GENERAL PREPARATION FOR WORK. 291 



sened by giving the horse an example. A steady companion 

 may be present at his first two or three lessons. If meant 

 for harness, he may be yoked with a steady horse, already 

 well broke and somewhat stronger than himself. He re- 

 strains the colt, and serves as an example to him. Besides 

 learning the horse to work, the breaker has to give him a 

 graceful carriage. He must raise the head, set the horse 

 upon his haunches, and teach him precision in his motions. 

 Before the colt is broke, he carries the head low, leans over 

 his fore legs, and has a slovenly irregular gait. These the 

 breaker must correct, p^or a certain number of hours every 

 day the head is reined up. In the stable, the bridle-reins are 

 fixed one to each stall-post, and one to a surcingle on the 

 horse's back. While out of the stable, the head is supported 

 by the hand, by the surcingle, or by what is termed a dumb- 

 jockey, an apparatus like a St. Andrew's cross, fixed on the 

 horse's back. After a time, this elevated position of the head 

 becomes easy and habitual. The horse carries it so without 

 support. In old horses the position of the head and neck 

 can not be altered ; and when the neck is short, and set very 

 low on the shoulder, it can not be much raised, even in colts. 

 By elevating the head and neck, the body is necessarily 

 thrown more upon the hind legs ; to use the breaker's phrase, 

 the horse is " set upon his haunches." This requires no 

 separate process. Good action, which is the most important 

 part of a graceful carriage, can not be given to all horses. 

 That of the colt always improves as he becomes accustomed 

 to his work. But a good horseman will produce the same, 

 or greater improvement, in less than half the time that work 

 alone would produce it. He employs the hand, the heel, the 

 voice, and the whip, to restrain, to steady, and to push the 

 horse. I think it is in this part of their business that break- 

 ers oftenest fail. Most of them can teach the horse to obey, 

 and to work, and to carry his head, with more or less anima- 

 tion ; but few seem able to confer the steady and graceful 

 action which makes a saddle-horse so valuable. Doubtless 

 there are many horses upon whom it can not be conferred ; 

 but very often the fault is in the teacher more than in the 

 taught. 



1 have not said by what means the horse is taught to obey. 

 It is obvious that he can not be taught to work unless he 

 yield obedience to the breaker. Sometimes the colt is so 

 rebellious that he must be mastered by force before he will 

 submit to any instruction. But this does not happen very 



