224 MOUNTED BREAKING. 



with his heels, lightly at first, and gradually with more 

 pressure, but without hurting him, so as to teach him to 

 bear the contact without resentment or fear. We may then 

 slacken off the cord a little, make the horse go round and 

 round again, and so on, until it will be safe to let him 

 altogether loose. Before doing this, we should, as before, 

 test his quietness by stopping him with the leading rein, 

 and then pulling him round again. When we have loosened 

 out the cord to about half its full extent, we may give the 

 leading rein to the rider, to hold in his right hand, so that 

 he can stop the horse from turning round, if necessary. By 

 holding the near side of the headstall in the left hand and 

 by lightly touching the animal on the near quarter with the 

 whip, we can make him go round, as may be needed. 

 After the cord has been removed, the long reins may be 

 put on, and the breaking proceeded with as described on 

 page 219 et seq. Three-quarters of an hour will be ample, in 

 the large majority of cases, for completing the process of 

 mounting. A second lesson of the same kind, which will 

 take far less time than the first one, may be given on the 

 same day. As a rule, no further discipline in mounting 

 will be required, beyond the occasional use of the rope- 

 twitch to correct unsteadiness. 



In all my experience with scores of horses which 

 had for years successfully resisted every effort to mount 

 them, I have never failed to accomplish this object within 

 an hour by the method just described ; nor has any horse, 

 after I have removed the cord, shown the slightest return 

 to unruliness during the subsequent portion of the lesson. 

 The use of the rope-twitch is specially valuable for render- 



