General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1922 Original Publisher: Houghton Mifflin company Subjects: Horsemanship Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER X REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS Caresses and other rewards are the first means by which the trainer makes the horse understand that it has nothing to fear when under control. A horse is by nature timid and anxious; the first step in its training is to give it confidence and to make it understand that it will meet no ill usage. When that is accomplished, the horse is tamed. As yet, however, it knows nothing. Its education advances by means of rewards when it does well, and by punishments when it fails to do something that it has already been taught. Caressing may be done with the hand alone, or with the voice, or by the two in conjunction. Early in the training, it is better to employ both together, so that each may help to make the other understood. After the horse gets the idea, it is better to use only one at a time. When the man is on foot, he commonly caresses the horse by passing his hand over the forehead below the forelock, always in the direction of the hair. But the horse should become accustomed to caressing on other parts of the body – neck, shoulders, loins, abdomen, haunches, and legs. The fingers should be extended and the full hand used, notmerely the finger-tips. The horse is thankful for a generous caress with heart in it. On the other hand, the horse should not be slapped too strongly. A nervous animal, especially, is likely to interpret this as a reproof. Caressing by the voice is entirely a matter of softness of tone. The animal has no idea whatever of the meaning of the words. With the horse in motion, …
