Page:Motors and motor-driving (1902).djvu/398

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358
MOTORS AND MOTOR-DRIVING

to bicycles, and dwellers in cities see that horses are becoming, and in most cases have become, absolutely indifferent to the motor-car. The evil therefore is only a temporary one; but in the meantime it is the duty of horse-owners to take steps to have their animals trained to meet motor vehicles without fear; I maintain, too, that as motor vehicles are daily increasing in numbers, owners of high-couraged horses that are known to become absolutely unmanageable should take special care that their animals are never allowed out on the highway in charge of incompetent lads, who, if a motor-car is encountered, are unable to control them.

A horse swerving and backing a cart across the road in a village recently as nearly as possible caused the death of a group of four small children who were playing on the pavement in the village. The back of the cart crashed into the wall of a cottage within a yard of the little group.

There was sound wisdom in the recent decision of a court of justice in Paris, where it was held that it is the duty of. owners of horses to have them trained to meet motors.

The difficulty which has presented itself has been how horse-owners may obtain opportunities of training their horses to meet motor vehicles. The Automobile Club has already given demonstrations at the Ranelagh and other clubs near London of how horses may best be made tractable, and has advertised these opportunities. If any owner of restive horses will apply to the secretary of the Automobile Club, that gentleman will doubtless be able to arrange that some motorist in the neighbourhood will drive his car to the horse-owner's establishment and there train the restive animals. Members of the Club have done this over and over again, and motorists generally are most anxious to assist in this direction, thus overcoming prejudice.

A well-known nobleman took the precaution to send his horses to Coventry, in order that they might reside in the centre of motordom, and they quickly became used to cars.

The process of training is extremely simple: the horse