54 CAVALRY HORSEMANSHIP 



best criterion of the competency with which the work 

 has been directed. 



Divisions. Breaking in — Training. — Tlie education of 

 young liorses lasts two years. This is a rule which 

 admits of only one exception, and that is in the 

 case of mobilisation. 



The preparation of the army horse, for his definite 

 employment, has two periods, each having its own 

 distinct object. 



1. The breaking in, to which is assigned the first 

 year of military service of the young horse (four to 

 five years old) ; it has for its object the physical 

 development of his power, acquired by appropriate 

 work, and the formation of his character. 



2. The training proper, to which is given the 

 second military year (five or six years old) and which 

 has for its object the complete submission to the aids. 



These two years, notwithstanding their special 

 denomination, do not constitute two periods clearly 

 defined ; they represent, together, the time which is 

 indispensable to make the remount fit to sustain the 

 calls of military service. The very words " breaking 

 in " and " training," convey in themselves, and 

 constantly impress upon the instructors, the profound 

 difference which exists between the work which a 

 young horse not yet fully set can stand, and the de- 

 mands that can be made on a six-year-old horse. 



In effect, the young horse should not be submitted 

 to the difficult exercises of training, until his moral 

 development, on the one side, and the development 

 of his frame, on the other side, permit of his going 

 through without fatigue. 



The gradation to observe in the exercises, to which 

 the horse is submitted for his development, constitutes 



