Nebraska advertiser., 1882-06-29
Neglected lcation Of the Horse.


sons upon the hoise have double ac-
ton; First he leari sto take fright nj
sights and Sounds Ven he is made, in
measure, to forget these lessons, by
being convinced that sertain things i'm.
agined by him to be dangerous are en-
tirely harmless. II fthis version be cor
rect, then how much easier to habit
uate the horse. from early 'colthoo1 up,
to such sounds and objects as are known
to be common sources of fright to the
The reason of the horse becoming
startled at certain unusual things when
he comes upon. them suddenly, or il
they como upon him without warning,
is that they ara unexpected; and the
fault in his education lies in the fact
that we fail to accustom him to sights
and sounds which we know he will be
exposed to when driven upon the street
or road. The very young cold accepts
what he is ushered into the presence of,
and has no idea OF having enemies to
guard against.
come afraid OF the senseless groom,
and spring forward in their stalls or
boxes when he comes near with whip
or pitchfork in hand. The young colt
| partakes of the fear, and from that mo-
ment is on the lookout for danger.
When he goes to the pasture with his
dam, it is to be in company with the no
| tably timid horse of the farm, the one
that the mischievous boys always de-
light in starting on the run. The timid
horse elevates his head and tail, gives
his warning snort, and the whole herd,
including the sucking colt, obey the sig
nal-the relic of the wild state-and
from that moment the young colt is
taught to look out for danger.
The dam driven upon the road with
the colt by her side, is given to shying.
/ The colt. having no suspicious before,
now learns to look Upon the bush,
stump, flag, or whatever else its dam
shows fear of, as dangerous object; a
thing to be avoided. Signals are pc
4 culiar to the domesticated state, as to
| the state of wildness, and when the
dam circles away from the bush or
stump, she gives the colt the signal of
danger and from that moment the colt
learns to scare when on the road
If the whip is used, then the colt,
through the sudden springs of its dam.
is doubly impressed with the idea of
danger. On returning, as remembering
localities is one of the strongest traits of
intelligence in the hog iottb both mare and
colt, as they near tSend rot where the
imaginary danger = III prepare for
the usual quick NOV in rat to one side.
and will be in an ex3ne ant state for the
whip. SO, as the M hos is taught, the
colt also learns. Its education begins
when its eyes first see the light, and its
ears first hear sound. -
I If the mare is made TO stop quietly at
the first intimation that she is about to
shy, and induced quietly to approach
/ the object, neither harsh word nor whip
being used, she is not only disarmed of
fear of the object, but the colt is pre-
vented from taking alarm, and the
danger of falling into very bad habit
is avoided. ,....s..s, a.a..,-.,.i......a.
We all know that early impressions
made upon the child, if at all startling,
are rarely, if ever, entirely effaced. The
sentiment of fear is more natural TO the
colt than TO the child, and fear in the
colt is blind and unreasoning; not nee
essarily so, but made,so by neglect in
his education; for all men know. or at
any rate all should know, that the horse
| of average intelligence is quite as capa-
BILE of remembering lessons that are
! given him with care as some men are.
We often hear. it said of children that
they haye been ruined in their educa-
ton We rarely hear this said Of a
horse; yet it is as often true of the latter
MS of the former. &e -
intelligence and responsibility should
be as steadily, required of the horse used
as a sire, as size or good breeding, for a
vicious stallion gives more or less of this
damaging trait to all his get. Bad tenn
per is sometimes so fixed in the animal
as to be beyond the power of man to
eradicate it, or even to keep it under
fair control. But in the case of q colt
of fair disposition and average intelli-
gence, there Is hardly any emergency
liable to arise in ordinary driving, team
or farm work that he will not face with
out fear, or danger of doing harm, if he
has been properly handled from the
start. A spirited horse, if he has been
properly taught, will 90 down hill with
out holdbacks, allowing the eross-bar TO
press against his thighs; while without
the training, he will run away if a sin
| gle strap gets loose or disarranged. In
the one case we educate the horse as we
do the boy, that we may render him
valuable through his understanding, and
the knowledge of the duties we expect
him to perform, while in the other we
take the unframed horse, put him in
| places of trust, aud then blame him be-
cause he does not perform duties which
| he can only fully understand through
training, and cannot by any possibility
know the ffNsLrudiments of through in
stinct. National Lire Stock journal.