372 
THE EDUCATION OF THE HORSE. 
of nature. And if her path be followed, a colt will certainly not 
become the premature object of admiration—certainly never will 
be foremost in the race at two years old; for Nature never in¬ 
tended any of her works to be employed in an unfinished or im¬ 
perfect manner. 
Virgil lays particular stress on the period when horses should 
be “ broken.” Not until the fourth summer does he recom¬ 
mend their being put into the hands of the “ breaker,” and 
then worked very gently at first: his words, indeed, do not ap¬ 
ply to work at all; “ Sit que laboranti similis.” Dr. Trapp 
translates it thus :—“ Let him not really labour by reason of his 
tender age, but be exercised with * seeming labour ’ ”. 
The proper education of the young animal has a more im¬ 
portant influence on the perfection of the horse than is generally 
imagined ; for it is at this period of his life that the founda¬ 
tion is laid either for a good or bad disposition—either for a good 
or bad constitution. 
Man has a strong propensity to charge Nature with his foibles, 
though it is certain that the universal parent, if uncontrolled 
by the hand of Art, produces no caricatures, either in the ani¬ 
mal or vegetable world. “ The colt is placed on this globe 
perfect by the hands of the Creator, but he too frequently de¬ 
generates under the bad treatment that is pursued.” 
It appears to be a general rule, that what is to last long should 
be slowly matured and gradually improved; while every sudden 
effort, however gigantic, to bring about the speedy execution of 
a plan calculated to endure for a long period, is doomed to exhi¬ 
bit symptoms of premature decay from its very commencement. 
Sir Walter Scott, in his last novel, “ Count Robert, of Paris,” 
alluding to this subject, says as follows:—“ Thus in a beautiful 
oriental tale, a dervise explains to the sultan how he has reared 
the magnificent trees among which they walked, by nursing their 
shoots from the seed; and the prince’s pride is damped when he 
reflects, that these plantations, so simply reared, were gathering 
new vigour from each returning sun; while his own exhausted 
cedars, which had been transplanted by one violent effort, were 
drooping their majestic heads in the valley of Orez.” 
Aristotle particularly inculcated this tenet:—“ That prema¬ 
ture training and over-exertion at a tender age were injurious to 
the constitution.” Alexander the Great, who was educated 
according to his principle, was not allowed to use the more 
violent exertions of the Gymnasium during early life, considering 
them injurious to the growth of the body and to the future 
strength of the adult. In proof of this, he adduces this con¬ 
clusive fact, that, in the long list of Olympic victors, only two. 
