This page has been validated.

The horse's contrariness is now removed. But how did it arise in the first place? By the education at the hands of the first trainer, who allowed the horse to refuse to execute a movement or submit to an effect which it did not understand. If the trainer had insisted patiently and gently on the horse's learning that troublesome effect, he would, at the very beginning, have disposed the horse's will in his favor, and instilled the habit of obedience. But by punishing the horse for not understanding some effect, the trainer has impressed upon its will and memory the possibility of successful revolt. The animal knows that it has had the best of the man.

The error really lies in the haste with which masters and public are trying to complete the education of a horse. One who takes a reasonable time and follows without hurrying the sequence of the training should never have occasion to induce any restiveness. Either the horse knows or does not know what the man's effects indicate. If it knows and refuses, it must be punished. But if it does not know, it is to be taught. To educate the horse to understand the rider's effects is to make it superior to other horses and more intelligent, and is the surest means toward success.

BOUNDING

A BOUNDING horse springs straight up in the air from all four legs, and comes down again on the