BREAKING YOUNG HORSES 205 



will back readily on pressure from the reins, and then it 

 must be made to back by pulling from the rear in the 

 ordinary way. If this is practised daily the horse will 

 soon back cheerfully on the smallest indication. 



When young horses have been allowed to run wild until 

 they are three or four years old, and have never been 

 handled at all, they often give considerable trouble at first, 

 and then it is that the system introduced into England by 

 Mr. Sydney Galvayne is of the greatest use. Until his 

 advent Mr. Rarey's method had been the last resort of the 

 breaker, but the disadvantage of his plan was that the 

 breaker had to work as hard as the horse, and was also often 

 in considerable danger. But with Mr. Galvayne's system 

 the horse does everything after being once tied up, and the 

 breaker has nothing to do but look on until the animal has 

 given in. Both methods owe their success to the fact that 

 when a horse is once thoroughly beaten he will, whilst in 

 that state, offer but faint resistance to anything whatever. 

 Both aim, therefore, at the complete exhaustion of the horse, 

 and then at once insisting upon its doing the very thing it 

 fought against at first. The animal submits because it is 

 too fatigued at the time to fight any more, and thus acknow- 

 ledging itself beaten by the breaker, thereafter looks upon 

 him as its master and does his bidding. Mr. Galvayne's 

 plan is to tie the horse's head to its tail, bending the neck 

 round till the body forms a segment of a circle, and then 

 leaving it to its own devices. As it cannot straighten itself 

 it is obliged to travel in a circle, spinning round and round, 

 exhausting its strength, and getting more or less giddy. As 

 soon as it halts it should be encouraged to recommence its 

 gyrations, and this is a grand opportunity for cracking whips 

 in its face, firing off pistols, and making every possible 

 noise ingenuity can suggest. Whenever it stops to rest a 

 long pole should be rubbed against its legs, its head, and 

 every part of it until the horse will bear being touched any- 

 where with equanimity; and then a saddle may be put on 

 and girthed, and, if so desired, the rope can be untied, a 

 rider get into the saddle, and the horse led about without 

 any remonstrance on its part. As an addition to the ordinary 



