CAEE AND MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 725 



the necessity for early handling and domestication, at an 

 age which is impressionable, when the lessons are soon 

 committed to memory, and are permanent. 



The present system of allowing young animals to have 

 practically their own way for at least two years of their 

 life, and often longer, is the cause of the existence of the so 

 called ' breaker,' a term which is extremely appropriate. 



There would practically be no need for such a person if 

 the young animal could never remember when he first 

 resented being handled ; when to have a halter put on, 

 his mouth looked at, feet picked up, legs handled, are as 

 much part of his daily life as being watered and fed. Such 

 an animal needs no breaking in the sense in which this 

 term is generally applied ; it is docile, tractable, obedient, 

 confident, and on such a foundation any education can be 

 imparted. Gain the confidence of a horse and everything 

 else follows. 



The young animal's lessons cannot begin too early, there 

 is no reason why a week after birth a head collar should 

 not be put on and the foal led about for a few minutes. 



These leading lessons are most important ; even the 

 youngest animal resents them, but with kindness and firm- 

 ness, it is possible within a very short time to get the foal 

 to come up to have the head collar put on, and to follow a 

 man about at the end of a rope without in the least resent- 

 ing the temporary loss of freedom. 



This is the first and great lesson to learn so far as the 

 future usefulness of the animal is concerned ; it is in the 

 ' breaking ' that so many tempers are ruined, and future 

 unsoundness laid. With such a system as is sketched 

 above, the animal is ready at two years old to have either 

 harness or saddle put on without difficulty. The animal is 

 in fact 'prepared for the final stage in its education, viz., a 

 light man placed on its back, and obedience to the reins 

 obtained. 



The limbs and feet should be handled from the second 

 week of birth, and the young animal taught not to resent 

 the hands being passed over the body. 



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