BREAKING. 147 



to longeing, without describing it or alluding to the object with 

 which it is adopted. I must now, however, say something more 

 about it, because in this stage it becomes an important element of 

 success. It may be remembered, that I have laid down a fortnight 

 as the least interval which should elapse from the commencement 

 of breaking before the colt is fit to be backed with safety to the 

 breaker or his assistant. Not that he may not be ridden in much 

 less time than this, but that if he is, it will be at the expense of 

 his mouth. Longeing is a means of at once giving exercise in a 

 short space of time, and also of accustoming the colt to use his 

 limbs while some degree of pressure is made on the mouth by the 

 bit, without giving himself pain from moving the head. Now, 

 the act of keeping this part still necessitates an even and smooth 

 style of going, and so all things work together to produce the 

 pleasant feel which is given to the rider by a perfect hack. A 

 good mouth may be acquired in the stable, but it is soon spoiled 

 out-of-doors, either by longeing in a hurried manner, or by the bad 

 hands of the rider, whether breaker or subsequent user. To keep 

 it, great care is required at every stage of breaking ; and none but 

 a man possessed of head, temper, seat, and hands can finish a colt 

 as he should be turned out. Longeing, therefore, I hold to be a 

 most important part of the art of breaking ; and its absence from 

 Mr. Rarey's principles and practice shows that he has taken the 

 dull pulling* mouth of the American horse as his model, and not 

 the beautifully yielding, yet steady one of the English hack. In 

 the United States, where Mr. Rarey acquired his extraordinary 

 powers, riding is little practised ; and those horses which are used 

 have leathern mouths, and are ridden with three legs, rather than 

 with a pair of legs and a pair of hands, as with us. We need not, 

 therefore, be surprised that he has altogether overlooked the im- 

 portance of acquiring a fine mouth, and has regarded the mere 

 control over the horse, in some way or other, no matter how, as 

 the sole object to be desired in breaking. At length, when the 

 breaker is satisfied that the colt has gained the power over his 

 limbs at all paces, which he will have gradually given him in his 

 daily longes, by increasing the tightness of the reins and accele- 

 rating the pace, (taking care to change the directions of the cir- 

 cles,) he thinks it time to give his pupil the finishing lessons, 

 which can only be done in the saddle. Before mounting, however, 

 he is enabled to teach the colt the meaning of each pressure of the 

 rein, which at first is utterly unintelligible. By taking both in 

 each hand, and pressing backwards, he 'causes him to back ; and 

 by drawing them forward, to proceed in that direction. The right 

 hand moved to the right, makes the colt move his head, and after- 

 wards his body, towards that side, and vice versa with the left 

 hand. In this way, all is prepared for the mounting, which should 



