234 TIME FOR REFLECTION 



" the horse has never studied anatomy/' I cannot concede 

 that any horse is such an ass as not to know his way out 

 of a stable, although it may puzzle his brains, as well 

 as his master's occasionally, how to get out of his place of 

 confinement, locks and bolts being strong barriers against 

 the egress of bipeds or quadrupeds. 



Well, having stabled the colt, we are now to have 

 fifteen or twenty minutes (whilst the horse is eating a 

 few ears of com, and examining his apartment) " to 

 reflect on the best mode of operations, for in horse- 

 breaking it is highly important that you should be 

 governed by some system, and you should know, before 

 you attempt to do anything, just what you are going to 

 do, and how you are going to do it." Here is some very 

 good advice, applicable to all systems ; but as it would 

 occupy about fifteen or twenty minutes to read through 

 Mr. Rarey's new method of horse-taming, we may suppose 

 it is intended that the tyro in horse-breaking should sit 

 upon a stumbling block or stool outside the stable door, 

 engaged in digesting this work whilst the colt is employed 

 in munching his few ears of com within, and taking a 

 survey of his apartment. We are informed also that 

 " this is the proper time to see that your halter is ready 

 and all right." Well, we Britishers have a notion that 

 the proper time for preparing and getting ready our 

 tackle, whether for angling, shooting, hunting, or horse- 

 breaking, is before we leave home, and not when arrived 

 at the scene of action. 



Then as to " the kind of halter." We generally use a 

 leather one, in preference to a hempen, or, as Mr. Rarey 

 calls it, a rope halter, so that there is nothing very novel 

 in this suggestion. Before using the halter, we have 

 remarks on the horse in these words : — " But before we 



