THE ARMY HORSE. 221 



have been mentioned, there are many trotters which compete 

 in local events, and after leaving the racecourse do excellent 

 work. Often they have nothing remarkable about them, 

 except their pace. They are not naturally precocious, and 

 have advanced by care, good feeding, and education, while 

 others have remained behind. 



At five years old the French horse could have nearly all 

 his height and strength and be ready for breaking. If he 

 is otherwise, the state of his development will be propor- 

 tionate to the amount and nature of the food and exercise he 

 has received. 



Formerly it was the rule among riding masters not to break- 

 in a horse for high-school work until he was at least seven 

 years old. For many years I thought and acted like the 

 others, and to make my school horses. I took animals of from 

 seven to eight years old ; but little by little, I became im- 

 pressed by what I saw on racecourses. At Epsom, Chantilly, 

 Auteuil, and Longchamp, the longest and severest races were 

 reserved for three-year olds.* I observed that when breaking- 

 in a school horse I did not require from him a tenth of the 

 exertion which he would have to do, if he was trained or 

 raced. Starting on the principle that if a horse can do much, 

 he can do little, I came to the conclusion that a three-year- 

 old which could stand training and racing, would much more 

 easily stand school breaking. Although this reasoning ap- 

 pears to me to-day to be very simple, I was not able to act 

 on it without extreme timidity, so great is the influence of 

 preconceived ideas. Whenever I spoke about it to horsemen 

 and authorities of that time, they shrugged their shoulders, 

 and regarded it as nonsensical. Since then I have learned 



* Without doubt the objection will be made that a great number break down 

 in training. To this I reply that they begin their training at the age of eighteen 

 months, which is a very dangerous proceeding. I finally propose to begin 

 breaking at three -and-a-half years ; the amount of exertion which I require being 

 far less than that incurred during training. 



