SCHLESWIG HORSE — SCHOOLING 



Schleswig Horse. — This is a breed of heavy horses which 

 resembles the English Suffolk in type, being lighter in bulk 

 and more active than either the Shire or the Clydesdale. 

 It is much in favour for artillery purposes, omnibuses, and 

 street vans. The Breeders' Society, though not founded till 

 1 891, rapidly established confidence by the rigorous tests 

 to which all horses are subjected before entering them in 

 the Stud Book, and the demand for this type of horse is 

 steadily increasing. They are bred in the Duchy of 

 Schleswig, in the territory between Konigsaue and the 

 Eider river. 



Schooling a horse differs from breaking a colt inasmuch 

 as the former term is usually applied to the education of 

 an animal which has already been through the hands of a 

 breaker. All horses are capable of having their action and 

 manners improved, excepting in a few hopeless cases, if 

 proper attention is paid to the development of these qualities, 

 and this is called schooling. The trotting action is doubtless 

 the one which, above all others, is susceptible of improvement, 

 and amongst the various methods of encouraging a horse to 

 step high is to trot him on a straw bed, as he will have to 

 pick up his feet to clear the loose straw. Some trainers make 

 their charges trot over baulks of timber, so arranged as to 

 suit the stride of the animals, but this practice is calculated 

 to injure the horse, and is very rarely adopted and then only 

 in exceptional circumstances. The most common course to 

 pursue is to place weights upon the lower parts of the legs 

 just above the fetlock joints, or to shoe the horses very 

 heavily. The weights are made of india-rubber tubes filled 

 with shot, which can be buckled or otherwise secured to the 

 limb, and no doubt they are most useful in teaching a horse 

 to step. Heavy shoes are now prohibited at several of the 

 principal shows, the committees of which limit the weight 

 of the shoes worn in the judging ring by ponies and yearlings 

 to l^ lbs. weight apiece, and in the case of all other animals 

 to 2 lbs. (See Breakings Schooling a Jumper^ 



