290 STABLE ECONOMY 



SEVENTH CHAPTER. 



SERVICE. 



I. GENERAL PREPARATION FOR WORK. II. PHYSIOLOGY Of 



MUSCULAR EXERTION. III. PREPARATION FOR FAST WOKK. 



IV. PRESERVATION OF WORKING CONDITION. V. TREAT- 

 MENT AFTER WORK. VI. ACCIDENTS OF WORK. VII. KINDS 







OF WORK. VIII. REPOSE. 



GENERAL PREPARATION FOR WORK. 



BREAKING is the first process the horse undergoes to pre- 

 pare him for work. His education does not, however, come 

 within the limits of this treatise. It forms a part of horse- 

 manship, and is best performed by men who make it their 

 business. I am not intimately acquainted with the practical 

 details, and shall not attempt to describe them. But I would 

 make a few remarks upon what I consider the principles of 

 breaking. 



The Objects of Breaking are the same in ail cases, and they 

 are only three in number. It should teach the horse to yield 

 implicit submission to his ruler ; it should give him dexterity 

 in performing his work ; and it should confer a graceful car- 

 riage. When the horse has learned all these, he has no 

 more to learn, or at least the breaker has nothing more to 

 teach him. 



The Means employed to teach the horse vary a little, both 

 in degree and in kind, according to his disposition. There 

 are punishments to enforce submission, and rewards to en- 

 courage it. After that is obtained, the rest is easy. To pro- 

 duce dexterity at work, the horse needs nothing but practice. 

 In giving his first lesson the breaker has to take certain pre- 

 cautions against awkwardness, timidity, and resistance on the 

 part of the horse. But, after the novelty of drawing or carry- 

 ing has worn off, daily practice is all the horse needs. The 

 difficulty is all in the beginning, and that is often much \e- 



