CHAPTEE XVI. 



BREAKING TO SLOW HEAVY DRAFT. 



404.— The education of the heavy draft horse is one of the 

 few arts in which we have certainly made no progress during the 

 present century. The magnificent animals that drew the funeral 

 car of the Great Duke, in 1852, were less docile, less staunch, less 

 under command, and less capable of simultaneous and united 

 action, than animals that could have been procured for the same 

 purpose if the Duke of Wellington had been slain at Waterloo. 

 Half a century earlier a team could have been supplied that would 

 not have demanded a leader at the head of each horse, and that 

 would have caused us to hear less than we did about the difficulty 

 of starting that ponderous carriage. 



405. — The great and much needed improvement in the 

 condition of the farm labourer, that has taken place durmg the 

 last half century, and the equally improved state of our roads, 

 are two blessings for which we may well be thankful, but are 

 nevertheless changes that have both tended to cause less care and 

 attention to be given to the education of the draft horse than was 

 given a hundred years ago. The soft roads that called for the 

 use of harness bells to give timely notice of the approach of 

 another team, so that the best place could be chosen for pulling 

 out of the deep ruts, demanded horses that would hang on to a 

 long, slow pull, and that would pull altogether at the word of 

 command. But one of the strongest motives for first class 

 education was supplied to the driver by the fact that the law 

 would not allow him to ride without reins, and the master would 

 not let him have reins to drive with, his muscles being supposed 

 to be a cheaper article than those of his horses. Thus when he 

 stole a ride, even on [the shafts, he was at the mercy of every 



