BREAKING AND TRAINING. 



461 



and the force having been increased with the growing strength of the colt, 

 the creature, after its fifth year, (if intended for the higher purposes 

 of the saddle,) should be taught to leap. To place a rider on an animal's 

 back and then to expect a bar to be cleared, is very like loading a younj>; 

 lady with a sack of flour as preparatory to a dancing lesson being re- 

 ceived. This folly is, however, universally practiced ; so is that of 

 teaching the paces, when the quadruped's attention is probably engrossed 

 by the burden which the spine has to sustain. 



RISING TO THE LEAP. 



Leaping is best taught by turning the horse into a small paddock 

 having a low hedge or hurdle fence across its center. A rider should, 

 in sight of the animal, take an old horse over this several times. The 

 groom, who brings the corn at the meal hour, then goes to that side 

 where the animal is not, and calls, shaking up the provender all the time 

 his voice sounds. The boundary will soon be cleared. When half the 

 quantity is eaten, the man should proceed to the opposite compartment 

 and call again. If this is done every time the young horse is fed, the 

 fence may be gradually heightened ; after six months of such tuition, a 

 light rider may be safely placed upon the back. 



Instruction, thus imparted, neither strains the structures nor tries the 

 temper. The habit is acquired without those risks which necessarily 

 attend a novel performance, while a burden oppresses the strength, and 



