154: HOW TO BREAK A HOUaiC. 



from the colt's bit to rings placed at a proper height in 

 the standards. But here it is necessary to observe, above 

 almost any other thing in the world, that it is fatal to the 

 formation of the animal's mouth to place the rings too high, 

 or to bear up the head above its ordinary and natural ele- 

 vation. This is a thing often done, with a view :o giving 

 a lofty carriage to the colt's head, and to produce a proud 

 bearing. It does nothing of the kind. It causes the 

 horse, weary with having its head forced into an unnatural 

 position, to bear, to weigh, to hang upon the bits, — to be- 

 come accustomed to their pressure, and to find pleasure 

 instead of pain from it, so that, at the last, it acquires a 

 mouth perfectly unimpressive, and muscles set and rigid. 



Shortly after this the colt should be longed, or worked 

 in a circle, with a long cord attachl^d to the breaking bits, 

 in a smooth grass field ; by which rAeJfns he is taught his 

 paces, taught to regulate them, taught to moderate, to in- 

 crease or diminish his speed, to change his leg, to come 

 toward the operator, or to stop dead short at a signal, 

 either of the voice or of the crack of the whip. All this 

 it requires only time, patience and good temper to effect ; 

 and, Avhen effected, half the business is done. The rest 

 must be accomplished when the animal is backed. 



Experience, practice, patience, added to individual apti- 

 tude, natural tact, and acquired skill and habit, are the only 

 things by which a man may become a horse-breaker. 



No attempt should be made to put the colt to work 

 before he is three and a half to four years old, and it would 

 be far better to exact no v\'ork, beyond what is necessary 

 for gentle exercise, before he is six years old ; this, although 

 not at first remunerative, is eminently so in the end, for 

 the two years' loss in early life will generally add six to 

 eight years to a horse's working time. 



If the colt has been treated as previously directed, there 



