he knows nothing else by sight he certainly 

 knows hay and straw. 



A tree in its ordinary position he takes no notice of, but 

 a small branch lying in the road he may refuse to pass ; 

 the same with a heap of stones at the roadside, though he 

 crosses them without a second's hesitation if they are laid 

 on the road. 



Shadows are alarming ; an animal may pass day by day 

 over the same piece of road in daylight, yet on a cloudy 

 day or towards evening, he may hesitate and look from 

 right to left for some object of alarm. 



A still object is less alarming than a moving one, a piece 

 of paper fluttering in the wind is more alarming than a 

 sheet of paper that gives no sign of movement. The colour 

 of an object also exercises an effect ; black and white, 

 perhaps from their distinctness, are more alarming than 

 those which are coloured. 



Impressions like wheel marks which run parallel with 

 the road may not cause the slightest disturbance, while 

 wheel marks running across the road at once attract atten- 

 tion in a horse given to shying. In the same way, though 

 he may pass a stick lying in the axis of the road, there will 

 be a difficulty in getting him past one lying transversely to 

 the road. 



Sometimes it is impossible to determine what a horse 

 sees that frightens him. We have known an animal shy 

 every day for months at one particular part of the road, 

 though the only thing present was a small bush which he 

 never hesitated to walk up to, and which presumably could 

 not have been a cause of alarm. 



Some horses may shy from freshness on first coming out 

 of the stable, but this soon passes off, and cannot be 

 included in the same category with the persistent ' shyer.' 



Some will shy in the town and not in the country ; some 

 will shy persistently at one or two objects and no others. 

 Taking all these facts into consideration, we are compelled 

 to regard shying as more rarely due to defective vision 



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