The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

14 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
comprehends, if it is made in a way consistent with the
laws of his nature. The horse, though possessed of
some faculties superior to man, being devoid of reason-
ing powers, has no knowledge of right or wrong, and
well it is so, for if he had sense equal to his strength, he
would be useless to man. He would then demand the
crreen fields for his inheritance, where he could roam at
his pleasure, denying the right of servitude at all. To
make him fit for the requirements of man, the colt lias
to be taught, and it is this teaching in its infancy that
makes it a willing and useful servant, or spoils it
altogether, by making it a vicious, worthless brute. No
horse was ever born vicious ; it is not in his nature, and
if he ultimately becomes so, it is the result of bad
management. The teaching of a colt should commence
at its mother's side, by the attendant constantly caress-
ing it, and passing his hands gently down its legs and
over its body, using kind words to it at the time.
The colt should never be entrusted to boys or
thoughtless men, for they are sure to play with him,
and it is this that ultimately makes the colt become a
vicious horse. Hundreds of horses are spoiled in this
manner. The colt is teased until he either kicks or bites
his tormentor, then he is unmercifully beaten, and ever
after it looks upon man as its natural enemy. As a proof
that the horse is not naturally vicious, we find the most
docile of animals the progeny of vicious sires. As an
instance, Chanticleer was the most vicious horse of the
present century, and he was made so by the man who
looked after him tickling and pinching his flanks. So
vicious was he, that for the last 15 years of his life he