BREAKING AND TRAINING. 463 



tnals; but there is not a circumstance of the many, rebuked in these 

 pages, which does not aid powerfully in producing that miserable effect. 

 All the customs about the equine race seem to be antiquated and injuri- 

 ous. An animal is taken up, is cast, is operated upon, is shod, is broken, 

 and is sold often in the course of a few weeks. What a change has to 

 be submitted to 1 Every incident of life is altered — the creature is sud- 

 denly called upon to endure a new existence. Is it a matter for surprise 

 that nature occasionally rebels against so wholesale an innovation? Is 

 it not a proof of the sweetness of the disposition which graces the equine 

 race, that the majority can yield themselves up to the barbarity of such 

 a terrible mutation ? 



The author does not imagine that any person will immediately delay 

 the breaking of his horse up to the period which has been suggested. 

 To take a colt only every second year, and always allow seven years to 

 pass before the animal is brought to market, would, assuredly, double 

 the present cost ; or, in other words, it would displace those animal weeds 

 which now cheapen the price of horse flesh. No proposal generally suc- 

 ceeds in the modern age, in which expense is decidedly ignored. The 

 reader is, therefore, not expected to alter his plans because the present 

 volume has been published. Something, however, will have been gained 

 if the book causes him to question his existing behavior, even though he 

 should not modify his proceedings. A writer, however, is bound to state 

 that which in his conviction is the truth, and to pay no regard to motives 

 of mere expediency. Then, putting probability and expense, convenieUce 

 and existing arrangements out of the question, let the reader deliberately 

 say, whether very much of what he has read was not right in theory. 



Then, as regards money expense, this might not be increased ; for if 

 the animal would cost twice as much, it would endure under a better 

 system four times as long. The outlay, consequently, reckoned against 

 the years of service, would be smaller; nevertheless, many a decade 

 must elapse before that which the book declares is practically carried 

 out. Still, if a few only are convinced, and none adopt the plans pro- 

 posed, good will ultimately result ; for the right must be known before 

 it can be practiced, and man generally, in the end, does that which hia 

 better sense has acknowledged to be just. The impulse which urges 

 him to such a course may be resisted ; but it will, as a necessity of his 

 existence, at length operate; for by such an irresistible power are 

 thrones upturned, are institutions amended, and all human progress is 

 ultimately controlled. 



The animal being educated according to the foregoing description, — 

 not being forced to strain its thews and to distort its limbs before the 

 frame has fairly been perfected, but being gradually brought to the 



