464 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



here. Some carters are in the habit of blind- 

 ing the colt when teaching him to back : it 

 may be necessary with the restive and obsti- 

 nate one, and should be used only as a last resort. 

 It is an admirable plan to teach a Horse to 

 back without blinkers. How many accidents 

 have occurred from Horses having had their 

 bridles slipped off, and through not being ac- 

 customed to see the carriage behind them, 

 become terrified, and set ofF at full speed, to 

 the destruction often of themselves and what- 

 ever they may come in contact with. 



The colt having been thus partially broken- 

 in, the necessity of implicit obedience may be 

 taught him, and that not by severity, but by 

 firmness and steadiness ; the voice will go a 

 great way, but the whip or the spur is some- 

 times indispensable — not so cruelly applied as 

 to excite the animal to resistance, but to con- 

 vince him that we have the power to enforce 

 eubmission. Few, we would almost say, no 

 Horses, are naturally vicious. It is cruel 

 usage which has first provoked resistance ; 

 that resistance has '^een followed by greater 

 severity, and the stubbornness of the animal 

 has increased ; open warfare has ensued, in 

 which the man seldom gained an advantage, 

 and the Horse was frequently rendered un- 

 serviceable. Correction may, or must be used, 

 to enforce implicit obedience after the educa- 

 tion has proceeded to a certain extent, but the 

 early lessons should be inculcated with kind- 

 ness alone. Young colts are sometimes very 

 perverse ; many days will occasionally pass 

 before they will permit the bridle to be put on, 

 or the saddle to be worn ; one act of harshness 

 will double or treble this time. Patience and 

 kindness will, after a while, prevail. When 

 the Horse is in better humour than usual, 

 the bridle will be put on, and the saddle will 



be worn ; and this compliance being followed 

 by kindness and soothing on the part of the 

 breaker, and no inconvenience or pain bein*' 

 suffered by the animal, all resistance will be 

 at an end. 



The same principles will apply to the break- 

 ing-in of the Horse for the road or the chase. 

 The handling, and some portion of instruction, 

 should commence from the time of weaning. 

 The future tractability of the Horse will much 

 depend on this. At two years and a half, or 

 three years, the regular process of breaking- 

 in should come on. If it be delayed until the 

 animal is four years old, his strength and 

 obstinacy will be more difficult to overcome. 

 We cannot much improve on the plan usually 

 pursued by the breaker, except that (here 

 should be much more kindness and patience, 

 and far less harshness and cruelty, than these 

 persons are accustomed to exhibit, and a great 

 deal more attention to the form and natural 

 action of the Horse. A headstall is put on the 

 colt, and a cavesson (or apparatus to confine 

 and pinch the nose) affixed to it, with long 

 reins. He is first accustomed to rein, then 

 led round a ring on soft ground, and at length 

 mounted and taught his paces. Next to pre- 

 serving the Horse's temper and docility, there 

 is nothing of so much importance as to teach 

 him every pace, and every part of his duty, 

 distinctly and thoroughly. Each must consti- 

 tute a separate and sometimes long-continued 

 lesson, and that taught by a man who will 

 never suffer his passion to get the better of 

 his discretion. 



After the cavesson has been attached to 

 the headstall, and the long rein put on, the 

 first lesson is, to be quietly led about by the 

 breaker ; a steady boy following behind, by 

 occasional threatening with the whip, but 



