66 BREAKING. 



crupper and straps remaining still attached. A linen rubber 

 may also then be tied on either side of the saddle. When 

 this ceases to attract the attention of the colt, and he is in 

 other respects quiet, he may be ridden ; the boy being first 

 placed across him a few times in the stable, when by coaxing 

 and gentle handhng the colt will soon become used to it, 

 and the boy may sit erect. So much gained, and it requires 

 but patience to achieve it, the colt should be lounged after 

 being led at a walking pace for a short time, and when 

 sufficiently quiet, which will be in the course of a few days, 

 may be turned loose. 



Different methods are preferred by different trainers. Some 

 would mount him in the open air for the first time. In this 

 case, great care should be taken not to frighten him. He 

 should be held by a short rein, which gives greater command 

 over him when he plunges, that he may be stopped at once ; 

 for if he gets his head in front of you, nothing will control 

 him, and in breaking loose the shock to the nervous system 

 would be so great that he probably would not recover for 

 weeks. Gentleness and time are two most essential ad- 

 juncts in breaking the colt ; for if departed from, and he be 

 hurried in his work or abused in irritable hands, immediately 

 the progress you are seeking to make becomes a retrograde 

 course. 



I have seen a plan of breaking yearlings, which to my 

 mind cannot be too strongly condemned. It is to drive them 

 before you ; for what purpose I am at a loss to conceive, and 

 not being curious enough to ask, remain in ignorance. It 

 requires no conjurer to tell us, that, if half a dozen men 

 cannot hold a horse that is bent on escape when close to 

 him, if his head is straight before them, no one man can, at 

 the length of the cavesson-rein, prevent his getting loose 



