RIDING-SCHOOLS, 37 



have to take in imparting instruction is to make him 

 attend to his lesson. As the horse is a gregarious and 

 roving animal, whose instinct of self-preservation prompts 

 him, when in the open, to keep a sharp look out against the 

 attacks of his enemies ; the breaker will be able to keep him 

 far more attentive and obedient in some convenient en- 

 closure, such as a riding-school, which contains no other 

 horses and men, and which is free from disturbing external 

 influences, than in the open. When the habit of obedience 

 has been confirmed (but not till then), the animal should 

 be gradually accustomed to work outside, and in company. 

 As horses in the army, owing to their large number, are 

 broken in " rides " of several at a time, a certain proportion 

 of them contract the vice of refusing to leave the ranks or 

 to act independently, which, I need hardly say, is a form 01 

 jibbing. The same detestable vice is often met with in the 

 hunting field, from the fact of timid or incompetent riders 

 seeking for a lead. I may here say that the instinct of 

 imitation in the horse is far more of a hindrance than of an 

 aid to the breaker who aspires to teach a horse to impli- 

 citly obey his rider or driver. Even the most inexperienced 

 will require no argument to understand that a horse which 

 will not take his own line, or will not, for instance, jump in 

 " cold blood," is not half broken. 



To many persons who regard horse-breaking as a purely 

 empirical art, the mention of a riding-school as a place of 

 instruction for a young hunter, race-horse, or chaser, is like 

 the showing of a red rag to the proverbial bull. We must, 

 of course, bear in mind, that mere personal opinions have 

 no part in the science of horse-breaking. The prejudice 



