A PROMISING PUPIL. 265 



he could make nothing of him : as a last resource, he 

 had tried a plan sometimes adopted by these gentle 

 and scientific breakers ; namely, that of putting the 

 horse next the shaft horse with the traces crossed, 

 and then putting two strong horses before him : the 

 consequence is, as soon as they draw, the cross traces 

 come against the quarters of the pupil in the form of 

 a wedge : of course the more he hangs back the more 

 he gets to the narrow part of the crossed chain : so, to 

 avoid his quarters remaining in a vice, he is some- 

 times induced to get forward. It is, however, a 

 brutal mode, and seldom succeeds : it did not here ; 

 for the horse threw himself down to avoid the punish- 

 ment. He was then given to a proper breaker, but 

 the mischief was done : he could not make him draw. 

 Now this horse had no vice in him : the only thing 

 was, he would not face a collar, or, in stable phrase, 

 " draw a hat off a man's head." He would not kick, 

 but would stand still, and, if urged forward, would 

 put his fore legs out as two props, and, if whipped, 

 would plunge and then lie down. I did not of 

 course say I ivould make him draAV, for it Avas very 

 possible I might not ; but I engaged to try. 



With this horse, as with all horses when they 

 refuse to do any thing, the first thing was to consider 

 and endeavour to ascertain why he would not draw. 

 The probable causes in this case were, either that 

 from having been put to a heavy weight at first he 

 he had not drawn it, and consequently did not know 

 that he could ; that pressure on his shoulders hurt 

 him ; or that he had been so tormented and punished 

 that he had become sulky : in either case punishment 

 could do no good, nor was it deserved. 



On the horse arriving, instead of beginning putting 



