Herbert's analysis falls into two distinct stages, the first concerning the fear of horses themselves, and the second of the boxes and containers that they transported around Vienna. In the first phase, Herbert is afraid that a white horse will bite him or come into his room, or will collapse and fall over. Freud interprets this as a fear of the father, fear that the father will punish him for his desires over the mother and to act aggressively towards the father. Because Herbert's father was acting as analyst, Freud conjectures that this fear is impeding the progress of the treatment, something which he resolved by inviting Herbert to see him (Freud) personally and explaining this fear to him: