Kindness or Punishment

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 57, 18 February 1927, Page 7

Kindness or Punishment

WHICH PAYS WITH HORSES? A WRITER in "The Live Stock Journal’ 1 states that probably almost everyone who has had much experience in handling horses will admit that severe punishment, even when it is understood, and therefore to somo extent reasonable, is not the best means of inducing horses to submit their wills to ours. Light penalties, and. if possible, coercion without the infliction of pain, are well known to be more effective. There are two reasons for this. First, the fact that a horse’s physical strength is so '’inch greater than a man’s that if the spirit of opposition is fully aroused the horse is likely to discover that he lias a decided advantage in the contest.

The second reason lies in the nervous charactor of the horse's temperament, which makes the best effort of a cowed horse inferior to that of which he would be capable if his will had been brought into harmony with that of his master bv firm but gentle measures. We all know that there is just one thing which punishment can never effect—it can never make a bad-tempered horse do his best in a race. Most of us are also aware that when a horse enters into the spirit of racing he possesses an advantage equivalent to a considerable reduction of weight. Suoh facts tend to show that gentler measures may be expected to give especially good results if applied to racehorses.