horse to bear the touch of the spurs without hardly advancing, is always dangerous. It often makes a horse restive, in which case the method is almost always blamed, although it would be safer to blame the manner of its application. Besides, it is also difficult for a riding master who is breaking his first horse or his first horses, to avoid making them get behind their bit. Very often a horse has this tendency without the breaker perceiving it. As a general rule, if a horse does not go up to his bridle, he has this fault. Hence my motto is " forward, always forward, and again forward ! "

I admit that we can never obtain a concession from a horse without a more or less lively struggle, but we must not forget that a man's authority over a horse is dependent on this struggle.^[1] If we require a difficult thing from a horse without having prepared him sufficiently, not only will there be a struggle, but — which is a much more serious thing — the horse will win. We should, therefore, know the precise instant when each demand can be made. This is a question of tact.

If we put a horse to some work for which he has been badly prepared, we may be certain that we shall not be successful. Without a proper preparation the horse will certainly resist.

The same work can be demanded later on without any trouble. It is better to try to break a horse in a year than in six months. The more difficult a horse is, the more time should be devoted to his education. If it is necessary, we may take six months to balance him well in his three natural paces, and to make him to rein back correctly before teaching him high-school work and artificial movements.

I would attach no importance to the Spanish walk, if I were