216 HANDLING AND BREAKING. 



have taught him how ; and then he will 

 have confidence that you will not ask him 

 to do anything which he is not able to do. 

 This mutual confidence is not of course to be 

 acquired very qiiickly, but it is very valuable 

 when established ; if you retain the animal 

 for your own use, it continues through life ; 

 while if you sell him it can readily be trans- 

 ferred to any new OAvner who will treat him 

 in the way he is accustomed to. 



The more gradually and imperceptibly the 

 colt is broken, the nicer and better he usually 

 is for service in after life. In this consists; 

 the chief value of amateur, as opposed to 

 professional breaking. Eormerly nearly 



every colt Avas, as soon as he was of an 

 orthodox age, " placed " as a matter of course 

 " in the breaker's hands," nothing perhaps 

 having been done Avith him before ; now 

 a considerable number are broken at home. 

 The professional breaker cannot, of course, 

 take years over the preliminary training of 



