BREAKING. 179 
into a loose-box (which is the best plan), or he is turned round in his stall, 
and kept in that position by buckling the ordinary pillar reins to each 
side of the bit. At first, the reins should hardly confine the head at all 
beyond the position in which it is naturally carried when the horse is 
excited; but each day a hole or two may be taken up, until such pressure 
is made, that the horse has a tendency to relieve his neck and shoulders 
by advancing his fore legs and rounding his neck. The best plan is to 
put on the breaking tackle for an hour in the stable, then loose the reins 
for a quarter of an hour; after which the colt may be led out for his 
regular daily exercise, and may be “longed” with the reins buckled more 
or less tightly, according to the experience of the breaker and the con- 
dition of the mouth. In most cases, the process is hurried far too much ; 
the breaker contracts to do all that is required for a given sum, varying 
from one guinea to three, and it is his ebject to spend as little time over 
each of his pupils as will serve to make them barely rideable. This is 
objectionable in principle, though it is very difficult to know how to 
improve upon it without running the risk of extortion ; but when a colt 
is to be broken for the use of the owner, or any of his family, he will do 
well to see that plenty of time is devoted to the formation of the mouth, 
and this I have already said should extend to a fortnight. If the breeder 
has a lot of colts which are to be placed in the breaker’s hands, the latter 
can, with the assistance of a few lads, go on with a dozen at the same 
time, and in that way too great an outlay of money is avoided ; but if 
there is only one in his hands, he can hardly do justice to his employer at 
the ordinary rate. Hitherto I have only alluded to longeing, without 
describing it or alluding to the object with which it is adopted. I must 
now, however, say something more about it, because in this stage it 
becomes an important element of success. It may be remembered, that 1 
have laid down a fortnight as the least interval which should elapse from 
the commencement of breaking before the colt is fit to be backed with 
safety to the breaker or his assistant. Not that he may not be ridden in 
much less time than this, but that if he is, it will be at the expense of his 
mouth. Longeing is a means of at once giving exercise in a short space 
of time, and also of accustoming the colt to use his limbs while some 
degree of pressure is made on the mouth by the bit, without giving him- 
self pain from moving the head. Now, the act of keeping this part still 
necessitates an even and smooth style of going, and so all things work 
together to produce the pleasant feel which is given to the rider by a 
perfect hack. A good mouth may be acquired in the stable, but it is soon 
spoiled out-of-doors, either by longeing in a hurried manner, or by the 
bad hands of the rider, whether breaker or subsequent user. ‘To keep if 
great care is required at every stage of breaking; and none but a man 
possessed of head, temper, seat, and hands can finish a colt as he should 
be turned out. Longeing, therefore, I hold to be a most important part 
of the art of breaking; and its absence from Mr. Rarey’s principles and 
practice shows that he has taken the dull pulling mouth of the American 
horse as his model, and not the beautifully yielding, yet steady one of the 
English hack. In the United States, where Mr. Rarey acquired his ex- 
traordinary powers, riding is little practised; and those horses which are 
used have leathern mouths, and are ridden with three legs, rather than 
with a pair of legs and a pair of hands, as with us. We need not, there- 
fore, be surprised that he has altogether overlooked the importance of 
acquiring a fine mouth, and has regarded the mere control over the horse, 
in some way or other, no matter how, as the sole object to be desired in 
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