YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 173 



of action. The animal is well balanced, and so trots better be 

 cause all its movements are regular. Everything is graceful, 

 and all the forces of the system assist each other. Herbert 

 says a horse has greater docility, as well as better style and ac 

 tion, if it be thoroughly trained in the saddle before being put 

 into the harness. The improvement is proportioned to the ex 

 tent and degree of supplying more or less. To break properly, we 

 should seek out sources of resistance to graceful motion, whether 

 from the physical nature, or from a previous imperfect motion. 

 All the resistances we should overcome by a progressive sys 

 tem of suppling, applied successively to the principal muscles 

 from the head to the haunches. The work is generally badly 

 begun, and bad habits are produced. The term/brce, as we use it, 

 is muscular power in action. The forces of the horse are subjec 

 ted to control by giving to the body a new balance, where all the 

 instinctive forces are changed to transmitted. Forces are 

 termed instinctive, when the horse determines the use of them; 

 transmitted, when the man determines the use of them. Any 

 man who has a modicum of " horse" in his disposition, may go 

 through the supplings with his beast and break him well, but 

 it is a gradual process. The forces should be first conquered, 

 and finally studied so as properly to direct them. The animal 

 should be taught the exercise of the forces of balance and mo 

 tion. The focus of these forces is the centre of gravity of the 

 animal, while at rest or in motion. The various technical steps 

 in this process were gone through with in detailed description 

 by Dr. G., commencing from the head and passing along back 

 ward. The muscles controlling the action of the animal are to be 

 subdued individually. Direct and indirect flexion of the jaw 

 and of those muscles which join the head to the neck, is cal 

 culated to aid his intelligence, and thus secures, more satisfac 

 torily, what the bitting harness is designed to accomplish. 

 The very use of training is to supple the horse to the hand ; 

 hence, what need of machinery ? The neck and head are the 

 two props upon which the horse relies to resist efforts to break 



