The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-10-22

Whatever may be the falling we may per-
ceive in young horses-or indeed in any hor-
ses, but OF course more especially in young
ones-whatever those failingsmay be, wheth-
er in temper, courage, or action, the first
thing 10 be done unquestionably is 10 endea-
vor to find out from what cause that filling
arises, and having ascertained the cause, the
next thing is to apply the remedy. Unfortun-
ately for horses, they are very generally put
into the hands of those who give but little
consideration TO either cause or remedy, and
when they do, often hit upon the wrong
cause, and still oftener fail in hitting on prop
er remedy. One thing may be depended On
as a fact in nineteen cases out of twenty vio-
ence and punis hment will be resorted to as
the remedy, while it is an equally certain
fact that in ninety-nine cases in hundred it
is the wrong one.
One of the most material things in teach
ing men, children, or brutes is to make them
perfectly understand what it is we want of
them, and this we suspect is not always done
in either case. Children, we are satisfi-
ed, are often punished from our fancying
them unwilling or obstinate. when in truth
their not completing their task arises from our
fault i'm not making them comprehend it.
with horses we are quite certain this is mat
ter of hourly occurrence. We are too apt to
fancy that easy which we know ourselves,
forgetting that A B is as difficult to learn as a
first lesson as solving the most difficult preb-
lem is at a maturer age or in more advanced
education.
1t certainly requires no great exer.ion of
the instinct of the horse to stop when we cry
"who-ho;' but until he knows what "who-
no" means, we have no right to expect him
TO stop at the word or be surprised or angry if
he does not. With some horses, repeatin.
the word twenty times, with a corresponding
pnll at the reins, will teach this lesson; with
others. we must do so a hundred times before
they will perfectly comprehend our wishes:
for there is as much difference in the capacity
to learn i'll the horse as there is in man. and
for this difference there is seldom proper al
lowance made. If one colt learns anything
we wish him in few days, and another does
not, the faiue of the latter is at once set
down to obstinacy, and the poor brute is pun
ishcd for not doing that which he would will
ingly do if he really knew what we wanted of
him.
We will say horse has been cried ''who-
ho'' to many times, but does not stop; the
driver fancles the horse. ought TO know his
wishes, and consequently will also fancy that
he does. What would the generality of
breakers do on such an occasion? Why, give
violent snatch at the colts mouth, accom-
pained with a ''who-ho" loud enough to
brighten drove of oxen, probably with the
addition OF an oath at the end of it. Conld
's s.''6 " ihciC dOSuIu tIdtl LulS, anu Nhoo
would be the probable result OF such conduct?
Not assuredly that which was wanted, name
ly, to make the colt quietly stop; but, on the
contrary, the violent pull would make MN
throw up bis head il he had liberty to 90 SO,
or run back or plunge ifhe had not; IN snort,
1t would make him do anything but whaL ne
was wanted to do, and he will get punished
for committing fault of the breakers own
creating. Now, if colt had learned his les
son, and had constantly stopped on being
spoken to-, we should then know that he un-
derstood our wishes; and if he on particular
occasions did not obey, properly proper,
toned punishment for his disobedlence would
be allowable: but we should be perfectly sat-
isfied on this head before we administer the
punishment, however slight it might be, for
wrongly applied, it might undo what mad been
done before.
We are very much afraid that punishment
is often had recourse to, not as painful al
tentative that the future well doing OF the
object compels us to infict, but as a means OF