BREAKING AND TRAINING. 



455 



denly imposed upon an unbroken spirit which had previously been per 

 mitted to enjoy the wildest freedom. It should govern from the earliest 

 consciousness, not, as now, be plumped upon a young life which ha? 

 hitherto been permitted to roam, knowing no restraint. The foal should 

 not run entirely free by its mother's side : the colt should not be turned 

 into some handy paddock to feed and grow, till it is old enough "to be 

 wanted :" the life should not exist without a need or a care, until a cer- 

 tain age is attained, when the young creature is to be suddenly parted 

 from its enjoyments, and the happy spirit is to be literally "broken" 

 unto the most servile obedience. 



Let the education commence with the birth. Let a man always pre- 

 sent the vessel from which the mother feeds. The mare will obey the 

 instinct of appetite ; the behavior of its dam will instruct the impulses 

 of her young. At the expiration of a week or two, the semblance of a 



CAST BT THE HEAD-STALL. 



head-stall may be put on the foal ; but this should never be worn when 

 the groom is absent, as animals may cast themselves, by getting the 

 hind hoof entangled when endeavoring to scratch the ear. That part of 

 the body the friction of the straps generally causes to itch ; the conse- 

 quence being almost certain, the result is likewise fatal. Several valua- 

 ble horses have been sacrificed, through grooms turning the creatures 

 into the field without removing the halters. These last were left on, be- 

 cause the quadrupeds, when thus caparisoned, were more easily caught 

 by an idle domestic. This subject has, in a previous part of the work, 

 been illustrated ; but to prevent the inconvenience of a reference to a 

 former page, the engraving was reproduced. 



