GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 115 



with its weight in the required direction, and this 

 with such a degree of leaning on the bit that the power 

 of controlling all its motions with certainty and ease 

 is secured, without the necessity of interfering in so 

 abrupt a manner with the animal's efforts as to impede 

 them unnecessarily ; and to do this in such a manner 

 that the peculiarities of the individual horse and of 

 his work are brought gradually into harmony, is the 

 only effectual means we possess for avoiding all occasion 

 for restiveness, and constitutes rational handling, as 

 distinguished from purely empirical horsebreaking as 

 it is usually practised. For this is the true secret, and 

 not such violent methods as those employed by Mr. 

 Earey and others. Do not, if possible, give your 

 horse an opportunity of resisting your will successfully, 

 which is usually a consequence of your demanding 

 from him something either beyond his comprehension 

 or capacity ; and should restiveness once occur, go 

 back immediately to something the horse will do, and, 

 if necessary, commence the whole process de novo. 



It will be well to explain here why the perfectly 

 fresh and sensitive mouth of the young horse conveys 

 the sensation of hardness to the hand of the rider, 

 and why the same mouth, after it has really been 

 rendered more or less callous by the application of 

 cold iron to its delicate organisation, comes to be 

 called soft. 



When a horse is mounted for the first time, the 

 equilibrium of the whole machine is disturbed, which 

 becomes especially remarkable in the neck. The young 

 horse bores on his bridle, and tries to acquire a new 

 point to lean on a fifth leg, in fact : he is hard-mouthed. 

 But when the animal has learned how to carry itself and 



