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THE

MODERN ARTOF

TAMING WILD HORSES.

By J. S. RAREY,THE HORSE TAMER.

KrprintcJi from t\)t Slmrrican tuition.

LONDON:G. IIOUTLEDGE & CO. EARRINGDON STREET.

18.58.


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IV CONTENTS.How to Eide the Colt Page iZThe proper Way to Bit a Colt 49How to Drive a Horse that is very Wild and has anyYicioiis Habits 50On Balking 53To Break a Horse to Harness . . . . 58How to Hitch a Horse in a Sulky 59How to make a Horse Lie Down 60How to make a Horse Follow you G2How to make a Horse Stand without Holding . . ,

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THE MODERN ARTOF

TAMING WILD HORSES.INTllODUCTIOX.

The first domestication of the liorse^ one of thegreatest achievements of man in the animal king-dom_, was not the work of a day ; but like all othergreat accomplishments was brought about by agradual process of discoveries and experiments. Hefirst subdued the more subordinate animals^ onaccount of their being easily caught and tamed ; andused for many years the mere drudges, the ox, theass, and the camel, instead of tlie fleet and eleganthorse. This noble animal was the last brought intosubjection, owing, perhaps, to man^s limited andinaccurate knowledge of his nature, and his conse-quent inability to control him . This fact alone is suffi-cient evidence of his superiority over all otheranimals.Man, in all his inventions and discoveries, has

almost invariably commenced with some simpleprinciple, and gradually developed it from one degree


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6 INTRODUCTION.of perfection to another. The first hint that wehave ofthe use of electricity was Franklin^s drawing it fromthe clouds with his kite ; now it is the instrumentof conveying thought from mind to mind^ with arapidity that surpasses time. The great propellingpower that drives the wheel of the engine over ourlaud, and ploughs the ocean with our steamers, wasfirst discovered escaping from a tea-kettle. And sothe powers of the horse, second only to the powers ofsteam, became known to man only as experimentsand investigation revealed them.The horse, according to the best accounts we can

srather, has been the constant servant of man fornearly four thousand years, ever rewarding him withhis labour and adding to his comfort in proportionto his skill and manner of using him ; but being tothose who govern him by brute force, and knownothing of the beauty and delight to be gained fromthe cultivation of his finer nature, a fretful, vicious,and often dangerous servant; whilst to the Arab,whose horse is the pride of his life, and who governshim by the law of kindness, we find him to be quitea different animal. The manner in which he istreated from a foal gives him an afi'ection and attach-ment for his master not known in any other country.The Arab and his children, the mare and her foal,inhabit the tent together ; and although the colt andthe mare^s neck are often pillows for the children toroll upon, no accident ever occurs, the mare being as


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INTRODUCTION. 7careful of the children as of the colt. Such is theratitual attachment between the horse and his master,that he will leave his companions at his master^s call,ever glad to obey his voice. And when the Arabfalls from his horse, and is unable to rise again,he will stand by him and neigh for assistance ; andif he lies down to sleep, as fatigue sometimes compelshim to do in the midst of the desert, his faithfulsteed will watch over him, and neigh to arouse himif man or beast approaches. The Arabs frequentlyteach their liorses secret signs or signals, which theymake use of on urgent occasions to call forth theirutmost exertions. These are more etiicient than thebarbarous mode of urging them on with the spur andwhip, a forcible illustration of which will be foundin the following anecdote :A Bedouin, named Jabal, possessed a mare of greatcelebrity. Hassan Pasha, then governor of Damascusjwished to buy the animal, and repeatedly made theowner the most liberal oflPers, which Jabal steadilyrefused. The pasha then had recourse to threats,but with no better success. At length, one Gafar, aBedouin of another tribe, presented himself to thepasha, and asked what he would give the man whoshould make him master of Jabal's mare ? "I willfill his horse's nose-bag with gold,'^ replied Hassan.The result of this interview having gone abroad,Jabal became more watchful than ever, and alwayssecured his mare at night wdth an iron chain, one


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8 INTRODUCTION.end of wliicli was fastened to her liind fetlock, whilstthe other, after passing through the tent-cloth, wasattached to a picket driven in the ground under thefelt that served himself and his w^fe for a bed. Butone midnight, Gafar crept silently into the tent, andsucceeded in loosening the chain. Just before start-ing off with his prize, he caught up JabaFs lance,and poking him with the butt end, cried out : *^^ I amGafar ! I have stolen your noble mare, and willgive you notice in time.^^ This warning was inaccordance with the customs of the Desert, for torob a hostile tribe is considered an honourableexploit, and the man who accomplishes it is desirousof all the glory that may flow from the deed. PoorJabal, when he heard the words, rushed out of thetent and gave the alarm; then mounting his brother'smare, accompanied by some of his tribe, he pursuedthe robber for four hours. The brother's mare wasof the same stock as Jabal's, but was not equal toher; nevertheless he outstripped those of all theother pursuers, and was even on the point of over-taking the robber, when Jabal shouted to him :" Pinch her right ear and give her a touch of theheel.-" Gafar did so, and away went the mare likelightning, speedily rendering further pursuit hope-less. The pinch in the ear and the touch with the heelwere the secret signs by which Jabal had been usedto urge his mare to her utmost speed. JabaFs com-panions were amazed and indignant at his strange


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INTRODUCTION. 9conduct. ^' O tlioii father of a jackass ! " they cried,^^thou hast enabled the thief to rob thee of thyjeweL" But he silenced their upbraidings by saying :"\ would rather lose her than sully her reputation.Would you have me suffer it to be said among thetribes that another mare had proved fleeter than mine?I have at least this comfort left me, tliat I can sayshe never met with her match.^^Different countries have their different modes ofhorsemanship, but amongst all of them its first prac-tice was carried on in but a rude and indifferent way,being hardly a stepping-stone to the comfort anddelight gained from the use of the horse at thepresent tlay. The polished Greeks, as well as theruder nations of Northern Africa, for a long whilerode without either saddle or bridle, guiding theirhorses with the voice or the hand, or with a lightswitch with which they touched the animal on theside of the face to make him turn in the oppositedirection. They urged him forward by a touch ofthe heel, and stopped him by catching him by themuzzle. Bridles and bits were at length introduced,but many centuries elapsed before anything thatcould be called a saddle was used. Instead of these,cloths, single or padded, and skins of wild beasts,often richly adorned, were placed beneath the rider,but always without stirrups ; and it is given as anextraordinary fact that the Romans, even in thetimes when luxury was carried to excess amongst


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10 INTRODUCTION.tliem, never desired so simple an expedient forassisting the horseman to mounts to lessen hisfatigue, and aid him in sitting more securely inhis saddle. Ancient sculptors prove that the horse-men of almost every country were accustomed tomount their horses from the right side of theanimal, that they might the better grasp the mane^which hangs on that side, a practice universallychanged in modern times. The ancients generallyleaped on their horses' backs, though they some-times carried a spear with a loop or projection abouttwo feet from the bottom, which served them as astep. In Greece and Rome, the local magistracywere bound to see that blocks for mounting (whatthe Scotch call loupin^-on stanes), were placed alongthe road at convenient distances. The great, how-ever, thought it more dignified to mount their horsesby stepping on the bent backs of their servants orslaves, and many who could not command suchcostly help, used to carry a light ladder about withthem. The first distinct notice that we have of theuse of the saddle occurs in the edict of the EmperorTheodosius (a.d. 385), from which we also learnthat it was usual for those who hired post-horses toprovide their own saddle, and that the saddle shouldnot weigh more than sixty poundsa cumbrous con-trivance, more like the howdahs placed on the backsof elephants than the light and elegant saddle ofmodern times. Side-saddles for ladies are an inven-


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12 INTRODUCTION.defence^ it is said^ which was given to the horse_, -wason the same principle as that worn by man, and wasa sort of sandal made of leather, tied to the horse^sfoot by means of straps or strings. And, finally,plates of metal were fastened to the horse^s feet bythe same simple means.

Here again, as in the case of the stirrupless saddle,when we reflect that men should, for nearly a thou-sand years, have gone on fastening plates of metalnnder horses^ hoofs by the clumsy means of strapsand strings, v/ithout its ever occurring to tliem totry so simple an improvement as nails, we haveanother remarkable demonstration of the slow stepsby which horsemanship has reached its present state.

In the foregoing remarks I liave taken the libertyof extracting several facts from a valuable littlework by Rollo Springfield. With this short com-ment on the rise and progress of horsemanship,from its commencement up to the present time, Iwill proceed to give you the principles of a newtheory of taming wild horses, which is the resultof many experiments, and a thorough investigationand trial of the different methods of horsemanshipnow in use.


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13

THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLESOF MY THEORY;

Founded uii the Leading Characteristics of the Horse.

First.That he is so constituted by nature thathe will not offer resistance to any demand madeof him which he fully comprehends^ if made in away consistent with the laws of his nature.

Second.That he has no consciousness of hisstrength beyond his experience^ and can be handledaccording to our v/ill v.itliout force.

Third.That we can^ in compliance with the lawsof his nature by which he examines all things new tohim^ take any object^ however frightful^ around^ over_,or on him^ that does not inflict painwithout causinghim to fear.To take these assertions in order^ I will first give

you some of the reasons why I think he is naturallyobedient^ and will not offer resistance to anythingfully comprehended. The horse^ though possessed ofsome faculties superior to man's^ being deficient inreasoning powers^ has no knowledge of right or wrongsof free will and independent government, and knowsnot of any imposition practised upon him^, however


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14 THREE LEADING PRINCIPLES.unreasonable tliese impositions may be. Conse-quentlvj lie cannot come to any decision as to whathe should or should not do^ because he has not thereasoning faculties of man to argue the justice of thething demanded of him. If he had_, taking into con-sideration his superior strength^ he would be uselessto man as a servant. Give him mind in proportionto his strength^ and he will demand of us the greenfields for his inheritance^ where he will roam atleisure, denying the right of servitude at all. Godhas wisely formed his nature so that it can beoperated upon by the knowledge of man according tothe dictates of his will; and he might well be termedan unconscious, submissive servant. This truth wecan see verified in every day^s experience by theabuses practised upon him. Any one who choosesto be so cruel, can mount the noble steed and runhim till he drops with fatigue, or, as is often the casewith the more spirited, falls dead beneath his rider.If he had the power to reason, would he not rearand pitch his rider, rather than sufffer him to runhim to death ? Or would he condescend to carryat all the vain impostor, who, with but equal in-tellect, was trying to impose on his equal rightsand equally independent spirit ? But happily for us,he has no consciousness of imposition, no thought ofdisobedience except by impulse caused by the viola-tion of the law of his nature. Consequently^ whendisobedient, it is the fault of man.


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THREE LEADING PllINCIPLES. 15Then^ we can but come.to the conclusion that^ if a

horse is not taken in a way at variance with the lawsof his nature^ he will do anything that he fully com-prehends, without making any offer of resistance.

SecondThe fact of the horse being unconsciousof the amount of his strength can be proven to thesatisfaction of any one. For instance, such remarksas these are common, and perhaps familiar to yourrecollection. One person says to another, ^^If thatwild horse there was conscious of the amount of hisstrength, his owner would have no business with himin that vehicle ; such light reins and harness, tooifhe knew he could snap them asunder in a minute andbe as free as the air we breathe ; ^^ and, " That horseyonder, that is pawing and fretting to follow the com-pany that is fast leaving himif he knew his strength,he would not remain long fastened to that hitchingpost so much against his will, by a strap that wouldno more resist his powerful weight and strength thana cotton thread would bind a strong man.^' Yet thesefacts, made common by every- day occurrence, are notthought of as anything wonderful. Like the ignorantman who looks at the different phases of the moon,you look at these things as he looks at her differentchanges, without troubling your mind with the ques-tion, "Why are these things so?^^ What would bethe condition of the world if all our minds lay dor-mant? If men did not think, reason, and act, ourundisturbed, slumbering intellects would not excel


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16 THREE LEADING PRINCIPLES.the imbecility of tlie brute ; we should live in chaos^hardly aware of our existence. And yet, with all ouractivity of mind, we daily pass by unobserved thatwhich would be wonderful if philosophized and rea-soned upon ; and with the same inconsistency wonderat that which a little consideration, reason, andphilosophy would make but a simple affair.

ThirdHe will allow any object, however fright-ful in appearance, to come around, over, or on him,that does not inflict pain.We know from a natural course of reasoning, thatthat there has never been an effect without a cause,and we infer from this, that there can be no actioneither in animate or inanimate matter, without therefirst being some cause to produce it. And from thisself-evident fact we know that there* is some causefor every impulse or movement of either mind ormatter, and that this law governs every action ormovement of the animal kingdom. Then, accordingto this theory, there must be some cause before fearcan exist ; and, if fear exists from the effect of ima-gination, and not from the infliction of real pain, itcan be removed by compljnng with those laws ofnature by which the horse examines an object, anddetermines upon its innocence or harm.A log or stump by the road side may be, in the

imagination of the horse, some great beast about topounce upon him ; but after you take him up to itand let him stand by it a little while, and touch it


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TO GET THE COLT FROM PASTURE. 17with his nose, and go through his process of exami-nation, he will not care anything more about it.And the same principle and process will have thesame effect with any other object, however frightfulin appearance, in which there is no harm. Take aboy that has been frightened by a false face, or anyother object that he could not comprehend at oncebut let him take that face or object in his hands andexamine it, and he will not care any thing moreabout it. This is a demonstration of the same prin-ciple.With this introduction to the principles of my

theory, I shall next attempt to teach you how to putit into practice; and, whatever instructions mayfollow you can rely on, as having been proven prac-tically by my own experiments. And knowing fromexperience just what obstacles I have met with inhandhng bad horses, I shall try to anticipate themfor you, and assist you in surmounting them, bycommencing with the lirst steps to be taken v.dth thecolt, and accompanying you through the whole taskof breaking.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN GETTINQ THE COLT FKOMPASTURE.

Go to the pasture and walk around the whole herdquietly, and at such a distance as not to cause themto scare and run. Then approach them very slowly,and if they stick up their heads and seem to be fright-


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18 TO STABLE A COLT.ened^ hold on until they become quiet_, so as not tomake them run before you are close enough to drivethem in the direction you want them to go. Andwhen you begin to drive, do not flourish your armsor halloo, but gently follow them oflP, leaving the direc-tion free for them that you wish them to take. Thustaking advantage of their ignorance, you will be ableto get them into the pound as easily as the hunterdrives the quails into his net. For, if they havealways run in the pasture uncared for (as manyhorses do in prairie countries and on large planta-tions), there is no reason why they should not be aswild as the sportsman^s birds, and require the samegentle treatment, if you want to get them withouttrouble ; for the horse, in his natural state, is as wildas any of the undomesticated animals, though moreeasily tamed than the most of them.

HOW TO STABLE A COLT WITHOUT TROUBLE.The next step will be, to get the horse into a stable

or shed. This should be done as quietly as possible,so as not to excite any suspicion in the horse of anydanger befalling him. The best way to do this, is to'lead a gentle horse into the stable first and hitch him,then quietly walk around the colt and let him go inof his own accord. It is almost impossible to getmen who have never practised on .this principle to goslowly and considerately enough about it. They donot know that in handling a wild horse, above all


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TO STABLE A COLT. 19other things^ is that good old adage true, that '^ hastemakes waste ;" that is, waste of timefor the gainof trouble and perplexity.One wrong move may frighten your horse, and

make him think it necessary to escape at all hazardsfor the safety of his lifeand thus make two hours'work of a ten minutes' job ; and this would be allyour own fault, and entirely unnecessaryfor hewill not run unless you run after him, and thatwould not be good policy unless you knew that youcould outrun him, for you will have to let him stopof his own accord after all. But he will not try tobreak away unless you attempt to force him intomeasures. If he does not see the way at once, andis a little fretful about going in, do not undertaketo drive him, but give him a little less room outside,by gently closing in around him. Do not raise yourarms, but let them hang at your side, for you mightas well raise a club : the horse has never studiedanatomy, and does not know but that they willunhinge themselves and fly at him. If he attemptsto turn back, walk before him, but do not run ; andif he gets past you, encircle him again in the samequiet manner, and he will soon find that you arenot going to hurt him ; and then you can walk soclose around him that he will go into the stable formore room, and to get farther from you. As soonas he is in, remove the quiet horse and shut the door.This will be his first notion of confinementnot

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20 KIND OF HALTER.knowing liow lie got into sucli a place^ nor how to getout of it. That he may take it as quietly as possible,see that the shed is entirely free from dogs, chickens,or anything that would annoy him. Then give hima few ears of corn, and let him remain alone fifteenor twenty minutes, until he has examined his apart-ment, and has become reconciled to his confinement.

TIME TO REFLECT.And now, while your horse is eating those few

ears of corn, is the proper time to see that yourhalter is ready and all right, and to reflect on thebest mode of operations; for in horsebreaking itis highly important that you should be governedby some system. And you should know, before youattempt to do anything, just what yon are going todo, and how you are going to do it. And, if youare experienced in the art of taming wild horses, youought to be able to tell, within a few minutes, thelength of time it would take you to halter the colt,and teach him to lead.

THE KmD OF HALTER.Always use a leather halter, and be sure to have

it made so that it will not draw tight around his noseif he pulls on it. It should be of the right size tofit his head easily and nicely ; so that the nose-bandwill not be too tight or too low. Never put a ropehalter on an unbroken colt, under any circumstances


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REMARKS ON THE HORSE. '21whatever. They have caused more horses to hurt orkill themselves than would pay for twice the cost of allthe leather halters that have ever been needed for thepurpose of haltering colts. It is almost impossibleto break a colt that is very wild with a rope halter^without having him puU^ rear, and throw himself,and thus endanger his life ; and I will tell you why.It is just as natural for a horse to try to get hishead out of anything that hurts it, or feels unplea-sant, as it would be for you to try to get your handout of a fire. The cords of the rope are hard andcutting ; this makes him raise his head and draw onit, and as soon as he pulls, the slip noose (the wayrope halters are always made) tightens, and pincheshis nose, and then he will struggle for Ufe, until,perchance, he throws himself; and who would havehis horse throw himself, and run the risk of breakinghis neck, rather than pay the price of a leatherhalter? But this is not the worst. A horse thathas once pulled on his halter can never be as wellbroken as one that has never pulled at all.

KEMARKS ON THE HOESE.But before we attempt to do anything more withthe colt, I will give you some of the characteristicsof his nature, that you may better understand hismotions. Every one that has ever paid any attentionto the horse, has noticed his natural inclination tosmell everything which to hira looks new and


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23 EXPERIMENT WITH THE ROBE.frightful. This is their strange mode of examiningeverything. And, when they are frightened at any-thing, though they look at it sharply, they seem tohave no confidence in this optical examination alone,but must touch it with the nose before they areentirely satisfied ; and, as soon as this is done, all isright.

EXPERIMENT WITH THE ROBE.If you want to satisfy yourself of this characteristic

of the horse^ and to learn something of importanceconcerning the peculiarities of his nature, &c., turnhim into the barn-yard, or a large stable will do,and then gather up something that you know willfrighten hima red blanket, buffalo robe, or some-thing of that kind. Hold it up so that he can seeit, he will stick up his head and snort. Then throwit down somewhere in the centre of the lot or barn,and walk off to one side. Watch his motions, andstudy his nature. If he is frightened at the object,he will not rest until he has touched it with his nose.You will see him begin to walk around the robe andsnort, all the time getting a little closer, as if drawnup by some magic spell, until he finally gets withinreach of it. He will then very cautiously stretchout his neck as far as he can reach, merely touchingit with his nose, as though he thought it was readyto fly at him. But after he has repeated thesetouches a few times, for the first time (though he has


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HABIT OF SMELLING. 23been looking at it all the while) , he seems to have anidea what it is. But now he has found, by the senseof feeling, that it is nothing that will do him anyharm, and he is ready to play with it. And if youwatch him closely, you will see him take hold of itwith his teeth, and raise it up and pull at it. Andin a few minutes you can see that he has not thatsame wild look about his eye, but stands like a horsebiting at some familiar stump.

Yet the horse is never so well satisfied when he isabout anything that has frightened him, as when heis standing with his nose to it. And, in nine casesout of ten, you will see some of that same wild lookabout him again, as he turns to walk from it. Andyou will, probably, see him looking back very sus-piciously as he walks away, as though he thought itmight come after him yet. And in all probability,he will have to go back and make another examin-ation before he is satisfied. But he will familiarizehimself with it, and, if he should run in that lot afew days, the robe that frightened him so much atfirst will be no more to him than a familiar stump.

SUGGESTIONS ON THE HABIT OF SMELLING.We might very naturally suppose from the fact of

the horse^s applying his nose to everything new tohim, that he always does so for the purpose of smell-ing these objects. But I believe that it is as muchor more for Uio purpose of feeling, and that he makes


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24i OPINION OF HORSEMEN.use of his nose, or muzzle (as it is sometimes called)

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as we would of our bands; because it is tbe onlyorgan by which he can touch or feel anything withmuch susceptibility.

I believe that be invariably makes use of the foursenses^, seeing, bearing, smelling, and feeling, in allof his examinations, of which the sense of feeling is,perhaps, the most important. And. I think that, inthe experiment with the robe, his gradual approachand final touch with his nose was as much for thepurpose of feeling as anything else, his sense of smellbeing so keen that it would not be necessary for himto touch his nose against anything in order to getthe proper scent ; for it is said that a horse cansmell a man at the distance of a mile. And if thescent of the robe was all that was necessary he couldget that several rods oflP. But we know from expe-rience, that if a horse sees and smells a robe a shortdistance from him he is very much frightened (unlesshe is used to it) until he touches or feels it with hisnose; wbich is a positive proof that feeling is thecontroUing sense in this case.

PEEVAILING OPINIOK OF HORSEMEN.It is a prevailing opinion among horsemen gene-

rally that the sense of smell is the governing sense ofthe horse. And Faucher, as well as others, haswith that view got up receipts of strong smelling oils,&c., to tame the horse, sometimes using the chesnut


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OPINION or HORSEMEN. ^Jof his leg; wliicli they dry, grind into pov/der^ andblow into his nostrils^ sometimes using the oils ofrhodiimi; origanum^ &c._, that arc noted for theirstrong smell ; and sometimes they scent the handwith the sweat from under the arm, or blow theirbreath into his nostrils, &c. &c. All of which, as faras the scent goes, have no effect whatever in gentlingthe horse, or conveying any idea to his mind ; thoughthe acts that accompany these efforts handlinghim, touching him about the nose and head, andpatting him, as they direct you should, after admi-nistering the articles, may have a very great eflPecfc^which they mistake to be the effect of the ingre-dients used. And Faucher, in his work, entitled^^The Arabian Art of Taming Horses," page 17,tells us how to accustom a horse to a robe, by admi-nistering certain articles to his nose ; and goes on tosay that these articles must first be apphed to thehorse^s nose, before you attempt to break him, inorder to operate successfully.Now, reader, can you, or any one else, give one

single reason how scent can convey any idea to thehorse^s mind of what we want him to do ? If not,then of course strong scents of any kind are of noavail in taming the unbroken horse. For, every-thing that we get him to do of his own accord, with-out force, must be accomplished by some means ofconveying our ideas to his mind. I say to my horse,'' Go-'long !'' and he goes; ''Ho!" and he stops;


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26because these two words, of which he has learned themea-ning by the tap of the whip and the pull of therein that first accompanied thera, convey the twoideas to his mind of go and stop.

Neither Faucher, nor any one else, can ever teachthe horse a single thing by the means of scent alone.How long do you suppose a horse would have to

stand and smell a bottle of oil before he wouldlearn to bend his knee and make a bow at your bid-ding, " Go yonder and bring your hat,^' or " Comehere and lie down V^ Thus you see the absurdityof trying to break or tame the horse by the means ofreceipts for articles to smell at, or medicine to givehim, of any kind whatever.The only science that has ever existed in the world,

relative to the breaking of horses, that has been ofany value, is that true method which takes them intheir native state, and improves their intelligence.POWEL'S SYSTEM OF APPEOACHING THE COLT.But, before we go further, I will give you Willis

J. PowePs system of approaching a wild colt, asgiven by him in a work published in Euit)pe, aboutthe year 1814, on the '' Art of Taming Wild Horses."He says, *^ A horse is gentled by my secret in fromtwo to sixteen hours." The time I have most com-monly employed has been from four to six hours.He goes on to say, ^' Cause your horse to be put in asmall yard, stable, or room. If in a stable or room.


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POWELLS SYSTEM. 37it ought to be large, in order to give him someexercise with the halter before you lead him out.If the horse belongs to that class which appears onlyto fear man, you must introduce yourself gently intothe stable, room, or yard, where the horse is. Hewill naturally run from you, and frequently turn hishead from you ; but you must walk about extremelyslow and softly, so that he can see you wheneverhe turns his head towards you, which he never failsto do in a short time, say in a quarter or half anhour. I never knew one to be much longer withoutturning towards me.

" At the very moment he turns his head, hold outyour left hand towards him, and stand perfectly still,keeping your eyes upon the horse, watching hismotions, if he makes any. If the horse does notstir for ten or fifteen minutes, advance as slowly aspossible, and without making the least noise, alwaysholding out your left hand, without any other ingre-dient in it than what nature put in it." He says,"I have made use of certain ingredients beforepeople, such as the sweat under my arm, &c., todisguise the real secret, and many believed that thedocility to which the horse arrived in so short atime was owing to these ingredients; but you seefrom this explanation that they were of no use what-ever. The implicit faith placed in these ingredients,though innocent of themselves, becomes ^ faith with-out works/ And thus men remained always in


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28 powel's system.doubt concerning this secret. If the horse makesthe least motion when you advance towards him, stop,and remain perfectly still until he is quiet. Remaina few moments in this condition, and then advanceagain in the same slow and almost imperceptiblemanner. Take noticeif the horse stirs, stop, with-out changing your position. It is very uncommonfor the horse to stir more than once after you beginto advance, yet there are exceptions. He generallykeeps his eyes steadfast on you, until you get nearenough to touch him on the forehead. When youare thus near to him, raise slowly, and by degrees,your hand, and let it come in contact with that partjust above the nostrils, as lightly as possible. If thehorse flinches (as many will), repeat with greatrapidity these light strokes upon the forehead, goinga little farther up towards his ears by degrees, anddescending with the same rapidity until he will letyou handle his forehead all over. Now let the strokesbe repeated with more force over all his forehead,descending by lighter strokes to each side of hishead, until you can handle that part with equalfaciUty. Then touch in the same light manner,making your hands and fingers play around thelower part of the horse^s ears, coming down now andthen to his forehead, which may be looked upon asthe helm that governs all the rest.

" Having succeeded in handling his ears, advancetowards the neck, with the same precautions^ and in


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30 TO GOVERN HORSES.speaking now and then to the horse. Begin by de-grees to descend to the legs^ always ascending anddescending, gaining ground every time you descend,until you get to his feet.

" Talk to the horse in Latin, Greek, French, English,or Spanish, or in any other language you please ; butlet him hear the sound of your voice, which at thebeginning of the operation is not quite so necessary,but which I have always done in making him lift uphis feet. ' Hold up your foot^' Leve le pied ^ ' Alzael pie ' ^ Aron ton poda,^ &c. ; at the same time lifthis foot with your hand. He soon becomes familiarwith the sounds, and will hold up his foot at com-mand. Then proceed to the hind feet, and go on inthe same manner ; and in a short time the horsewill let you lift them, and even take them up inyour arms.

^' All this operation is no magnetism, no galvanism;it is merely taking away the fear a horse generallyhas of a man, and familiarizing the animal with hismaster. As the horse doubtless experiences a certainpleasure from this handling, he will soon becomegentle under it, and show a very marked attachmentto his keeper."

EEMAEKS ON POWEL'S TREATMENTHOW TOGOVERN HORSES OF ANY KIND.These instructions are very good, but not quite

sufficient for horses of all kinds, and for haltering


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TO GOVERN HORSES. SIand leading the colt ; but I liave inserted tliem herebecause they give some of the true philosophy ofapproaching the horse^, and of establishing confi-dence between man and horse. He speaks only ofthe kind that fear man.To those who understand the philosophy of horse-

manship_, these are the easiest trained ; for when wehave a horse that is wild and lively, we can trainhim to our will in a very short timefor they aregenerally quick to learn, and always ready to obey.But there is another kind that are of a stubborn orvicious disposition; and although they are not wild,and do not require taming in the sense it is gene-rally understood, they are just as ignorant as a wildhorse, if not more so, and need to be taught justas much : and in order to have them obej^ quickly,it is very necessary that they should be made to feartheir master ; for, in order to obtain perfect obedi-ence from any horse, we must first have him fear us,for our motto is, fear, love, and obey ; and we musthave the fulfilment of the first two before we canexpect the latter; for it is by our philosophy ofcreating fear, love, and confidence, that we governto our will every kind of horse whatever.

Then, in order to take horses as we find them, ofall kinds, and to train them to our liking, we willalways take with us, when we go into a stable totrain a colt, a long switch whip (whalebone buggy-whips are the best), with a good silk cracker, so as


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32 TO GOVERN HORSES.to cut keenly and make a sharp report, wliicli, ifbandied with dexterity, and rightly applied, accom-panied with a sharp fierce word, will be sufficient toenliven the spirits of any horse. With this whip inyour right hand, with the lash pointing backward,enter the stable alone. It is a great disadvantagein training a horse to have any one in the stablewith you; you should be entirely alone, so as tohave nothing but yourself to attract his attention.If he is wild, you will soon see him on the oppositeside of the stable from you; and now is the time touse a little judgment. I should not want, for myself,more than half or three quarters of an hour tohandle any kind of a colt, and have him runningabout in the stable after me; though I wouldadvise a new beginner to take more time, and notbe in too much of a hurr}'. If you have but onecolt to gentle, and are not particular about thelength of time you spend, and have not had anyexperience in handling colts, I would advise you totake Mr. PoweFs method at first, till you gentlehim, which he says takes from two to six hours.But as I want to accomplish the same, and what ismore, teach the horse to lead, in less than one hour,I shall give you a much quicker process of accom-plishing the same end. Accordingly, when youhave entered the stable, stand still, and let yourhorse look at you a minute or two, and as soon ashe is settled in one place, approach him slowly, with


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To HALTER AND LEAD A COLT. 35scare him ; it is not because we want to hurt thehorse that we whip himwe only do it to scare thatbad disposition out of him. But whatever you do,do quickly, sharply and with a good deal of fire, butalways without anger. If you are going to scarehim at all you must do it at once. Never go into apitched battle with your horse, and whip him until heis mad and will fight you ; you had better not touchhim at all, for you will establish, instead of fear andregard, feelings of resentment, hatred, and ill-will.It will do him no good, but an injury, to strike ablow, unless you can scare him; but if you succeedin scaring him, you can whip him without makinghim mad ; for fear and anger never exist together inthe horse, and as soon as one is visible, you will findthat the other has disappeared. As soon as youhave frightened him so that he will stand up straightand pay some attention to you, approach him again,and caress him a good deal more than you whippedhim, then you will excite the two controlling passionsof his nature, love and fear, and then he will loveand fear you too, and, as soon as he learns what todo, will ohej quickly.

HOW TO HALTER AND LEAD A COLT.As soon as you have gentled the colt a little, take

the halter in your left hand and approach him as be-fore, and on the same side that you have gentled him.If he is very timid about your approaching closely tod2


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36 TO HALTER AND LEAD A COLT.liim_, you can get up to him quicker by making thewhip a part of your arm, and reaching out very gentlywith the butt end of it; rubbing him lightly on theneck, all the time getting a little closer, shorteningthe whip by taking it up in your hand, until youfinally get close enough to put your hands on him.If he is inclined to hold his head from you, put theend of the halter-strap around his neck, drop yourwhip, and draw very gently; he will let his neckgive, and you can pull his head to you. Then takehold of that part of the halter which buckles over thetop of his head, and pass the long side, or that partwhich goes into the buckle, under his neck, graspingit on the opposite side with your right hand, lettingthe first strap loosethe latter will be sufficient tohold his head to you. Lower the halter a little, justenough to get his nose into that partwhich goes aroundit ; then raise it somewhat, and fasten the top buckle,and you will have it all right. The first time you haltera colt you should stand on the left side, pretty wellback to his shoulder, only taking hold of that partof the halter that goes around his neck ; then withyour two hands about his neck you can hold hishead to you, and raise the halter on it withoutmaking him dodge by putting your hands about hisnose. You should have a long rope or strap ready,and as soon as you have the halter on, attach this toit, so that you can let him walk the length of thestable without letting go of the strap, or without


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' TO HALTER AND LEAD A COLT. 37making liim pull on the halter, for if you only lethim feel the weight of your hand on the halter, andgive him rope when he runs from you, he will neverrear, pull, or throw himself, yet you will he holdinghim all the time, and doing more towards gentlinghim than if you had the power to snub him rightup and hold him to one spot ; because, he does notknow anything about his strength, and if you don'tdo anything to make him pull, he will never know-that he can. In a few minutes you can begin tocontrol him with the halter, then shorten the dis-tance between yourself and the horse by taking upthe strap in your hand.As soon as he will allow you to hold him by a toler-ably short strap, and to step up to him without flyingback, you can begin to give him some idea aboutleading. But to do this, do not go before and at-tempt to pull him after you, but commence by pull-ing him very quietly to one side. He has nothingto brace either side of his neck, and will soon yieldto a steady, gradual pull of the halter ; and as soonas you have pulled him a step or two to one side,step up to him and caress him, and then pull himagain, repeating this operation until you can pullhim around in every direction, and walk about thestable with him, which you can do in a few minutes,for he will soon think when you have made him stepto the right or left a few times, that he is compelledto follow the pull of the halter, not knowing that he


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' TO LEAD A COLT. 39HOW TO LEAD A COLT BY THE SIDE OF A BROKE

HORSE.If you should want to lead your colt by tlie side ofanother horse, as is often the case, I would advise

you to take your horse into the stable, attach a secondstrap to the coitus halter, and lead your horse upalongside of him. Then get on the broke horse andtake one strap around his breast, under his martin-gale (if he has any on), holding it in your left hand.This will prevent the colt from getting back too far ;besides, you will have more power to hold him withthe strap pulling against the horse's breast. Theother strap take up in your right hand to preventhim from running ahead ; then turn him about a fewtimes in the stable, and if the door is wide enough,ride out with him in that position ; if not, take thebroke horse out first, and stand his breast up againstthe door, then lead the colt to the same spot, andtake the straps as before directed, one on each sideof his neck, then let some one start the colt out, andas he comes out, turn your horse to the left, and youwill have them all right. This is the best way to leada colt ; you can manage any kind of colt in this way,without any trouble ; for if he tries to run ahead, orpull back, the two straps will bring the horses facingeach other, so that you can very easily follow up hismovements without doing much holding, and as soonas he stops running backward you are right withhim, and all ready to go ahead ; and if he gets stub-


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TO HITCH A COLT. 41minute^ after mjii had worked at tliem half an hour;trying to pull them in. If you cannot walk him inat once in this way^ turn him about and walk himaround in every direction^ until you can get him upto the door without pulling at him. Then let himstand a few minutes^ keeping his head in the rightdirection with the halter_, and he will walk in in lessthan ten minutes. Never attempt to pull the coltinto the stable ; that would make him think at oncethat it was a dangerous place^ and if he was not afraidof it before he would be then. BesideSj we do not wanthim to know anything about pulling on the halter.Colts are often hurt_, and sometimes killed^ by tryingto force them into the stable; and those who attemptto do it in that way go into an up-hill business,, whena plain smooth road is before them.

If you want to hitch your colt, put him in atolerably wide stall, which should not be too long,and should be connected by a bar or something ofthat kind to the partition behind it ; so that, afterthe colt is in, he cannot get far enough back to takea straight, backward pull on the halter; then, byhitching him in the centre of the stall, it would beimpossible for him to pull on the halter, the partitionbehind preventing him from going back, and thehalter in the centre checking him every time heturns to the right or left. In a stall of this kindyou can break any horse to stand hitched by alight strap, anywhere, without his ever knowing


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43

HOW TO SADDLE A COLT.Any one man who understands this theory can put

a saddle on the wildest colt that ever grew, withoutany help_, and without scaring him. The first thingwill be to tie each stirrup-strap into a loose knot tomake them short, and prevent the stirrups fromflying about and hitting him. Then double up theskirts and take the saddle under your right arm, soas not to frighten him with it as you approach. Whenyou get to him rub him gently a few times withyour hand, and then raise the saddle very slowly,until he can see it, and smell and feel it with hisnose. Then let the skirt loose, and rub it verygently against his neck the way the hair lies, lettinghim hear the rattle of the skirts as he feels themagainst him ; each time getting a little farther back-ward, and finally slip it over his shoulders on hisback. Shake it a little with your hand, and in lessthan five minutes you can rattle it about over hisback as much as you please, and pull it off andthrow it on again, without his paying much attentionto it.As soon as you have accustomed him to the saddle,

fasten the girth. Be careful how you do this. Itoften frightens the colt when he feels the girthbinding him, and making the saddle fit tight on hisback. You should bring up the girth very gently,and not draw it too tight at first, just enough to


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46 TO MOUNT THE COLT.hang loosely over his neck, with your left hand ; thengradually bear your weight on the stirrup, and onyour right hand, until the horse feels your wholeweight on the saddle : repeat this several times, eachtime raising yourself a little higher from the block,until he will allow you to raise your leg over hiscroup and place yourself in the saddle.

There are three great advantages in having a blockto mount from. First, a sudden change of positionis very apt to frighten a young horse who has neverbeen handled : he will allow you to walk up to him,and stand by his side without scaring at you, becauseyou have gentled him to that position ; but if you getdown on your hands and knees and crawl towardshim, he will be very much frightened ; and upon thesame principle, he would be frightend at your newposition if you had the power to hold yourself overhis back without touching him. Then the first greatadvantage of the block is to gradually gentle him tothat new position in which he will see you when youride him.

Secondly, by the process of leaning your weight inthe stirrups, and on your hand, you can graduallyaccustom him to your weight, so as not to frightenhim by having him feel it all at once. And, in thethird place, the block elevates you so that you willnot have to make a spring in order to get on thehorse's back, but from it you can gradually raiseyourself into the saddle. When you take these pre-


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TO RIDE THE COLT. 47cautions, there is no horse so wild but what you canmount him without making him jump, I have triedit on the worst horses that could be found, and havenever failed in any case. When mounting, yourhorse should always stand without being held. Ahorse is never well broken when he has to be heldwith a tight rein when mounting; and a colt is neverso safe to mount as when you see that assurance ofconfidence, and absence of fear, which cause him tostand without holding.

HOW TO RIDE THE COLT.When you want him to start do not touch him on

the side with your lieel or do anything to frightenhim and make him jump. But speak to him kindly,and if he does not start pull him a little to the leftuntil he starts, and then let him walk off slowly withthe reins loose. Walk him around in the stable afew times until he gets used to the bit, and you canturn him about in every direction and stop him asyou please. It would be well to get on and off a goodmany times until he gets perfectly used to it beforeyou take him out of the stable.

After you have trained him in this way, whichshould not take you more than one or two hours,you can ride him any where you choose without everhaving him jump or make any effort to throw you.When you first take him out of the stable be very

gentle Avitli him, as he will feel a little more at liberty


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^Ib TO RIDE THE COLT.to jump or run, and be a little easier frightened thanhe was while in the stable. But after handling him somuch in the stable he will be pretty well broken, andyou will be able to manage him without trouble ordanger.When you first mount him take a little the

shortest hold on the left rein, so that if anythingfrightens him you can prevent him from jumpingby pulling his head around to you. This operationof pulling a horse's head round against his side willprevent any horse from jumping ahead, rearing up,or running away. If he is stubborn and will not go,you can make him move by pulling his head roundto one side, when whipping would have no effect.And turning him round a few times will make himdizzy, and then by letting him have his head straight,and giving him a little touch with the whip, he willgo along without any trouble.Never use martingales on a colt when you .first ride

him ; every movement of the hand should go right tothe bit in the direction in which it is applied to thereins, without a martingale to change the direction ofthe force applied. You can guide the colt muclil)etter without it, and teach him the use of the bitin much less time. Besides, martingales would pre-vent you from pulling his head round if he shouldtry to jump.

After your colt has been ridden until he is gentleand well accustomed to the bit, you may find it an


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50 TO DRIVE A VICIOUS HORSE.the position you want him to carry it, and give hima nice and graceful carriage without hurting him,making him mad, or causing his mouth to get sore.

If you put the bitting on very tight the first time,he cannot raise his head enough to loosen it, but willbear on it all the time, and paw, sweat, and throwhimself. Many horses have been killed by fallingbackward with the bitting on; their heads beingdrawn up strike the ground with the whole weightof the body. Horses that have their heads drawnup tightly should not have the bitting on more thanfifteen or twenty minutes at a time.

HOW TO DEIYE A HOKSE THAT IS VERY WILD ANDHAS ANY YICIOUS HABITS.Take up one fore foot and bend his knee till his

hoof is bottom upwards, and nearly touching hisbody ; then slip a loop over his knee, and up until itcomes above the pastern joint, to keep it up, beingcareful to draw the loop together between the hoofand pastern joint with a second strap of some kindto prevent the loop from slipj)ing down and comingoff. This will leave the horse standing on threelegs ; you can now handle him as joii wish, for it isutterly impossible for him to kick in this position.There is something in this operation of taking upone foot that conquers a horse quicker and betterthan anything else you can do to him. There is noprocess in the world equal to it to break a kicking


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TO DRIVE A VICIOUS HORSE. 51horse^ for several reasons. First, there is a principleof this kind in the nature of the horse : that by con-quering- one member you conquer to a great extentthe whole horse.You have perhaps seen men operate upon this

principle, by sewing a horse^s ears together to preventhim from kicking. I once saw a plan given in anewspaper to make a bad horse stand to be shod,which was to fasten down one ear. There were noreasons given why you should do so; but I tried itseveral times, and thought that it had a good effectthough I would not recommend its vise, especiallystitching his ears together. The only benefit arisingfrom this process is, that by disarranging his ears wedraw his attention to them, and lie is not so apt toresist the shoeing. By tying up one foot we operateon the same principle to a much better effect. Whenyou first fasten up a horse^s foot he will sometimesget very mad, and strike with his knee, and try every-possible way to get it down ; but he cannot do that,and will soon give up.

This will conquer him better than anything youcould do, and without any possible danger of hurtinghimself or you either, for you can tie up his foot andsit down and look at him until he gives up. Whenyou find that he is conquered, go to him, let downhis foot^ rub his leg with your hand, caress him, andlet him rest a little ; then put it up again. Kepeatthis a few times^ always putting up the same foot,

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53 TO DRIVE A VICIOUS HORSE.and he will soou learn to travel on three legs so thatyou can drive him some distance. As soon as hegets a little used to this way of travellings put onyour harness^ and hitch him to a sulky. If he is thewôrst kicking horse that ever raised a foot you neednot be fearful of his doing any damage while he hasone foot up, for he cannot kick, neither can he runfast enough to do any harm. And if he is the wildesthorse that ever had harness on, and has run awayevery time he has been hitched, you can now hitchhim in a sulky, and drive him as you please. Ifhe wânts to run, you can let him have the lines,and the whip too, with perfect safet}^, for he can gobut a slow gait on three legs, and will soon be tired,and willing to stop ; only hold him enough to guidehim in the right direction, and he will soon be tiredand willing to stop at the word. Thus you willeffectually cure him at once of any further notion ofrunning off. Kicking horses have always been thedread of everybody ; you always hear men say, whenthey speak about a bad horse, '' I don't care what hedoes, so he don^t kick." This new method is aneffectual cure for this wôrst of all habits. There areplenty of ways by which you can hitch a kickinghorse, and force him to go, though he kicks all thetime ; but this doesn^t have any good effect towardsbreaking him, for we know that horses kick becausethey are afraid of what is behind them, and whenthey kick against it and it hurts them they will only


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ON BALKING. 53kick the harder; and this will hurt'them still moreaud make them remember the scrape much longer,and make it still more difScult to persuade them tohave any confidence in anything dragging behindthem ever after.But by this new method you can hitch them to a

rattling sulky, plough, waggon, or anything else in itsworst shape. They may be frightened at first, butcannot kick or do anything to hurt themselves, andwill soon find that you do not intend to hurt them,and then they will not care anything more about it.You can then let down the leg and drive along gentlywithout any further trouble. By this new process abad kicking horse can be learned to go gentle inharness in a few hours' time.

ON BALKING.Horses know nothing about balking, only as they

are brought into it by improper management, andwhen a horse balks in harness it is generally fromsome mismanagement, excitement, confusion, or fromnot knowing how to pull, but seldom from any un-willingness to perform all that he understands.High-spirited, free-going horses are the most sub-ject to balking, and only so because drivers do notproperl}^ understand how to manage this kind. Afree horse in a team may be so anxious to go, thatwhen he hears the word he will start with a jump,which will not move the load, but give him such a


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54 ON BALKING.severe jerk on tlie shoulders that lie will fly backand stop tlie other horse ; the teamster will continuehis driving without any cessation^, and by the timehe has the slow horse started again he will find thatthe free horse has made 'another, jump, and againflown back; and now he has them both badly balked,and so confused that neither of them knows what isthe matter, or how to start the load. Next willcome the slashing and cracking of the whip, andhallooing of the driver, till something is broken orhe is through with his course of treatment. Butwhat a mistake the driver commits by whipping hishorse for this act ! Reason and common sense shouldteach him that the horse was willing and anxious to go,but did not know how to start the load. And shouldhe whip him for that ? If so, he should whip himagain for not knowing how to talk. A man thatwants to act with any rationality or reason should notfly into a passion, but should always think before hestrikes. It takes a steady pressure against the collarto move a load, and you cannot expect him to actwith a steady, determined purpose while you arewhipping him. There is hardly one balking horsein five hundred that will pull true from whippingit is only adding fuel to fire, and will make himmore liable to balk another time. You always seehorses that have been balked a few times, turn theirheads and look back, as soon as they are a littlefrustrated. This is because they have been whipped


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ON BALKING. 55and are afraid of what is behind them. This is aninvariable rule with balked horses^ just as much asit is for them to look- around at their sides whenthey have the bots ; in either case they are deservingof the same sympathy and the same kind^ rationaltreatment.When your horse balks or is a little excited^ if he

wants to start quickly^, or looks around and doesn^twant to gothere is something wrong, and he needskind treatment immediately. Caress him kindly,and if he doesn^t understand at once what you wanthim to do, he will not be so much excited as to jumpand break things, and do everything wrong throughfear. As long as you are calm, and keep down theexcitement of the horse, there are ten chances tohave him understand you, where there would not beone under harsh treatment, and then the little flareup would not carry with it any unfavourable recollec-tions, and he would soon forget all about it, andlearn to pull true. Almost every wrong act thehorse commits is from mismanagement, fear, orexcitement ; one harsh word will so excite a nervoushorse as to increase his pulse ten beats in a minute.When we remember that we are dealing withdumb brutes, and reflect how difficult it must be forthem to understand our motions, signs, and language,we should never get out of patience with thembecause they don't understand us, or wonder attheir doing things wrong. With all our intellect, if


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56 ON BALKING.we were placed in the horse's situation it would bedifficult for us to understand the driving of someforeigner^ of foreign ways and foreign language.We should always recollect that our ways and lan-guage are just as foreign and unknown to the horseas any language in the world is to us^ and shouldtry to practise what we could understand were wethe horsC;, endeavouring by some simple means towork on his understanding rather than on the diffe-rent parts of his body. All balked horses can bestarted true and steady in a few minutes' time;they are all willing to pull as soon as they know how,and I never yet found a balked horse that I couldnot teach to start his load in fifteen, and often lessthan threCj minutes time.

Almost any team, when first balked, will startkindly if you let them stand five or ten minutes asthough there was nothing wrong, and then speak tothem with a steady voice, and turn them a little tothe right or left, so as to get them both in motionbefore they feel the pinch of the load. But if youw^ant to start a team that you are not driving your-self, that has been balked, fooled and whipped forsome time, go to them and hang the lines on theirhames, or fasten them to the waggon, so that theywill be perfectly loose ; make the driver and specta-tors (if there are any) stand off some distance toone side, so as not to attract the attention of thehorses ; unloose their check-reins, so that they can


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Oi\ BALKING. 57get their heads down if they choose ; let them standa few minutes in this condition until you can seethat they are a little composed. While they arestanding you should be about their heads^ gentlingthem ; it will make them a little more kind, and thespectators will think that you are doing somethingthat they do not understand, and will not learn thesecret. When you have them ready to start, standbefore them, and as you seldom have but one balkyhorse in a team, get as near in front of him as youcan, and if he is too fast for the other horse, let hisnose come against your breast : this will keep himsteady, for he will go slow rather than run on you;turn them gently to the right, without letting thempull on the traces as far as the tongue will let themgo ; stop them with a kind word, gentle them alittle, and then turn them back to the left, by thesame process. You will have them under your con-trol by this time, and as you turn them again to theright, steady them in the collar, and you can takethem where you please.

There is a quicker process that will generally starta balky horse, but not so sure. Stand him a littleahead, so that his shoulders will be against the collar,and then take up one of his forefeet in your hand,and let the driver start them, and when the weightcomes against his shoulders, he will try to step ; thenlet him have his foot, and he will go right along. Ifyou want to break a horse from balking that has long


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58 TO BREAK A HORSE TO HARNESS.been in that habit, you ouglit to set apart a half-dayfor that purpose. Put him by the side of some steadyhorse ; have check-lines on them ; tie up all thetraces and straps, so that there will be nothing toexcite them ; do not rein them up, but let them havetheir heads loose. Walk them about together forsome time as slowly and lazily as possible; stopoften, and go up to your balky horse and gentlehim. Do not take any whip about him, or do any-thing to excite him, but keep him just as quiet asyou can. He will soon learn to start off at the word,and stop whenever you tell him.As soon as he performs rightly, hitch him in anempty waggon ; have it stand in a favourable position

for starting. It would be well to shorten the stay-chain behind the steady horse, so that if it is necessaryhe can take the weight of the waggon the first timeyou start them. Do not drive but a few rods at first ;watch your balky horse closely, and if you see thathe is getting excited, stop him before he stops of hisown accord, caress him a little, and start again. Assoon as they .go well, drive them over a small hill afew times, and then over a larger one, occasionallyadding a little load. This process will make anyhorse true to pull.

TO BEEAK A HORSE TO HARNESS.Take him in a light stable, as you did to ridehim ; take the harness and go through the same


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TO HITCH A HORSE IN A SULKY. 59process that you did with the saddle, until you gethim familiar with it, so that you can put it onhim, and rattle it about without his caring forit. As soon as he will bear this, put on the lines,caress him as you draw them over him, and drivehim about in the stable till he will bear themover his hips. The lines are a great aggravation tosome colts, and often frighten them as much as ifyou were to raise a whip over them. As soon as heis familiar with the harness and lines, take him outand put him by the side of a gentle horse, and gothrough the same process that you did with thebalking horse. Always use a bridle without blindswhen you are breaking a horse to harness.

HOW TO HITCH A HOESE IN A SULKY.Lead him to and around it ; let him look at it,

touch it with his nose, and stand by it till he doesnot care for it ; then pull the shafts a little to theleft, and stand your horse in front of the off wheel.Let some one stand on the right side of the horse,and hold him by the bit, while you stand on the leftside, facing the sulky. This will keep him straight.Run your left hand back, and let it rest on his hip,and lay hold of the shafts with your right, bringingthem up very gently to the left hand, which stillremains stationary. Do not let anything but yourarm touch his back, and as soon as you have theshafts square over him, let the person on the opposite


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60 TO ilAKE A HORSE LIE DOWN.side take hold of one of them^ and lower them verygently to tlie shaft-bearers. Be very slow anddeliberate about hitching ; the longer time you takethe better^ as a general thing. When you have theshafts placed,, shake them slightly^ so that he willfeel them against each side. As soon as he willbear them without scaring^ fasten your braces^ &c.,and start him along very sloAvly. Let one man leadthe horse^ to keep "him gentle, while the othergradually works back with the lines till he can getbehind and drive him. After you have driven himin this way a short distance, you can get into thesulky, and all will go right. It is very importantto have your horse go gently when you first hitchliim. After you have walked him awhile, there isnot half so much danger of his scaring. Men do verywrong to jump up behind a horse to drive him assoon as they have him hitched. There are too manythings for him to comprehend all at once. Theshafts, the lines, the harness, and the rattling of thesulky, all tend to scare him, and he must be madefamiliar with them by degrees. If your horse is verywild, I would advise you to put up one foot the firsttime you drive him.

HOW TO MAKE A HORSE LIE DOWN.Everything that we want to teach the horse must

be commenced in some way to give him an idea ofwhat you want him to do, and then be repeated till


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TO MAKE A HORSE LIE DOY/N. 61he learns it perfectly. To make a horse lie clown,bend his left fore leg and shp a loop over it_, so thathe cannot get it down. Then put a surcingle aroundhis body, and fasten one end of a long strap aroundthe other fore leg, just above the hoof. Place theother end under the surcingle, so as to keep the strapin the right direction; take a short hold of it withyour right hand ; stand on the left side of the horse,grasp the bit in your left hand, pull steadily on thestrap with your right ; bear against his shoulder tillyou cause him to move. As soon as he lifts hisweight, your pulling will raise the other foot, and hewill have to come on his knees. Keep the straptight in your hand, so that he cannot straighten hisleg if he rises up. Hold him in this position, andturn his head towards you; bear against his sidewith your shoulder, not hard, but with a steady,equal pressure, and in about ten minutes he will liedown. As soon as he lies down, he will be com-pletely conquered, and you can handle him as youplease. Take off the straps, and straighten out hislegs ; rub him lightly about the face and neck withyour hand the way the hair lies; handle all his legs,and after he has lain ten or twenty minutes, let himget up again. After resting him a short time makehim lie down as before. Repeat the operation threeor four times, which will be sufficient for one lesson.Give him two lessons a day, and when you havegiven him four lessons, he will lie down by taking


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63 TO MAKE A HORSE FOLLOW YOU.hold of one foot. As soon as he is well broken to liedown in this way, tap him on the opposite leg witha stick when you take hold of his foot, and in a fewdays he will lie down from the mere motion ofthe stick.

HOW TO MAKE A HOUSE FOLLOW YOU.Turn him into a large stable or shed, where there

is no chance to get out, with a halter or bridle on.Go to him and gentle him a little, take hold ofhis halter and turn him towards you, at the sametime touching him lightly over the hips with a long-whip. Lead him the length of the stable, rubbinghim on the neck, saying in a steady tone of voice asyou lead him, " Come along, boy ! " or use his nameinstead of '^^boy,^^ if you choose. Every time you turntouch him slightly with the whip, to make him stepup close to you, and then caress Iiim with your hand.He will soon learn to hurry up to escape the whipand be caressed, and you can make him follow youaround without taking hold of the halter. If heshould stop and turn from you, give him a few sharpcuts about the hind legs, and he will soon turn hishead towards you, when you must always caress him.A few lessons of this kind will make him run afteryou, when he sees the motion of the whipin twentyor thirty minutes he will follow you about the stable.After you have given him two or three lessons in thestable^ take him out into a small field and train him


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TO MAKE A HORSE STAND. 63and from thence you can take him into the road andmake him follow you anywhere^ and run after you.HOW TO MAKE A HOUSE STAIsTD WITHOUT HOLDING.

After you have him well broken to follow you,place him in the centre of the stablebegin at hishead to caress him, gradually working backwards.If he move, give him a cut with the whip, and puthim back to the same spot from which he started.If he stands, caress him as before, and continuegentling him in this way until you can get roundhim without making him move. Keep walkingaround l\im, increasing your pace, and only touchhim occasionally. Enlarge your circle as you walkaround, and if he then moves, give him another cutwith the whip, and put him back to his place. Ifhe stands, go to him frequently and caress him, andthen walk around him again. Do not keep him inone position too long at a time, but make him cometo you occasionally, and follow you around thestable. Then make him stand in another place, andproceed as before. You should not train your horsemore than half an hour at a time.

cox AND WYMAN, PRINTERS, GREAT QUKEN STREET, LONDON.


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