PERMANENCY IN BREAKING. 6i 



obedient under very trying circumstances. As it is imprac- 

 ticable to be constantly repeating taming methods, such as 

 Rareyfying, or tying a horse head and tail and making him 

 go round (see page 169), and as they afford us no assistance in 

 the guidance of the horse or in the formation of his paces ; 

 we must disregard them as means for the maintenance of a 

 permanent state of discipline, however useful they may be 

 for enforcing authority in the first instance. The " aids," 

 on the contrary, are ever present, whether riding or driving, 

 to keep the horse mindful of his duty. 



Permanency in the effects of breaking. — The role of 

 the breaker is to establish in the horse certain habits, which, 

 being for the most part opposed to his instincts, can be 

 easily subverted by accustoming him to practices opposed 

 to them, or even by allowing his instincts to resume their 

 former and natural sway over him. We must remember 

 that, however firmly held in check by training instincts may 

 be, their influence on the mind remains constant ; and that 

 the influence of discipline may become gradually effaced by 

 the opposing action of these instincts, unless repeated from 

 time to time. Consequently, in order that the effects of 

 breaking may be permanent, the state of discipline induced 

 by them should be rigidly preserved. 



However well a horse may have been broken of a bad 

 habit, he will be far more likely to acquire it again under 

 injudicious management than he would have been had he 

 been originally free from it ; for no course of discipline, 

 although it may keep him under perfect control, can efface 

 out of his mind the memory of the practice of a former 



