Frontal view of a horse's head
4-*Owner of Fisherman.5-*See “The Post and the Paddock,” by “The Druid.”6-*Carter, one of the Van Amburgh showmen.16-*Son of the late Marquis of Anglesea, one of the finest horsemen of his day, even with one leg, after he left the other at Waterloo.17-*The list itself is one of the most extraordinary documents ever printed, in regard to the rank and equestrian accomplishments of the subscribers.18-*“Stafford is a half-bred carriage stallion, six years old. For three years he has formed one of the breeding-stud at Cluny, where he has acquired the character of being a most dangerous animal. He was about to be withdrawn from the stud and destroyed, in consequence of the protests of the breeders—for a whole year he had obstinately refused to be dressed, and was obliged to be closely confined in his box. He rushed at every one who appeared with both fore-feet, and open mouthed. Every means of subduing and restraining him was adopted; he was muzzled, blindfolded, and hobbled. In order to give Mr. Rarey’s method a trial, Stafford was sent to Paris, and there a great number of persons, including the principal members of the Jockey Club, had an opportunity of judging of his vicious disposition.“After being alone with Stafford for an hour and a half, Mr. Rarey rode on him into the Riding School, guiding him with a common snaffle-bridle. The appearance of the horse was completely altered: he was calm and docile. His docility did not seem to be produced by fear or constraint, but the result of perfect confidence. The astonishment of the spectators was increased when Mr. Rarey unbridled him, and guided the late savage animal, with a mere motion of his hands or indication with his leg, as easily as a trained circus-horse. Then, dashing into a gallop, he stopped him short with a single word.“Mr. Rarey concluded his first exhibition by beating a drum on Stafford’s back, and passing his hand over his head and mouth. Stafford was afterwards ridden by a groom, and showed the same docility in his hands as in those of Mr. Rarey.“Mr. Rarey succeeded on the first attempt in putting him in harness with a mare, although he had never had his head through a collar before; and he went as quietly as the best-broken carriage-horse in Paris. Mr Rarey concluded by firing a six-chambered revolver from his back.”—Paris Illustrated Journal.20-*“Cruiser was the property of Lord Dorchester, and was a good favourite for the Derby in Wild Dayrell’s year, but broke down before the race. Like all Venison horses, his temper was not of the mildest kind, and John Day was delighted to get rid of him. When started for Rawcliffe, he told the man who led him on no account to put him into a stable, as he would never get him out. This injunction was of course disregarded, for when the man wanted some refreshment, he put him into a country public-house stable, and left him, and to get him out, the roof of the building had to be pulled off. At Rawcliffe, he was always exhibited by a groom with a ticket-of-leave bludgeon in his hand, and few were bold enough to venture into his yard. This animal, whose temper has depreciated him perhaps a thousand pounds in value, I think would be ‘the right horse in the right place’ for Mr. Rarey. Phlegon and Vatican would also be good patients. I am sorry to hear that the latter has been blinded: if leathern blinds had been put on his eyes, the same effect would have been produced.”—Morning Post, March 2, 1858.“Mr. Rarey, when here, first subjugated a two-year old filly, perfectly unbroken. This he accomplished under half an hour, riding on her, opening an umbrella, beating a drum upon her, &c. He then took Cruiser in hand, and in three hours Mr. Rarey and myself mounted him. He had not been ridden for nearly three years, and was so vicious that it was impossible even to dress him, and it was necessary to keep him muzzled constantly. The following morning Mr. Rarey led him behind an open carriage, on his road to London. This horse was returned to me by the Rawcliffe and Stud Company on account of his vice, it being considered as much as a man’s life was worth to attend to him.“Greywell, April7.” “Dorchester.”
4-*Owner of Fisherman.
5-*See “The Post and the Paddock,” by “The Druid.”
6-*Carter, one of the Van Amburgh showmen.
16-*Son of the late Marquis of Anglesea, one of the finest horsemen of his day, even with one leg, after he left the other at Waterloo.
17-*The list itself is one of the most extraordinary documents ever printed, in regard to the rank and equestrian accomplishments of the subscribers.
18-*“Stafford is a half-bred carriage stallion, six years old. For three years he has formed one of the breeding-stud at Cluny, where he has acquired the character of being a most dangerous animal. He was about to be withdrawn from the stud and destroyed, in consequence of the protests of the breeders—for a whole year he had obstinately refused to be dressed, and was obliged to be closely confined in his box. He rushed at every one who appeared with both fore-feet, and open mouthed. Every means of subduing and restraining him was adopted; he was muzzled, blindfolded, and hobbled. In order to give Mr. Rarey’s method a trial, Stafford was sent to Paris, and there a great number of persons, including the principal members of the Jockey Club, had an opportunity of judging of his vicious disposition.
“After being alone with Stafford for an hour and a half, Mr. Rarey rode on him into the Riding School, guiding him with a common snaffle-bridle. The appearance of the horse was completely altered: he was calm and docile. His docility did not seem to be produced by fear or constraint, but the result of perfect confidence. The astonishment of the spectators was increased when Mr. Rarey unbridled him, and guided the late savage animal, with a mere motion of his hands or indication with his leg, as easily as a trained circus-horse. Then, dashing into a gallop, he stopped him short with a single word.
“Mr. Rarey concluded his first exhibition by beating a drum on Stafford’s back, and passing his hand over his head and mouth. Stafford was afterwards ridden by a groom, and showed the same docility in his hands as in those of Mr. Rarey.
“Mr. Rarey succeeded on the first attempt in putting him in harness with a mare, although he had never had his head through a collar before; and he went as quietly as the best-broken carriage-horse in Paris. Mr Rarey concluded by firing a six-chambered revolver from his back.”—Paris Illustrated Journal.
20-*“Cruiser was the property of Lord Dorchester, and was a good favourite for the Derby in Wild Dayrell’s year, but broke down before the race. Like all Venison horses, his temper was not of the mildest kind, and John Day was delighted to get rid of him. When started for Rawcliffe, he told the man who led him on no account to put him into a stable, as he would never get him out. This injunction was of course disregarded, for when the man wanted some refreshment, he put him into a country public-house stable, and left him, and to get him out, the roof of the building had to be pulled off. At Rawcliffe, he was always exhibited by a groom with a ticket-of-leave bludgeon in his hand, and few were bold enough to venture into his yard. This animal, whose temper has depreciated him perhaps a thousand pounds in value, I think would be ‘the right horse in the right place’ for Mr. Rarey. Phlegon and Vatican would also be good patients. I am sorry to hear that the latter has been blinded: if leathern blinds had been put on his eyes, the same effect would have been produced.”—Morning Post, March 2, 1858.
“Mr. Rarey, when here, first subjugated a two-year old filly, perfectly unbroken. This he accomplished under half an hour, riding on her, opening an umbrella, beating a drum upon her, &c. He then took Cruiser in hand, and in three hours Mr. Rarey and myself mounted him. He had not been ridden for nearly three years, and was so vicious that it was impossible even to dress him, and it was necessary to keep him muzzled constantly. The following morning Mr. Rarey led him behind an open carriage, on his road to London. This horse was returned to me by the Rawcliffe and Stud Company on account of his vice, it being considered as much as a man’s life was worth to attend to him.
“Greywell, April7.” “Dorchester.”
Mr. Rarey’s Pamphlet.—Introduction.
Mr. Rarey’sAmerican Pamphlet would make about fifty pages of this type, if given in full; but, in revising my Illustrated Edition, I have decided onomitting six pages of Introduction, which, copied from Mr. Rollo Springfield, an American author, do not contain any reliable facts or useful inferences.
The speculations of the American author, as to the early history of the horse, are written without sufficient information. So far from the “polished Greeks” having, as he states, “ridden without bridles,” we have the best authority in the frieze of the Parthenon for knowing that, although they rode barebacked on their compact cobby ponies, they used reins and handled them skilfully and elegantly.
To go still further back, the bas-reliefs in the British Museum, discovered by Mr. Layard in the Assyrian Palace of Nimroud, contain spirited representation of horses with bridles, ridden in hunting and in pursuit of enemies, as well as driven in war-chariots. These horses are Arabs, while those of the Elgin Marbles more resemble the cream-coloured Hanoverians which draw the state carriage of our sovereigns. In one of the Nimroud bas-reliefs, we have cavalry soldiers standing with the bridles of their horses in their hands, “waiting,” as Mr. Bonomi tells us, “for the orders to mount;” but, as they stand on the left side, with the bridles in their left hands, it is difficult to understandhow they could obey such an order with reasonable celerity.
The Arabian stories, as to the performances of Arab horses and their owners, must be received with considerable hesitation, for the horse is one of the subjects on which Orientals love to found their poetical fireside stories. This is certain, that the Arab horse being highly bred, is very intelligent, being reared from its birth in the family of its master, extremely docile, and, being always in the open air and fed on a moderate quantity of dry food, very hardy.
If we lived with our horses, as we do with our dogs, they would be equally affectionate and tractable.
In Norway, in consequence of the severity of the climate, the ponies are all housed during the winter, and thus become so familiar with their owner that there is scarcely any difficulty in putting them into harness, even the first time.
English thoroughbred horses, when once acclimatized and bred in the open air on the dry pastures of Australia and South Africa, are found, if not put to work too early, as enduring as the Arab. Experiments in the Indian artillery have proved that the Australian horse and the Cape27-*horse, which has also been improved byjudicious crosses with English blood, are superior for strength and endurance to the Eastern horses bred in the stud establishments of the East India Company.
The exaggerated idea that long prevailed of the value of the Arab horse, as compared with the English thorough-bred, which is an Eastern horse improved by long years of care and ample food, has been to a great extent dissipated by the large importation of Arabs that took place after the Crimean war—in fact, they are on the average pretty ponies of great endurance, but of very little use in this country, where size is indispensable for profit. In the East they are of great value for cavalry; they are hardy and full of fire and spirit. “But,” says Captain Nolan, “no horse can compare with the English—no horse is more easily broken in to anything and everything—there is no quality in which the English horse does not excel—no performance in which he cannot beat all competition;” and Nolan was as familiar with the Eastern, Hungarian, and German crosses with the Arab as with the English thorough-bred.
We spoil our horses, first by pampering them in hot stables under warm clothing; next, by working them too young; and, lastly, by entrusting their training to rude, ignorant men, who rely for leading colt the way he should go on mere force, harsh words, a sharp whip,and the worrying use of the longeing rein. Rarey has shown how easily, quietly, and safely horses may be tamed; but we must also train men before we can obtain full benefit from our admirable breeds of horses.
Proof that our horses have become feeble from pampering may be found in Devonshire. There the common hacks of the county breed on the moors, and, crossed with native ponies, are usually undersized and coarse and heavy about the shoulders, like most wild horses, and all the inferior breeds of Arabs, but they are hardy and enduring to a degree that a Yorkshire breeder would scarcely believe. Mean-looking Galloways will draw a heavy dog-cart over the Devonshire hills fifty miles a-day for many days in succession.
A little common sense has been introduced into the management of our cavalry, since the real experience of the Crimean war. General Sir Charles Napier was not noticed when, nearly ten years ago, he wrote, “The cavalry charger, on a Hounslow Heath parade, well fed, well groomed, goes through a field-day without injury, although carrying more than twenty stone weight; he and his rider presenting together, a kind of alderman centaur. But if in the field, half starved, they have, at the end of a forced march, to charge an enemy! The biped full of fire and courage, transformed by war-work to a wiry muscular dragoon, is able and willing, but the overloaded quadruped cannot gallop—he staggers.”
Our poor horses thus loaded, are expected to bound to hand and spur, while the riders wield their swords worthily. They cannot; and both man and horse appear inferior to their Indian opponents. The Eastern warrior’s eye is quick, but not quicker than the European’s; his heart is big, yet not bigger than the European’s; his arm is strong, but not so strong as the European’s; the swing of his razor-likescimitar is terrible, but an English trooper’s downright blow splits the skull. Why then does the latter fail? The light-weighted horse of the dark swordsman carries him round his foe with elastic bounds, and the strong European, unable to deal the cleaving blow, falls under the activity of an inferior adversary!
Since the war, light men with broad chests have been enlisted for Indian service. The next step, originally suggested by Nolan, that every cavalry soldier should train his own horse, will be made easy by the introduction of the Rarey system. Country horse-breakers are too ignorant, too prejudiced, and too much interested in keeping up a mystery that gives them three months employment, instead of three weeks, to adopt it. The reform will probably commence in the army and in racing stables.
In the following pages, I have given the text of the American edition of Mr. Rarey’s pamphlet, and added the information I have derived from hearing his lectures, seeing his operations on “Cruiser,” and other difficult horses, and from the experience of my friends and self in taming horses. Thus, in Chap. VI. to Mr. Rarey’s five pages I have added sixteen, and nine woodcut illustrations. In Chap. VII. the directions for the drum, umbrella, and riding habit are in print for the first time, as well as the directions for mounting with slack girths. Chaps. VIII. to XIV. have been added, in order to make this little work a complete manual for those who wish to benefit in riding as well as training horses from the experience of others.
In my opinion, the Rarey system is invaluable fortraining colts, breaking horses into harness, and curing kickers and jibbers. I do not profess to be a horse-tamer, my pursuits are too sedentary during the greater part of the year, but I have succeeded with even colts. I tried my hand on two of them wild from the Devonshire moors, in August last, and succeeded perfectly in an hour. I made them as affectionate as pet ponies, ready to follow me everywhere, as well as to submit to be mounted and ridden.
As to curing vicious horses, all that can be safely said is, that it puts it into the power of acourageous, calm-tempered horsemanto conquer any horse. “Cruiser” was quiet in the hands of Mr. Rarey and Mr. Rice, but when insulted in the circus of Leicester Square by a violent jerk, he rushed at his tormentor with such ferocity that he cleared the ring of all the spangledtroupe, yet, in the midst of his rage, he halted and ran up on being called by Rarey.
From this we learn that such a horsewon’t be bullied and must not be feared. But such vicious horses are rare exceptions. It is curious, that Mr. Rarey should have made his reputation by the least useful exercise of his art.
27-*The Cape horse has recently come into notice, in consequence of the publication of “Papers relating to the Purchase of Horses at the Cape for the Army of India.” It seems that not less than 3300 have been purchased for that purpose; that Cape horses purchased by Colonel Havelock arrived from India in the Crimea in better condition than any other horses in the regiment; and that in the Caffre War Cape horses condemned by the martinets of a Remount Committee, carried the 7th Dragoons, averaging, in marching order, over nineteen stone, and no privation or fatigue could make General Cathcart’s horses succumb. These horses are bred between the Arabs introduced by the Dutch and the English thoroughbred. I confess I see with, surprise that Colonel Apperley, the remount agent, recommends crosses with Norfolk trotting and Cleveland stallions. No such cross has ever answered in this country. Had he recommended thoroughbred weight-carrying stallions in preference to Arabs, I could have understood his condemnation of the latter. I should have hesitated to set my opinion against Colonel Apperley, had I not found that he differs entirely from the late General Sir Walter Gilbert, the greatest horseman, take him for all in all, as a cavalry officer, as a flat and steeple-chase rider, and rider to hounds of his day.—See Napier’s Indian Misgovernment, p. 286et seq.
27-*The Cape horse has recently come into notice, in consequence of the publication of “Papers relating to the Purchase of Horses at the Cape for the Army of India.” It seems that not less than 3300 have been purchased for that purpose; that Cape horses purchased by Colonel Havelock arrived from India in the Crimea in better condition than any other horses in the regiment; and that in the Caffre War Cape horses condemned by the martinets of a Remount Committee, carried the 7th Dragoons, averaging, in marching order, over nineteen stone, and no privation or fatigue could make General Cathcart’s horses succumb. These horses are bred between the Arabs introduced by the Dutch and the English thoroughbred. I confess I see with, surprise that Colonel Apperley, the remount agent, recommends crosses with Norfolk trotting and Cleveland stallions. No such cross has ever answered in this country. Had he recommended thoroughbred weight-carrying stallions in preference to Arabs, I could have understood his condemnation of the latter. I should have hesitated to set my opinion against Colonel Apperley, had I not found that he differs entirely from the late General Sir Walter Gilbert, the greatest horseman, take him for all in all, as a cavalry officer, as a flat and steeple-chase rider, and rider to hounds of his day.—See Napier’s Indian Misgovernment, p. 286et seq.
The three fundamental principles of the Rarey Theory.—Heads of the Rarey Lectures.—Editor’s paraphrase.—That any horse may be taught docility.—That a horse should be so handled and tied as to feel inferior to man.—That a horse should be allowed to see, smell, and feel all fearful objects.—Key note of the Rarey system.
First.—That he is so constituted by nature that he will not offer resistance to any demand made of him which he fully comprehends, if made in a way consistent with the laws of his nature.
Second.—That he has no consciousness of his strength beyond his experience, and can be handled according to our will without force.
Third.—That we can, in compliance with the laws of his nature, by which he examines all things new to him, take any object, however frightful, around, over, or on him, that does not inflict pain—without causing him to fear.
To take these assertions in order, I will first give you some of the reasons why I think he is naturally obedient, and will not offer resistance to anything fully comprehended. The horse, though possessed of some faculties superior to man’s, being deficient in reasoning powers, has no knowledge of right or wrong, of free will and independent government, and knows not of any imposition practised upon him, however unreasonable these impositions may be. Consequently, he cannot come to any decision as to what he should or should not do,because he has not the reasoning faculties of man to argue the justice of the thing demanded of him. If he had, taking into consideration his superior strength, he would be useless to man as a servant. Give himmindin proportion to his strength, and he will demand of us the green fields for his inheritance, where he will roam at leisure, denying the right of servitude at all. God has wisely formed his nature so that it can be operated upon by the knowledge of man according to the dictates of his will; and he might well be termed an unconscious, submissive servant. This truth we can see verified in every day’s experience by the abuses practised upon him. Any one who chooses to be so cruel can mount the noble steed and run him till he drops with fatigue, or, as is often the case with the more spirited, falls dead beneath his rider. If he had the power to reason, would he not rear and pitch his rider, rather than suffer him to run him to death? Or would he condescend to carry at all the vain impostor, who, with but equal intellect, was trying to impose on his equal rights and equally independent spirit? But, happily for us, he has no consciousness of imposition, no thought of disobedience except by impulse caused by the violation of the law of his nature. Consequently, when disobedient, it is the fault of man.
Then, we can but come to the conclusion that, if a horse is not taken in a way at variance with the laws of his nature, he will do anything that he fully comprehends, without making any offer of resistance.
Second—The fact of the horse being unconscious of the amount of his strength can be proven to the satisfaction of any one. For instance, such remarks as these are common, and perhaps familiar to your recollection. One person says to another, “If that wild horse therewas conscious of the amount of his strength, his owner would have no business with him in that vehicle: such light reins and harness, too—if he knew, he could snap them asunder in a minute, and be as free as the air we breathe;” and, “That horse yonder, that is pawing and fretting to follow the company that is fast leaving him—if he knew his strength, he would not remain long fastened to that hitching post so much against his will, by a strap that would no more resist his powerful weight and strength than a cotton thread would bind a strong man.” Yet these facts, made common by every-day occurrence, are not thought of as anything wonderful. Like the ignorant man who looks at the different phases of the moon, you look at these things as he looks at her different changes, without troubling your mind with the question, “Why are these things so?” What would be the condition of the world if all our minds lay dormant? If men did not think, reason, and act, our undisturbed, slumbering intellects would not excel the imbecility of the brute; we should live in chaos, hardly aware of our existence. And yet, with all our activity of mind, we daily pass by unobserved that which would be wonderful if philosophized and reasoned upon; and with the same inconsistency wonder at that which a little consideration, reason, and philosophy, would make but a simple affair.
Third—He will allow any object, however frightful in appearance, to come around, over, or on him, that does not inflict pain.
We know, from a natural course of reasoning, that there has never been an effect without a cause; and we infer from this that there can be no action, either in animate or inanimate matter, without there first being some cause to produce it. And from this self-evident fact we know that there is some cause for every impulse ormovement of either mind or matter, and that this law governs every action or movement of the animal kingdom. Then, according to this theory, there must be some cause before fear can exist; and if fear exists from the effect of imagination, and not from the infliction of real pain, it can be removed by complying with those laws of nature by which the horse examines an object, and determines 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 to pounce upon him; but after you take him up to it, and let him stand by it a little while, and touch it with his nose, and go through his process of examination, he will not care anything more about it. And the same principle and process will have the same effect with any other object, however frightful in appearance, in which there is no harm. Take a boy that has been frightened by a false face, or any other object that he could not comprehend at once; but let him take that face or object in his hands and examine it, and he will not care anything more about it. This is a demonstration of the same principle.
With this introduction to the principles of my theory, I shall next attempt to teach you how to put it into practice; and whatever instructions may follow, you can rely on as having been proven practically by my own experiments. And knowing, from experience, just what obstacles I have met with in handling bad horses, I shall try to anticipate them for you, and assist you in surmounting them, by commencing with the first steps to be taken with the colt, and accompanying you through the whole task of breaking.
These three principles have been enlarged upon and explained in a fuller and more familiar manner by Mr.Rarey in his Lectures, of which the following are the heads.
“Principles on which horses should be treated and educated—not by fear or force—By an intelligent application of skill with firmness and patience—How to approach a colt—How to halter—How teach to lead in twenty minutes—How to subdue and cause to lie down in fifteen minutes—How to tame and cure fear and nervousness—How to saddle and bridle—How to accustom to be mounted and ridden—How to accustom to a drum—to an umbrella—to a lady’s habit, or any other object, in a few minutes—How to harness a horse for the first time—How to drive a horse unbroken to harness, and make go steady, single or double, in a couple of hours—How to make any horse stand still until called—How to make a horse follow his owner.”
In plain language, Mr. Rarey means, that—
1st. That any horse may be taught to do anything that a horse can do if taught in a proper manner.
2nd. That a horse is not conscious of his own strength until he has resisted and conquered a man, and that by taking advantage of man’s reasoning powers a horse can be handled in such a manner that he shall not find out his strength.
3rd. That by enabling a horse to examine every object with which we desire to make him familiar, with the organs naturally used for that purpose, viz.seeing,smelling, andfeeling, you may take any object around, over, and on him that does not actually hurt him.
Thus, for example, the objects which affright horses are the feel of saddles, riding-habits, harness, and wheeled carriages; the sight of umbrellas and flags; loaded waggons, troops, or a crowd; the sound of wheels, of drums, of musketry. There are thousands of horses that by degrees learn to bear all these things; others, under our old imperfect system, never improve, and continue nervous or vicious to the end of their lives. Every year good sound horses are drafted from the cavalry, or from hunters’ barbs and carriage-horses, into omnibuses and Hansom cabs, because they cannot be made to bear the sound of drums and firearms, or will not submit to be shod, and be safe and steady in crowded cities, or at covert side. Nothing is more common than to hear that such a horse would be invaluable if he would go in harness, or carry a lady, or that a racehorse of great swiftness is almost valueless because his temper is so bad, or his nervousness in a crowd so great that he cannot be depended on to start or to run his best.
All these varieties of nervous and vicious animals are deteriorated in value, because they have not been educated to confide in and implicitly obey man.
The whole object of the Rarey system is, to give the horse full confidence in his rider, to make him obedient to his voice and gestures, and to impress the animal with the belief that he could not successfully resist him.
Lord Pembroke, in his treatise on Horsemanship, says, “His hand is the best whose indications are so clear that his horse cannot mistake them,and whose gentleness and fearlessnessalike induce obedience to them.” “The noblest animal,” says Colonel Greenwood, “will obey such a rider; and it is ever the noblest, most intelligent horses, that rebel the most. In riding a colt or a restive horse we should never forget that he has the right to resist, and that as far as he can judge we have not the right to insist. The great thing in horsemanship is to get the horse to be your party, notto obey only, but to obey willingly. For this reason the lessons cannot be begun too early, or be too progressive.”
The key-note to the Rarey system is to be found in the opening sentence of his early lectures in England: “Man has reason in addition to his senses. A horse judges everything bySEEING,SMELLING, andFEELING.” It must be the business of every one who undertakes to train colts that they shallsee,smell, andfeeleverything that they are to wear or to bear.
Bridle with thick straight bit with cheekpiecesHALTER OR BRIDLE FOR COLTS.
How to drive a colt from pasture.—How to drive into a stable.—The kind of halter.—Experiment with a robe or cloak.—Horse-tamingdrugs.—The Editor’s remarks.—Importance of patience.—Best kind of head-stall.—Danger of approaching some colts.—Hints from a Colonel of the Life Guards.
Go to the pasture and walk around the whole herd quietly, and at such a distance as not to cause them to scare and run. Then approach them very slowly, and if they stick up their heads and seem to be frightened, stand still until they become quiet, so as not to make them run before you are close enough to drive them in the direction you want them to go. And when you begin to drive, do not flourish your arms or halloo, but gently follow them off, leaving the direction open that you wish them to take. Thus taking advantage of their ignorance, you will be able to get them into the pound as easily as the hunter drives the quails into his net. For, if they have always run in the pasture uncared for (as many horses do in prairie countries and on large plantations), there is no reason why they should not be as wild as the sportsman’s birds, and require the same gentle treatment, if you want to get them without trouble; for the horse, in his natural state, is as wild as a stag, or any of the undomesticated animals, though more easily tamed.
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 any danger befalling him. The best way to do this, is to lead a broken horse into the stable first and hitch (tie) him, then quietly walk around the colt and let him go in of his own accord. It is almost impossible to get men who have never practised on this principle to goslowly and considerately enough about it. They do not know that in handling a wild horse, above all other things, is that good old adage true, that “haste makes waste;” that is, waste of time—for the gain of trouble and perplexity.
One wrong move may frighten your horse, and make him think it necessary to escape at all hazards for the safety of his life—and thus make two hours’ work of a ten minutes’ job; and this would be all your own fault, and entirely unnecessary—for he will not run unless you run after him, and that would not be good policy unless you knew that you could outrun him, for you will have to let him stop of his own accord after all. But he will not try to break away unless you attempt to force him into measures. If he does not see the way at once, and is a little fretful about going in, do not undertake to drive him, but give him a little less room outside, by gently closing in around him. Do not raise your arms, but let them hang at your side, for you might as well raise a club:the horse has never studied anatomy, and does not know but that they will unhinge themselves and fly at him. If he attempts to turn back, walk before him, but do not run; and if he gets past you, encircle him again in the same quiet manner, and he will soon find that you are not going to hurt him; and then you can walk so close around him that he will go into the stable for more room, and to get farther from you. As soon as he is in, remove the quiet horse and shut the door. This will be his first notion of confinement—not knowing how he got into such a place, nor how to get out of it. That he may take it as quietly at possible, see that the shed is entirely free from dogs, chickens, or anything that would annoy him. Then give him a few ears of corn, and let him remain alone fifteen or twenty minutes, until he hasexamined his apartment, and has become reconciled to his confinement.
And now, while your horse is eating those few ears of corn, is the proper time to see that your halter is ready and all right, and to reflect on the best mode of operations; for in horse-breaking it is highly important that you should be governed by some system. And you should know, before you attempt to do anything, just what you are going to do, and how you are going to do it. And, if you are experienced in the art of taming wild horses, you ought to be able to tell, within a few minutes, the length of time it would take you to halter the colt, and teach him to lead.
Always use a leather halter, and be sure to have it made so that it will not draw tight around his nose if he pulls on it. It should be of the right size to fit his head easily and nicely; so that the nose-band will not be too tight or too low. Never put a rope halter on an unbroken colt, under any circumstances whatever. Rope halters have caused more horses to hurt or kill themselves than would pay for twice the cost of all the leather halters that have ever been needed for the purpose of haltering colts. It is almost impossible to break a colt that is very wild with a rope halter, without having him pull, 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 his head out of anything that hurts it, or feels unpleasant, at it would be for you to try to get your hand out of a fire. The cords of the rope arehard and cutting; this makes him raise his head and draw on it, and as soon as he pulls, the slip noose (the way rope-halters are always made) tightens, and pinches his nose, and then he will struggle for life, until, perchance, he throws himself; and who would have his horse throw himself, and run the risk of breaking his neck, rather than pay the price of a leather halter? But this is not the worst.A horse that has once pulled on his halter can never be as well broken as one that has never pulled at all.
But before we attempt to do anything more with the colt, I will give you some of the characteristics of his nature, that you may better understand his motions. Every one that has ever paid any attention to the horse, has noticed his natural inclination to smell everything which to him looks new and frightful. This is their strange mode of examining everything. And when they are frightened at anything, though they look at it sharply, they seem to have no confidence in their eyesight alone, but must touch it with their nose before they are entirely satisfied; and, as soon as they have done that, all seems right.
If you want to satisfy yourself of this characteristic of the horse, and to learn something of importance concerning the peculiarities of his nature, &c., turn him into the barn-yard, or a large stable will do, and then gather up something that you know will frighten him—a red blanket, buffalo robe, or something of that kind. Hold it up so that he can see it, he will stick up his head and snort. Then throw it down somewhere in the centre of the lot or barn, and walk off to one side. Watch hismotions, and study 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 and snort, all the time getting a little closer, as if drawn up by some magic spell, until he finally gets within reach of it. He will then very cautiously stretch out his neck as far as he can reach, merely touching it with his nose, as though he thought it was ready to fly at him. But after he has repeated these touches a few times, for the first time (though he has been looking at it all the while) he seems to have an idea what it is. But now he has found, by the sense of feeling, that it is nothing that will do him any harm, and he is ready to play with it. And if you watch him closely, you will see him take hold of it with his teeth, and raise it up and pull at it. And in a few minutes you can see that he has not that same wild look about his eye, but stands like a horse biting at some familiar stump.
Yet the horse is never so well satisfied when he is about anything that has frightened him, as when he is standing with his nose to it. And, in nine cases out of ten, you will see some of that same wild look about him again, as he turns to walk from it. And you will, probably, see him looking back very suspiciously as he walks away, as though he thought it might come after him yet. And in all probability, he will have to go back and make another examination before he is satisfied. But he will familiarize himself with it, and, if he should run in that field a few days, the robe that frightened him so much at first will be no more to him than a familiar stump.
We might very naturally suppose from the fact of the horse’s applying his nose to everything new to him, that he always does so for the purpose of smelling theseobjects. But I believe that it is as much or more for the purpose of feeling, and that he makes use of his nose, or muzzle (as it is sometimes called), as we would of our hands; because it is the only organ by which he can touch or feel anything with much susceptibility.
I believe that he invariably makes use of the four senses,SEEING,HEARING,SMELLING, andFEELING, in all of his examinations, of which the sense of feeling is, perhaps, the most important. And I think that in the experiment with the robe, his gradual approach and final touch with his nose was as much for the purpose of feeling as anything else, his sense of smell being so keen that it would not be necessary for him to touch his nose against anything in order to get the proper scent; for it is said that a horse can smell a man at a distance of a mile. And if the scent of the robe was all that was necessary he could get that several rods off. But we know from experience, that if a horse sees and smells a robe a short distance from him he is very much frightened (unless he is used to it) until he touches or feels it with his nose; which is a positive proof that feeling is the controlling sense in this case.
It is a prevailing opinion among horsemen generally that the sense of smell is the governing sense of the horse. And Baucher, as well as others, has with that view got up receipts of strong smelling oils, &c., to tame the horse, sometimes using the chestnut of his leg, which they dry, grind into powder, and blow into his nostrils, sometimes using the oils of rhodium, origanum, &c., that are noted for their strong smell; and sometimes they scent the hand with the sweat from under the arm,or blow their breath into his nostrils, &c., &c. All of which, as far as the scent goes, have no effect whatever in gentling the horse, or conveying any idea to his mind;though the acts that accompany these efforts—handling him, touching him about the nose and head, and patting him, as they direct you should, after administering the articles, may have a very great effect, which they mistake for the effect of the ingredients used. And Baucher, in his work, entitled “The Arabian Art of Taming Horses,” page 17, tells us how to accustom a horse to a robe, by administering certain articles to his nose; and goes on to say that these articles must first be applied to the horse’s nose, before you attempt to break him, in order to operate successfully.
Now, reader, can you, or any one else, give one single reason how scent can convey any idea to the horse’s mind of what we want him to do? If not, then of course strong scents of any kind can be of no use in taming the unbroken horse. For, everything that we get him to do of his own accord, without force, must be accomplished by conveying our ideas to his mind. I say to my horse, “Go-’long!” and he goes; “Ho!” and he stops, because these two words, of which he has learned the meaning by the tap of the whip and the pull of the rein that first accompanied them, convey the two ideas to his mind ofgoandstop.
It is impossible to teach the horse a single thing by the means of scent alone; and as for affection, that can be better created by other means.
How long do you suppose a horse would have to stand and smell a bottle of oil, before he would learn to bend his knee and make a bow at your bidding, “Go yonder and bring my hat,” or “Come here and lie down?” The absurdity of trying to break or tame the horse bythe means of receipts for articles to smell at, or of medicine to swallow, is self-evident.
The only science that has ever existed in the world, relative to the breaking of horses, that has been of any value, is that method which, taking them in their native state, improves their intelligence.
The directions for driving colts from the pasture are of less importance in this country where fields are enclosed, and the most valuable colts wear headstalls, and are handled, or ought to be, from their earliest infancy; but in Wales, and on wastes like Exmoor47-*or Dartmoor, the advice may be found useful.
Under all circumstances it is important that the whole training of a colt (and training of the boy who is to manage horses) should be conducted from first to last on consistent principles; for, in the mere process of driving a colt from the field to the fold-yard, ideas of terror may be instilled into the timid animal, for instance, by idle drumming on a hat, which it will take weeks or months to eradicate.
The next step is to get the colt into a stable, barn, or other building sufficiently large for the early operations, and secluded from those sights and sounds so common in a farm-yard, which would be likely to distract his attention. In training a colt the squeaking of a litter of pigs has lost me the work of three hours. An outfield, empty barn, or bullock-shed, is better than any place near the homestead.
It is a good plan to keep an intelligent old horse expressly for the purpose of helping to train and lead the young colts. I have known horses that seemed to take a positive pleasure in helping to subdue a wild colt when first put in double harness.
The great point is not to force or frighten a colt into the stable, but to edge him into it quietly, and cause him to glide in of his own accord. In this simple operation, the horse-trainer will test himself the indispensable quality of a horse trainer—patience. A word I shall have to repeat until my readers are almost heartily sick of the “damnable iteration.” There is a world of equestrian wisdom in two sentences of the chapter just quoted, “he will not run unless you run after him,” and “the horse has not studied anatomy.”
The observations about rope halters are very sound, and in addition I may add, that the mouths of hundreds of horses are spoiled by the practice of passing a looped rope round the lower jaw of a fiery horse, which the rider often makes the stay for keeping himself in his seat.
The best kind of head-stall for training colts is that delineated at the head of this chapter,48-*called the Bush Bridle, to which any kind of bit may be attached, and by unbuckling the bit it is converted into a capital halter, with a rope for leading a colt or picketing a horse at night.
The long rope is exactly what Mr. Rarey recommends for teaching a colt to lead. Every one of any experience will agree that “a horse that has once pulled on his halter can never be so well broken as one that has never pulled at all.”
The directions for stroking and patting the body andlimbs of a colt are curious, as proving that an operation which we have been in the habit of performing as a matter of course without attaching any particular virtue to it, has really a sort of mesmeric effect in soothing and conciliating a nervous animal. The directions inChapter V.for approaching a colt deserve to be studied very minutely, remembering always the maxim printed atp. 57—Fear and anger, a good horseman should never feel.
It took Mr. Rarey himself two hours to halter a savage half-broken colt in Liverpool, but then he had the disadvantage of being surrounded by an impatient whispering circle of spectators. At Lord Poltimore’s seat in Devonshire, in February last (1858), Lord Rivers was two hours alone with a very sulky biting colt, but finally succeeded in haltering and saddling him. Yet his lordship had only seen one lesson illustrated on a very difficult horse at the Duke of Wellington’s school. But this operation is much more easily described than executed, because some colts will smell at your hand one moment, and turn round as quick as lightning, and plant their heels in your ribs if you are not very active, and don’t stand very close to them. On the directions for using the whip,p. 55, with colts of a stubborn disposition, I can say nothing, never having seen it so employed; but it is evident, that it must be employed with very great discretion.
The directions for haltering are very complete, but to execute them with a colt or horse that paws violently, even in play, with his fore-feet, requires no common agility. But I may mention that I saw Mr. Rarey alone put a bridle on a horse seventeen bands high that was notoriously difficult to bridle even with two men assisting in the operation.
In reference to the hints for treating a colt in a little work from which I have already quoted, a colonel in the Life Guards says, “The great thing in horsemanship is to get your horse to be of your party; not only to obey, but to obey willingly. For this reason, a young horse cannot be begun with too early, and his lessons cannot be too gradually progressive. He should wear a head-stall from the beginning, be accustomed to be held and made fast by the head, to give up all four feet, to bear the girthing of a roller, to be led, &c.” But if all this useful preliminary education, in which climbing through gaps after an old hunter, and taking little jumps, be omitted, then the Rarey system comes in to shorten your domesticating labours.
“A wild horse, until tamed, is just as wild and fearful as a wild stag taken for the first time in the toils.
“When a horse hangs back and leads unwillingly, the common error is to get in front of him and pull him. This may answer when the man is stronger than the horse, but not otherwise.
“In leading you should never be further forward than your horse’s shoulder: with your right-hand hold his head in front of you by the bridle close to his mouth or the head-stall, and with your left hand touch him with a whip as far back as you can; if you have not a whip you can use a stirrup-leather.”