BREAKING REMOUNTS. 287 



down in their training, they would be fit for the ranks much 

 quicker, and the process of training would thus be rendered 

 pleasanter for the trainer ; for a horse cannot respond to the 

 rider's aids unless he is fit and well. 



We also find that remounts bought direct from the breeders 

 are far from being as robust as they appear ; for the debility 

 resulting from insufficient food during the period of growth 

 renders them unable to resist illness, and they require careful 

 feeding and handling for a far longer time than do horses 

 which have been reared under better conditions. 



The breaking of the remount should be gradual and 

 methodical. He should be led by hand in the school or 

 manege for the first few days, until he gets accustomed to his 

 new surroundings. The driving-pad and long reins may then 

 be put on him and he may be driven quietly round the school 

 at a walk for a quarter of an hour and taught to turn in 

 obedience to the indication of each rein as required. These 

 lessons should be continued every morning until he obeys the 

 feeling of the reins and will walk away freely to either hand. 

 The length of the lessons should be increased by degrees, and 

 the horse be made to trot and canter collectedly on the right 

 or left circle before he is saddled and mounted. A horse that 

 is accustomed to being driven with the long reins for about a 

 fortnight is far less likely to be frightened when first mounted, 

 and is better prepared in every way, than he would be if he 

 were only lounged. The system of lounging a horse on one 

 rein only is faulty, because the breaker has no control of the 

 animal's hind quarters, as he has with the two reins. The 

 lounged horse swings his quarters out in a disunited manner, 

 while the constant pull of the rein on one side of his mouth 

 tends to give him a hard mouth. In driving with the long 

 reins we are giving the horse a mouth, while teaching him to 

 obey the indications of the rein. It sometimes happens that 

 when every care has been taken in supplying the young horse 



