BREAKING DRAUGHT HORSES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1831, 18 August 1913, Page 8

BREAKING DRAUGHT HORSES.

-THE SUITABLE AGE. Some people givo the colt a little handling' at two-years, turn it off a bit, and complete tho job later on. With regard t» such a course (says Vuv expert), I can- ' not say-that thero is much in it. My experience is that once tho job is commenced it is best to.couiplete it. As to the workdug of a, two-year-old, it is rightly argued .that' coiitinual labouir, as allotted to older, fully-grown horses, is against'the interests of animal-- and owner, and the man who completes, tho. breaking of the young horse rit two'years'old—bo it filly or gelding— should bo a man who knows what a two-year-old can endure when at work without any injury to its youthful development, ior it must be accepted that the two-year-old, ho.v-ever- well developed, is .not u fit. subject to be put to'anything like general work. n Three years'is a better age, but leaving (hingsJojiger is a wasto of -time, and this •waste of time in the aiso of an animal that has to prodhce its profit from its labour is a waste of monejr. . To break tire heart of a young'liorse is 'nonbreaking it' rto usefulness and profit, and to starve it 'into subjection during the period of' its initiation into usefulness does not warrant ,the of docile qualities. Many la h<srso . comes home from, the breaker broken in '-strength and spirit. A quick fchilling is -thus obtained, aiid after the animal get 9 back to its i'uJl stamina under good feeding it becomes apparent-that •its subjection to duties resigriar" lion to odds against it; ' Such deceit-fail tactics as these aro productive of vice anddisaster.

There may bs somo horses that aTe born stubborn, but tho majority of horses are just about'.us reasonable as their owners, nml if..treated in a reasonable manner do not stop in.tho road without a cause whatever. Whipping never yet cured an obstinate'horse, tfioiiglh it .has been at .the bottom of many cases of'obstinacy.