264 SCHOOL BREAKING. 



can be regarded only as preparatory to instruction in 

 the open. 



Our military riding-schools are twenty yards wide by 



sixty yards long. For the school training of single horses, 



the manege need not be larger than twelve yards by 



twenty-four yards, or even a circle of twelve yards in 



diameter will do. With single reins, one rein is held in 



each hand. With a bit and bridoon, apart from the 



ordinary application of the bridle, the snaffle is used to 



keep the head sufficiently raised by acting on the corners 



of the mouth, and the curb to depress it. The use of 



the curb is not indispensable for obtaining the airs of 



the high school ; but from its severity it is, as a rule, more 



effective than that of the snaffle. The collection to be 



obtained from the latter bit is in every way to be preferred 



to that by the former, the indications of which are complex 



and necessarily confusing. For instance, we have with it 



pressures, respectively, on the bars of the mouth, on the 



chin-groove (by means of the curb-chain), on the top of 



the horse's head (through the headstall of the bridle), and 



in some cases on the roof of the animal's mouth (through 



the agency of a high port). The indications of the snaffle 



are simple, and as nearly as possible, direct. If its effects 



are obtained slower than those of the curb, they are far 



less liable to arouse the opposition of the horse, who will 



generally resent punishment that appears to him to be 



unmerited. 



THE SCHOOL HORSE. 



The chief physical points which are required in the 

 school horse are : light forehand, well-pi aced-on head 

 and neck, sloping shoulders, oblique pasterns, strong 

 loins, and powerful hocks. The principal mental ones 

 are : light heartedness, so as to give brilliancy to his move- 



