116 VI ET ARMIS. 



for at least some purpose, but the breeder wanted a 

 head. 



Then, to make things worse, the animal (I will not 

 call him a horse) is put into the hands of some Yahoo 

 of a country breaker : he, I will back at twenty (or a 

 hundred if you wish it) to one, wants a head ; and 

 consequently it will be found, that, if he gets an awk- 

 ward ill-disposed colt into his hands, he makes him 

 worse ; and, give him a clever promising one, he 

 turns him out of his hands a brute. I fully main- 

 tain, that a man to break young horses should be 

 (to a certain extent) a man of education, at least of 

 sufficient education to have learned to think ; but, 

 unfortunately, any totally ignorant fellow who hap- 

 pens to have a firm seat, strong arms, strong nerve, 

 and of course an enormous whip, fancies he possesses 

 all the requisites of a colt-breaker. By opposing 

 brute force to brute force, he certainly generally suc- 

 ceeds in making the colt carry quiet when turned out 

 of his hands, kept down by work, and often by low 

 keep : but he has most probably so far ruined the 

 temper of the horse as to make him fear and hate the 

 very sight of a rider; and, as soon as from proper 

 keep and ordinary work the horse recovers his spirits, 

 we find we have a wilful restive beast on our hands. 

 Most probably he is then sent back to the same 

 breaker, who, by the same means he used before, 

 again puts him into the stable of the owner quiet, 

 with this exception, that his temper is worse than 

 before, which he will not fail to show as soon as he 

 has opportunity and spirits to do so. Now let a 

 trainer for the turf get a colt into his hands, first to 

 break, and then train, how widely different is his ma- 

 nagement of a young one! These persons have gene- 



