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 confidence 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 frightening 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.