On horse-breaking

BY ROBERT MORETON, M.R.C.V.S.
LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1877
All rights reserved
In these pages it has been my endeavour to point out some of the errors in horse-breaking which have been blindly followed from generation to generation, and to embrace as much matter in a short space as is compatible with clearness of expression.
I hope that this little volume may prove of some service to agriculturists and horse-owners, who often break-in their own colts or cause them to be broken-in
Robert Moreton.
21 Onslow Gardens, South Kensington.
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That most in vogue—A scene—Driving a colt from pasture—Getting him into the stable—Selection of halter—How to tame lions and tigers—Signs of temper in a colt—How to handle him—Tying him up—An instance of a wild colt 1
Leading in circles, semicircles, and in a straight line—Bits used for mouthing purposes—Mouthing by machinery versus mechanical mouthing—Placing the tackling on the colt—Teaching him to pass vehicles, etc.—Shoeing the colt 19
The walk—Ignorance of Englishmen as to the value of the walk—Australian walking horses—The trot—The jig-jog—The flying trot—Ladies’ trotters—The canter—Ladies’ rocking horses—The gallop—Trainers 63
His conformation—The ladies’ horse—Rotten Row—The covert hack—The hunter—For an open country—For a cramped country—‘Made hunters’—Pleasures of a pulling horse—Breaking in a colt to hounds—‘Can he leap?’—Natural jumpers—Artificial fences—Lifting horses at their fences—An incident—Water jumps—How to fall well—High-couraged versus sluggish horses—Washing horses’ legs—Mud fever—Stopping horses’ feet—Microscopic experiments—English racers in Australia and India—Paring horses’ feet—Colts shedding their teeth—Composition of bone—Two-year-old racing—Prize-fighters—Early maturity and early decay—Famous American trotters: Topgallant, Lady Blanche, Dutchman, Ajax, Flora Temple, Lady Thorn, Goldsmith Maid, Dexter, American girl—Racing now-a-days a money-making business 75