SHY HORSES. 
93 
Those who are in the habit of riding along frequented 
roads or through the streets of populous towns, and whose ob¬ 
ject is expedition and safety, can best estimate the inconve¬ 
nience, annoyance, and constant apprehension occasioned by a 
shy hackney : while walking, perhaps with an air of the great¬ 
est unconcern, and such a carriage as inspires his rider even 
with confidence, all in an instant, planting himself in an atti¬ 
tude of affright, he makes a dead stop,’’ as though an electric 
spark had passed through his body and fixed him motionless to 
the spot. Of the sensations of the animal at such a moment 
we will not just now venture upon a description ; but we know 
by experience too well what those of the rider are to think 
slightingly of a subject to which the preceding letter has for the 
first time called our attention, and induced us to make these few 
cursory observations. 
We take it that shyness in horses is the genuine offspring of 
fear: in man, it may have various other origins; some say it 
is grounded in pride; others, that it is a step to madness, since 
it leads a person to shun company and spend his time in soli¬ 
tude. Fear is the emotion excited by the suspicion, apprehen¬ 
sion, appearance,- or approach of danger : the hare is the most 
timorous, and probably we may add the most suspicious animal 
in nature, considering how near to our dwellings it often takes 
up its abode ; and this shyness or fearfulness may be said to be 
innate, perfectly natural to the species, and in a great measure 
inseparable from it; for, although by domestication, by in¬ 
dulgent feeding, and kind usage, we may render the animal 
familiar with certain persons and certain objects, still, it is ever 
ready to take alarm at every nev: object or unusual action or 
sound, and thus is continually reminding us of its instinctive 
and unbanishable timidity. This we may denominate native 
timidity, giving rise to that kind of shyness with which foals 
and young animals in general are for wise purposes endowed, 
and which many, in sj)ite of all that can be done to domesticate 
