34 ORDINARY RIDING. 



After a short rest I begin the same exercises to the right 

 for five minutes. When the work is over I again throw down 

 the whip, and call the horse to me, while at the same time 

 gently drawing him towards me by the lunging rein, and 

 then pat and stroke him as before. 



In my opinion the foregoing exercise is the indispensable 

 first step in breaking, and, as I attach great importance to it, 

 I will give my reasons at some length as follows. 



A young horse is almost always restless and timid ; 

 shadows, walls, and all sorts of trifling objects frighten him. 

 He rushes away from anything that startles him, and goes 

 to the part of the school which is unoccupied, while I remain 

 by myself in the centre. If I show him the whip, while 

 advancing towards his side, he instinctively flies away and 

 goes to the wall, against which he can be easily kept by 

 pointing the whip towards his shoulder. 



Being placed between the threat which I make and an 

 object which he fears, and from which he has fled, he returns 

 to this fixed object, which appears to him to be less terrifying 

 than the driving whip. When, thanks to this procedure, he 

 has several times crossed the place of which he is afraid, he 

 will eventually have no fear of it. We may note that it was 

 not necessary to use punishment, which should be our last 

 resort. 



Further, if the animal is too lively, I would give him a 

 good long turn at the trot, or even at the canter, if he prefers 

 that pace, in order to get rid of his excess of energy. If he 

 is dull, I teach him, by means of a few cuts of the whip, to 

 go forward. We must draw a distinction between a horse 

 that is soft and one that is sluggish. If the former is properly 

 fed and exercised he can become lively ; but the latter, 

 although he may be full of muscular vigour, does not like to 

 put forth his strength except when he pleases, a fact which 

 makes him dangerous to an inexperienced rider. We are 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



