x.] COLT-BREAKING. 107 



have done, you have been in the constant habit of 

 doing both, the horse will long ago have become as 

 stiff as a piece of wood. Is it to be supposed that the 

 best suppled manege horse is more supple than the 

 colt at the foot of his dam? Can any one who has 

 watched his pranks think so ? How often have I been 

 told by a rider to observe how supple his horse's 

 neck had become ! That he could now get his horse's 

 head round to his knee, whereas he could not at 

 first accomplish more than to see his horse's eye. If 

 the same horse, loose, wished to scratch his shoulder 

 or his ribs, would he not forthwith do it with his 

 teeth ? 



When a cabriolet or cart is turned in a narrow street 

 or road, the horse is forced to make half a pirouette, 

 without any questions being asked as to his capabilities 

 or suppleness; and the rein being pulled strongest on one 

 side, the whip applied on the other, the shafts to prevent 

 his turning short, and with evident reason why he 

 cannot go a-head, he sees what is required, and does 



