THE HORSE.
The great mistake that people seem to me to make about animals is this:
they fancy that they must be frightened into obedience, and kept from
disobeying their masters by being made afraid of punishment. I dare say
that animals, like human beings, often need correction; but two things
are necessary to make such correction useful. One is, not to punish them
too severely, which only hardens them in rebellion; the other is, never
to hurt them at all except for a real fault--something that they know
to be a fault, and know that they will be punished for doing. Otherwise,
the poor beast, not knowing when or why it may be beaten, gets confused
and foolish, and does wrong, as any boy might do, from being in a great
fright. The truth is, that the animals are very sensible, and very
willing to do their best. They are fond of being praised and rewarded;
they become very much attached to those who treat them kindly; and when
they are so attached, they are very happy, and show off all the fine
qualities that make them both valuable and entertaining. I am going to
tell you some stories about my own favourites; and, to prevent your
thinking that they were different from others of the same kind, I shall
begin by letting you into the secret of making them so knowing.
First, I tried to find out their habits; and I will tell you what they
are. All very young animals like to sleep a good deal, and to be let
alone. It both frightens and hurts them to be pulled about, and makes
them fretful and ill-tempered; spoils their growth, and prevents their
loving you. A puppy or a kitten is very fond of play, and will jump and
bounce about with you for a long while; but the moment they begin to get
tired, they should be left alone, to rest as much as they like. You may
suppose, that if, when you are comfortably going to sleep at night, a
rough-handed man were to come and shake you, and bawl out in your ears,
and wake you continually, you would soon become fretful and ill too, and
feverish, and be very glad to get out of the way of such a tormentor. So
my rule is, when creatures are young, to let them have as much sleep as
they will. It may sometimes prevent their being playthings when you want
them; but it will be made up in their health, and good-temper, and
gratitude to you.
Next, all creatures like liberty: a horse or a dog is never so happy as
when bounding across the fields in perfect freedom. Why does chaining or
tying up a dog make him savage? Because he then looks on mankind as his
enemies, and fancies that everybody he meets is going to take away his
liberty. My dogs have known as little about chains as possible: two of
them had been used to be tied up before I had them, and I never could
break them of being savage. As to beating it out of them, it would be
like putting on coals to keep a fire from burning. That, you know, makes
the fire look dull for a little while; but the moment you stir it, up it
blazes, much higher and brighter than if no coals had been put on. I
knew a horse that was not naturally good-tempered, and bad usage had
made him much worse: he was then bought by a gentleman, who gave him
enough of the whip, and spur, and sharp iron bit to cure him, if that
could have done it; but it only made him cunning and revengeful. Poor
beast! a little patient kindness would have gone much farther. I will
tell you an instance of this.
Once I had a mare, and such a beautiful creature she was! She lived on a
sort of farm, where they had not put her to work, and where the
children had been used to play with her. She was hardly full grown. I
lived then in a house with very low windows, and the pretty mare was
grazing on the outside. One warm day, the windows were all open, and I
was sitting at work, when she popped her beautiful head and neck in at
the one nearest to me. I gave her a bit of bread that was lying by me,
and told her to go away; but she would not. I said to myself, "Why
should I drive her away? God made the animals to be loving and confiding
towards man; and if this lonely creature wants me to be a friend to her,
why should I not? The Bible says, 'A righteous man regardeth the life of
his beast;' and what is life to a poor animal that has no hereafter to
look to, if its life be without comforts?" So I put down my work, and
went and rubbed her forehead, stroked her long white face, patted her
shining neck, and talked to her. After this when I was alone at my
morning work, she was sure to put her head in at one of the windows, to
ask, in her dumb way, to be petted; and many an apple, many a handful
of oats, did she get by coming there. She would soon listen for my
footstep about the house, and I seldom could look out from any window
without seeing her under it, or before it. She would also follow me like
a dog when I walked in the grounds where she grazed.
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One day, a gentleman's groom undertook to ride her; but he began by
whipping and by jerking the bridle, which is a very cruel thing. My mare
did not like this; and as he went on doing it, she lost her patience;
and after a long trial as to who should be master, she threw him over
her head, and trotted home to her stable. He was not hurt, but very much
mortified, being a soldier, and a great horseman; and he told his master
that she was the most vicious beast in the world, not safe for anybody
to ride. I did not like my pretty mare to get such a bad name: so I told
my own groom to put on the side saddle, and I asked the gentleman to
mount his fine English horse, and to ride out, and see if she were not
easily managed. We had a long ride over mountains, and through little
streams, and crossing deep torrents by the unsteady bridges made of
trunks of trees, and he said he never saw an animal so full of spirit
and good-temper as my mare. I never touched her with the whip, but spoke
gently to her; and I can truly say, that for the year and a half of my
riding her every day, she never brought me into danger, nor ever
disobeyed me. You may say, "But this was a particular sort of horse, not
like others." I have only to answer you, that the bad, vicious horse I
spoke of before, was bred in the same place, lived in the same stable,
and the only difference between them was the different usage that they
had received.
The horse is one of the most sensible and most affectionate of
creatures. You see, every day, how they will obey the man who drives
them, going on, stopping, moving to the right or left, and turning any
corner, all without the driver going near them. They have learned the
meaning of his words, or they could not do this; and is it not dreadful
that a creature able to understand, and most willing to obey the voice,
should be beaten and tortured as horses are? Why does a horse go as fast
as he can when he is cruelly whipped, and his poor mouth wounded by the
hard bit? Because he is trying to get away from the man or boy who
treats him so. Ah, when God brought his beautiful creatures to the first
man, to be named, and gave them into his care, there was no appearance
of man ever becoming so cruel, or the animals so miserable as they now
are! Yet the Lord loves mercy and judgment, and hates tyranny and
wrong, as much now as he did then: and we may be quite certain of this,
that every cruelty committed is an offence in his sight, and will be
terribly punished, if it be not repented of, and left off; for when a
person says he repents, and goes on doing the same thing as before, he
is deceiving himself and provoking God.
The horse must bear a great deal of dreadful pain and suffering to be
made fit for the use man puts him to, in drawing carriages, and other
things. It is not natural to him to have even a bridle and saddle on
him; much less to be loaded with harness, to wear blinders on his eyes,
and to drag a great heavy weight as fast as he can run, keeping always
attentive to the least touch of the reins, and turning accordingly, to
prevent running his carriage against others. His fine spirit must be
broken, his liberty quite taken away, and many a bitter smart must the
poor, dumb, harmless, helpless creature suffer. But surely this ought to
be enough; and you would not be the cruel wretch to add to his pains?
Sometimes people _must_ go fast; but one who would distress and torment
a horse to make him go fast, just because it pleases the driver to be
moving quickly, is doing a very wrong thing; and so is the person who
could neglect to give food and drink to a horse when he wants it. I
wonder when I see the poor doing this. They know what it is to be
overworked, and to want as much as they could eat; they are often cold,
and cannot get fuel enough: and if they were tied up, and not able to
run about, or to help themselves, having no servants to wait on them,
how very badly off they would think themselves! Yet a poor horse is much
worse off; he can neither do any thing for himself, nor express his
wants to others: he does his best, serves us faithfully, obeys all that
he understands; and then to be ill-used, neglected, starved! It is a
thing that I cannot bear to think of; and I hope my readers will always
set their faces against such wickedness. Remember that promise which the
Lord has given, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy."
I dare say you have heard of the Arabs--a wild people, the descendants
of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, who possess a great deal of country in
the east; and are powerful, and much feared, because nobody has been
able to conquer them. Their greatest strength consists in having the
boldest, fleetest, most docile horses in the whole world. Arabian horses
may be known in a moment by their uncommon beauty, their delicate arched
necks, waving manes, and long tails; but though a great price is given
for them, and they are lodged, and fed, and tended with all the care
possible, they cannot be so happy in a king's palace, as in the tent or
hut of their poor masters at home. The Arab treats his horse like a
child; gives it to eat of his own victuals, to drink of his own bowl of
milk, and lets it sleep in the midst of his family. Of course, the
animal becomes so fond of him, that it serves him for love, carries him
through all dangers, and has often been known to defend him with its
life. We cannot bring up our horses in this way, nor treat them as the
wild Arab does; but knowing what sense, and feeling, and gratitude, and
love, this noble creature can and does show, we ought to be always
watching to avoid giving it unnecessary pain, and to persuade others to
be equally kind.
I cannot tell you how it used to grieve my dumb boy, Jack, when he saw a
horse ill-used; or how very kind he was to one that he had the care of.
He would sooner have wanted food and drink himself, than have allowed
his master's horse to feel hunger or thirst. He was very tender when
rubbing it down, if there was any, sore place; and if the animal got
cross or impatient, he would say to me in signs, "Poor horse not know:
horse tired: soon go sleep, poor horse!" That was a very strong,
spirited animal, and needed a steady hand to rein him in; but I often
saw the dumb boy jump on his back, and with only the halter over his
head, guide him where he chose. I never saw him give that horse a blow
or a kick, in all the two years that he tended him. Jack was fourteen
when he began, and sixteen when he left off being his groom. He was
strong and healthy then; but at nineteen he died; and he told me that it
made him very happy to think that he had never been cruel to any of
God's poor creatures. But I must not say any more now about the noble
horse. There is another animal, the natural companion of man, the dog,
which comes next in value; for though it cannot take us on a long
journey, or convey our goods from place to place, it stands sentry over
us and our property, being not only a good servant, but a most
intelligent, fond, and faithful friend. It does not need to be broke in,
like the horse; it learns the ways and the wishes of those around it;
and the more liberty you give it, the more eager it is to serve and
please you. The dog deserves a chapter to himself, and shall have it.
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