In Peru a horse is valued less for beauty of form than for the perfection of his amble. The finest trotters are sold at very low prices, and are used exclusively as carriage horses. If a horse when spurred has the habit of flapping his tail, it is considered a serious fault, and greatly depreciates the value of the animal. This vice is called _mosquear_ (literally brushing off the mosquitoes), and the Peruvians cure it by an incision in the muscle of the tail, by which means the horse is disabled from making the movement.
The Peruvians take very little care of their horses. The remark, that the more the horse is tended, the worse he is, would seem to be a generally admitted truth in Peru. The stable (_coral_) is either totally roofless, or very indifferently sheltered. In the mountainous parts of the country, and during the rainy season, horses are frequently, for the space of six months, up to their knees in mud, and yet they never seem to be the worse for it. The fodder consists of lucern (_alfalfa_), or maisillo, which is usually thrown down on the ground, though sometimes placed in a stone trough, and the drink of the animals consists of impure water collected from the ditches at the road sides. Occasionally the horses are fed with maize, which they are very fond of. As no oats are grown in Peru, barley is given together with maize, especially in the interior of the country. Mares and geldings have sometimes the hair between the ears cut off quite closely, and the mane arranged in short curls, which gives them a resemblance to the horses in ancient sculpture. Mares are but little valued, so little indeed, that no respectable person will ride one.
The horse-breakers (_chalanes_) are generally free men of color. They possess great bodily vigor, and understand their business thoroughly; but they use the horses very cruelly, and thereby render them shy. For the first three years foals are suffered to roam about with perfect freedom; after that time they are saddled, an operation not performed without great difficulty, and sometimes found to be impracticable, until the animal is thrown on the ground and his limbs tied. The young horse under the management of the _chalan_ is trained in all sorts of equestrian feats, especially the art of pirouetting (_voltear_). This consists in turning either wholly or half round on the hind legs with great rapidity and when at full gallop. Another important object of the _chalan_ is to teach the horse to stop short suddenly, and to stand perfectly motionless (_sentarse_) at the signal of his rider; and to go backward (_cejar_) for a considerable space in a straight line. When all this is accomplished, the horse is regarded as completely broken (_quebrantado_).