HANDLING AND BREAKING. 237 



so bad as a Basuto pony tlie breaker had 

 at the same time. He rushed, cart and all, 

 into the river and fell, and they had to go in 

 and hold his head above water, or he would 

 have been drowned. Yet both went beauti- 

 fully in time. 



Too great care cannot, in short, be taken 

 in breaking horses to harness. In saddle, 

 things are somewhat different. A horse may 

 buck and plunge, get rid of his rider, gallop 

 off, and neither be a penny the worse ; in 

 harness serious results may follow from the 

 same sort of manoeuvre, while there is pretty 

 sure to be damage to something or other. 

 Moreover, a horse that has once given way 

 to panic in harness, even if he escapes injury 

 at the time, is hardly safe to drive again. 

 It is in harness that the advantage of having 

 established friendly and confidential relations 

 with your horse so often comes in. On many 

 occasions, with horses of the highest spirit 

 (and I do not care for any which are not so) 



