CHOICE OF GROUND. 77 



BREAKING. 



Now suppose you have a horse that has just come 

 out of a training stable, solely for flat racing, where a 

 turf with as smooth a surface as a bowling-green has 

 been his exercising and trial ground, and where he has 

 never been obliged to keep a sharp look-out for holes, 

 grips, mounds, and a thousand and one other stumbling- 

 blocks. 



A strong, steady, and experienced man with good 

 hands should be put on him, with orders to ride him 

 at a walk over a ploughed ridge-and-furrow field for 

 an hour, and then to trot him over the same until he 

 sweats. The extensor muscles of the arms and shoul- 

 ders will have been sufficiently called into play for the 

 first lesson, by this exercise, which should not exceed 

 one and a half hour. He should be then walked back 

 to the stable as soon as possible. 



Continue this daily for one week, at the expiration 

 of which 'time a change may be adopted with advantage. 

 Choose a flat meadow full of hidden grips and water- 

 courses, and letting the horse have his head loose, ride 

 him at a walk all over it for about the same time, and 

 continue doing so daily for about a week. 



His eye and foot will now have adopted the regular 

 workmanlike action so desirable, of avoiding obstacles 

 carefully in whatever shape they may present them- 

 selves. Therefore, he should be made to avoid them 

 at an accelerated pace, which should be done by walk- 

 ing over the ridge-and-furrow field until you think 



