CHAPTER IX. 

 BREAKING AND TRAINING. 



THE education of a horse is generally included in the words 

 " breaking and training/' and is commenced and carried through 

 with the object of making the animal tractable, and subservient 

 to the requirements of man. The time to commence this edu- 

 cation is when the animal is young and impressionable, and 

 especially during foalhood ; but of course this is not always 

 possible where large numbers are bred, especially in the open, 

 and with but few attendants. Then what might be designated 

 "heroic horse-breaking" has to be adopted with animals 

 perhaps two or three years old, which may never have been 

 handled, and are in a more or less wild condition. 



With those in paddock or at pasture, however, and which 

 are under the immediate influence of civilisation, handling 

 should begin soon after birth. Horses differ very much in dis- 

 position and temperament in this respect they are but little, 

 if at all, different to the dog and their intelligence, tracta- 

 bility, and docility differ widely among themselves. Some are 

 naturally stupid and difficult to teach ; others are so nervous 

 and shy that teaching alarms them, and makes them so excited 

 that it is very difficult to secure their attention and confidence ; 

 others, again, are stubborn and perverse, and require tact and 

 humouring ; while there are others, also, though it may be 

 surmised they are in a small minority, who are naturally, if not 

 vicious, at least recalcitrant and spiteful. 



But it must be confessed that, to those men who can 



