On no account keep a vicious horse. Do not believe what horse-jockeys or grooms may tell you of it being only play, or being easily cured. It is true that horses often become vicious through the teasing of grooms; but vice, when once shown, is never thoroughly eradicated. Sir George Stephens has some excellent observations on this subject. "A horse does not understand a jest: tickling him or pinching him; worrying him in the stall; sometimes coaxing and then scolding him; dressing him when feeding; pushing him with the fork; all play of this sort leads to retort, which, when it becomes habitual, is incurable vice." Other faults in horses arise from the follies of riders. "A horse should be mounted steadily, but promptly; and when mounted, should be allowed to walk away quietly for the first hundred yards: instead of this, nothing is more common than to see a man, as soon as his foot is in the stirrup, apply the spur and check the curb, to show off his horse's spirit. Thus he becomes irritable and impatient the instant he is led out of the stable, and sometimes acquires a habit of rearing and plunging before the rider is well settled in his seat. Some thoughtless blockheads can never pass a carriage (particularly if there are ladies in it) without the same ambition of display; and hence the animal views the approaching carriage as a forerunner of punishment, and resists every attempt to pass it." In harness horses frequently acquire a habit of gibbing or swerving to one ride from inattention to the collar; as if it galls the shoulder, or presses on the windpipe, which it often does when not made expressly for the horse that wears it, "he resists the draught; and, when punished for resistance, he rears or kicks; and, if he thus vanquishes a timid driver, he will repeat the trick till it becomes habitual." Many young men take pride in urging a horse forward, and applying the curb at the same time to make the horse collect himself, and _pioff_ or make the _coubrette_; or, in other words, prance and rear. If, when the horse is in this state, the right rein be pressed, the horse will _passage_, that is, cross his legs, and go sideways to the right, with his head bending towards the right; but if the left rein be pressed also, though not quite so strongly as the right, the horse will perform the manœuvre called the _épaule en dedans_, and will go sideways to the left, bending and looking towards the right. But without going through all the terms of the _manège_, I may observe that most riding-masters advise their pupils to make the horse feel the rein; and this, which is called the bearing or _appui_, is of the utmost consequence in good horsemanship. There should indeed be a proper understanding, if I may use the term, between the horse's mouth and the rider's hand, so as to make the horse obey the slightest indication from the rein. All the movements of guidance in a good rider should indeed be so slight and gentle as to be almost imperceptible, there should be nothing approaching to jerking or pulling; but the horse should seem instinctively to obey the rider's will. It is a very good plan to accustom your horse to your voice, and to pat or caress him and give him occasionally an apple, a piece of bread or a carrot, speaking kindly to him at the same time. Horses may indeed be taught as many tricks as dogs, and sometimes more. I have known several instances of shooting ponies learning to open gates; and I have heard of others who have been taught to pick up a handkerchief, a glove, or even a whip, in their mouths, and to turn their heads round with it, so as to give it to their rider.