TESTS OF HORSEMANSHIP. 347 



should also, by our seat, be able to feel the slightest move- 

 ments of the hind quarters, for we learn by our seat what 

 passes under us. Consequently, we can check the slightest 

 fault, and immediately reward the faintest sign of good will. 

 This is the entire secret of breaking. 



Further, the riding master who breaks a school horse, acts 

 alone, and depends only on himself Every fault committed 

 and every good movement done are his work. This is true, 

 only in the school. 



The racehorse, to mention his case only, passes through 

 many hands, such as those of trainers, riding lads, and jockeys, 

 and if the animal commits a fault with any of them, the man 

 can put it down to his next-door neighbour. Only the school 

 horse is the exclusive work of the person who broke him. 

 Count d'Aure replied one day to a criticism of Baucher 

 that, " I am not a horse breaker." Then, what did he break ? 

 Did the word breaker jar on his ears ? For my part, I know 

 no other. Of course we should not regard in the same light 

 the horseman who breaks a horse in good style, as the groom 

 who takes the rough edge off him, and I venture to say that 

 no one can be a real horseman, if he cannot break-in a horse. 

 Breaking is the horseman's touchstone. The broken horse is 

 the proof of the breaker. 



