A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses
by J. S. Rarey · English · Gutenberg #28612 · 450,540 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses
Author: J. S. Rarey
Release date: April 26, 2009 [eBook #28612]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28612
Credits: Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF J. S. RAREY'S ART OF TAMING HORSES ***
Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Transcriber's Note
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of corrections
is found at the end of the text. Inconsistencies in spelling and
hyphenation have been maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled
and hyphenated words is found at the end of the text.
Oe ligatures have been expanded.
[Illustration: Zebra strapped up.]
HORSE-TAMING--HORSEMANSHIP--HUNTING.
A New Illustrated Edition of
J. S. RAREY'S
ART OF TAMING HORSES;
WITH THE SUBSTANCE OF
THE LECTURES AT THE ROUND HOUSE,
AND ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS ON
HORSEMANSHIP AND HUNTING,
FOR THE YOUNG AND TIMID.
BY THE SECRETARY
TO THE FIRST SUBSCRIPTION OF FIVE THOUSAND GUINEAS,
AUTHOR OF "GALLOPS AND GOSSIPS," AND
HUNTING CORRESPONDENT OF THE "ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS."
LONDON:
ROUTLEDGE, WARNES, AND ROUTLEDGE,
FARRINGDON STREET.
1859.
[_The right of Translation is reserved._]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Mr. Rarey's pamphlet first published in Ohio.--Experience of
old system.--Compiled and invented new.--Tying up the
fore-leg known many years ago, _see_ Stamford
Almanack.--Forgotten and not valued.--Reference to Captain
Nolan's and Colonel Greenwood's works on horsemanship.--Dick
Christian missed the discovery.--Baucher's plan of laying
down a horse explained.--Mademoiselle Isabel's whip-and-spur
plan.--Account of the Irish whisperer Dan Sullivan.--Usual
modes of taming vicious horses.--Starving.--Physic.--Sleepless
nights.--Bleeding.--Biting the ear.--Story of Kentish
coachman.--The Ellis system.--Value of the Rarey system as
compared with that of ordinary horse-tamers.--Systems of
Australia and Arabia compared.--The South American plan
explained.--A French plan.--Grisoné the Neapolitan's
advice.--The discovery of Mr. Rarey by Mr. Goodenough.--Visit
to Canada.--To England.--Lord Alfred Paget.--Sir Richard
Airey.--System made known to them.--To Mr. Jos.
Anderson.--Messrs. Tattersall.--Sir Matthew Ridley's black
horse tamed.--Subscription list of 500 opened.--Stafford
tamed.--Description of.--Teaching commenced with Lords
Palmerston, Granville, &c.--Cruiser tamed.--History
of.--Enthusiastic crowd at Cruiser exhibition.--System
approved by the Earl of Jersey and Sir Tatton Sykes.--Close
of first subscription list.--Anecdote of Mr. Gurney's
colt--Personal sketch of Mr. Rarey 1
CHAPTER II.
Mr. Rarey's Introduction.--Remarks on 26
CHAPTER III.
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 32
CHAPTER IV.
How to drive a colt from pasture.--How to drive into a
stable.--The kind of halter.--Experiment with a robe or
cloak.--Horse-taming drugs.--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 39
CHAPTER V.
Powell's system of approaching a colt.--Rarey's remarks
on.--Lively high-spirited horses tamed easily.--Stubborn
sulky ones more difficult.--Motto, "Fear, love and
obey."--Use of a whalebone gig-whip.--How to frighten and
then approach.--Use kind words.--How to halter and lead a
colt.--By the side of a horse.--To lead into a stable.--To
tie up to a manger.--Editor's remarks.--Longeing.--Use and
abuse of.--On bitting.--Sort of bit for a colt.--Dick
Christian's bit.--The wooden gag bit 51
CHAPTER VI.
Taming a colt or horse.--Rarey's directions for strapping up
and laying down detailed.--Explanations by Editor.--To
approach a vicious horse with half door.--Cartwheel.--No. 1
strap applied.--No. 2 strap applied.--Woodcuts of.--How to
hop about.--Knot up bridle.--Struggle described.--Lord B.'s
improved No. 2 strap.--Not much danger.--How to steer a
horse.--Laid down, how to gentle.--To mount, tied up.--Place
and preparations for training described 67
CHAPTER VII.
The Drum.--The Umbrella.--Riding-habit.--How to bit a colt.--How
to saddle.--To mount.--To ride.--To break.--To harness.--To
make a horse follow and stand without holding.--Baucher's
plan.--Nolan's plan 90
CHAPTER VIII.
Value of good horsemanship to both sexes.--On teaching
children.--Anecdote.--Havelock's opinion.--Rarey's plan to
train ponies.--The use of books.--Necessity of regular
teaching for girls; boys can be self-taught.--Commence
without a bridle.--Ride with one pair of reins and two
hands.--Advantage of hunting-horn on side-saddle.--On the
best plan for mounting.--Rarey's plan.--On a man's
seat.--Nolan's opinion.--Military style.--Hunting style.--Two
examples in Lord Cardigan.--The Prussian style.--Anecdote by
Mr. Gould, Blucher, and the Prince Regent.--Hints for men
learning to ride.--How to use the reins.--Pull right for
right, and left for left.--How to collect your horse 111
CHAPTER IX.
On bits.--The snaffle.--The use of the curb.--The Pelham.--The
Hanoverian bit described.--Martingales.--The gentleman's
saddle to be large enough.--Spurs.--Not to be too sharp.--The
Somerset saddle for the timid and aged.--The Nolan saddle
without flaps.--Ladies' saddle described.--Advantages of the
hunting-horn crutch.--Ladies' stirrup.--Ladies' dress.--Hints
on.--Habit.--Boots.--Whips.--Hunting-whips.--Use of the
lash.--Gentleman's riding costume.--Hunting dress.--Poole,
the great authority.--Advantage of cap over hat in
hunting.--Boot-tops and Napoleons.--Quotation from
Warburton's ballads 135
CHAPTER X.
Advantage of hunting.--Libels on.--Great men who have
hunted.--Popular notion unlike reality.--Dick Christian and
the Marquis of Hastings.--Fallacy of "lifting" a horse
refuted.--Hints on riding at fences.--Harriers
discussed.--Stag-hunting a necessity and use where time an
object.--Hints for novices.--"Tally-ho!" expounded.--To feed
a horse after a hard ride.--Expenses of horse-keep.--Song by
Squire Warburton, "A word ere we start" 154
CHAPTER XI.
The Fitzwilliam.--Brocklesby.--A day on the Wolds.--Brighton
harriers.--Prince Albert's harriers 176
CHAPTER XII.
Hunting Terms 199
CHAPTER XIII.
The origin of Fox-hunting 210
CHAPTER XIV.
The wild ponies of Exmoor 218
POSTSCRIPT 232
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TO FACE
1. ZEBRA STRAPPED UP Drawn by Louis Huard, Esq. Title-page
2. HORSE WITH STRAP NO. 1 Ditto " 67
3. HORSE WITH STRAPS NOS. 1 AND 2 Ditto " 76
4. THE HORSE STRUGGLING Ditto " 79
5. THE HORSE EXHAUSTED Ditto " 80
6. THE HORSE TAMED Ditto " 82
7. SECOND LESSON IN HARNESS Ditto " 100
8. RAILS AND DOUBLE DITCH Ditto " 153
VIGNETTES.
PAGE
WILD HORSE'S HEAD 25
HALTER OR BRIDLE 39
WOODEN GAG BIT 66
STRAP NO. 1 74
STRAP NO. 2 76
LORD B.'S IMPROVED NO. 2 77
SURCINGLE STRAP FOR NO. 2 78
SIDE SADDLE, AND LADY'S SEAT ON 111
SIDE SADDLE, OFFSIDE VIEW OF 135
CURB, OR HARD AND SHARP 136
PLAIN SNAFFLE 137
PELHAM 138
HANOVERIAN 139
SITZ, OR HUNTSMAN'S BATH 232
HOT-AIR OR INDIAN BATH 235
THE
ART OF TAMING HORSES.
CHAPTER I.
Mr. Rarey's pamphlet first published in Ohio.--Experience of old
system.--Compiled and invented new.--Tying up the fore-leg known
many years ago, _see_ Stamford Almanack.--Forgotten and not
valued.--Reference to Captain Nolan's and Colonel Greenwood's works
on horsemanship.--Dick Christian missed the discovery.--Baucher's
plan of laying down a horse explained.--Mademoiselle Isabel's
whip-and-spur plan.--Account of the Irish whisperer Dan
Sullivan.--Usual modes of taming vicious
horses.--Starving.--Physic.--Sleepless nights.--Bleeding.--Biting
the ear.--Story of Kentish coachman.--The Ellis system.--Value of
the Rarey system as compared with that of ordinary
horse-tamers.--Systems of Australia and Arabia compared.--The South
American plan explained.--A French plan.--Grisoné the Neapolitan's
advice.--The discovery of Mr. Rarey by Mr. Goodenough.--Visit to
Canada.--To England.--Lord Alfred Paget.--Sir Richard
Airey.--System made known to them.--To Mr. Jos. Anderson.--Messrs.
Tattersall.--Sir Matthew Ridley's black horse tamed.--Subscription
list of 500 opened.--Stafford tamed.--Description of.--Teaching
commenced with Lords Palmerston, Granville, &c.--Cruiser
tamed.--History of.--Enthusiastic crowd at Cruiser
exhibition.--System approved by the Earl of Jersey and Sir Tatton
Sykes.--Close of first subscription list.--Anecdote of Mr. Gurney's
colt.--Personal sketch of Mr. Rarey.
Mr. Rarey is a farmer from Ohio, in the United States. Five years ago he
wrote the little book which forms the _text_ of the following complete
account of his system, with pictorial illustrations, which are
essential for explaining the means he now employs for subduing the most
refractory animals. Without these explanations, it would be extremely
difficult for any one who had not enjoyed the advantage of hearing Mr.
Rarey's explanations, to practise his system successfully, or even
safely. The original work contains a mere outline of the art, since
perfected by five years' further study and practice. The author did not
revise his first sketch, for very obvious reasons.
He was living in obscurity, teaching his system for a few dollars in
Ohio and Texas. He never taught in the great cities or seabord states of
the United States. When he had imparted his art to a pupil, he bound him
to secrecy, and presented him with a copy of his pamphlet. He did not
dream, then, of becoming the great Lion of the London Season, and
realising from English subscribers nearly 20,000_l._ It will be
observed, that in the original American edition, the operation of tying
up the foot is described in one chapter, and, at an interval of some
pages, that of laying a horse down, in another; and that neither the
difficulties nor the necessary precautions, nor the extraordinary
results, are described with the clearness their importance requires.
Mr. Rarey has now very properly released his subscribers from the
contract which bound them to secrecy; and it is now in every point of
view important that this valuable system of rendering horses docile and
affectionate, fit for hacks or chargers, ladies' pads or harness, or the
safe conveyance of the aged, crippled, and sick, should be placed within
the reach of the thousands whose business it is to deal with horses, as
well as of that large class of gentlemen who are obliged to observe
economy while keeping up their equestrian tastes. After all, it is to
the horse-breeding farmers and grooms to whom Mr. Rarey's art will be of
the most practical use.
As it is, enough of the system has oozed out to suggest to the ignorant
new means of cruelty. A horse's leg is strapped up, and then the
unlearned proceed to bully the crippled animal, instead of--to borrow an
expressive Americanism--"to gentle him."
Before entering into the details for practising the Rarey system, it may
be interesting to give a sketch of the "facts" that have placed Mr.
Rarey in his present well-deserved position, as an invincible
Horse-Tamer, as well as a Reformer of the whole modern system of
training horses--a position unanimously assigned to him by all the first
horsemen of the day.
Mr. Rarey has been a horse-breaker in the United States from his
earliest youth, and had frequently to break in horses five or six years
old, that had run wild until that mature undocile age.
At first he employed the old English rough-rider method, and in the
course of his adventures broke almost every bone in his body, for his
pluck was greater than his science. But he was not satisfied with
following old routine; he inquired from the wandering horsemen and
circus trainers into their methods (it may be that he was at one time
attached to a circus himself), and read every book he could lay his
hands on. By inquiry and by study--as he says in one of his
advertisements--"he thought out" the plan and the principles of his
present system.
The methods he uses for placing a colt or horse completely in his power
are not absolutely new, although it is possible that he has re-invented
and has certainly much improved them. The Russian (_i. e._ Courland)
Circus Riders have long known how, single-handed, to make a horse lie
down by fastening up one fore-leg, and then with a rope suddenly pulling
the other leg from under him. The trick was practised in England more
than forty years ago, and forgotten. That no importance was attached to
this method of throwing a horse is proved by the fact, that in the works
on horsemanship, published during the last twenty years, no reference is
made to it. When Mr. Starkey, of Wiltshire, a breeder and runner of
race-horses,[4-*] saw Mr. Rarey operate for the first time, he said,
"Why I knew how to throw a horse in that way years ago, but I did not
know the use of it, and was always in too great a hurry!" Lord Berners
made nearly the same remark to me. Nimrod, Cecil, Harry Hieover,
Scrutator--do not appear to have ever heard of it. The best modern
authority on such subjects (British Rural Sports), describes a number of
difficulties in breaking colts which altogether disappear under the
Rarey system--especially the difficulty of shoeing.
Captain Nolan, who was killed at Balaklava, served in an Hungarian
regiment, in the Austrian service, afterwards in our own service in
India, and visited Russia, France, Denmark, and South Germany, to
collect materials for his work on the "History of Cavalry and on the
Training of Horses," although he set out with the golden rule laid down
by the great Greek horseman, Xenophon, more than a thousand years
ago--"HORSES ARE TAUGHT, NOT BY HARSHNESS, BUT BY GENTLENESS," only
refers incidentally to a plan for throwing a horse down, in an extract
from Baucher's great work, which will presently be quoted, but attaches
no importance to it, and was evidently totally ignorant of the
foundation of the Rarey system.
The accomplished Colonel Greenwood, who was equally learned in the
_manége_ of the _Haute Ecole_, and skilled in the style of the English
hunting-fields, gives no hint of a method which reduces the time for
taming colts from months to hours, and makes the docility of five horses
out of six merely a matter of a few weeks' patience.
The sporting newspapers of England and America were so completely off
the true scent when guessing at the Rarey method, that they put faith in
recipes of oils and scents for taming horses.
Dick Christian--a genius in his way--when on horseback unmatched for
patience and pluck, but with no taste for reading and no talent for
generalizing, used to conquer savages for temporary use by tying up one
fore-foot, and made good water-jumpers of horses afraid of water by
making them smell it and wade through it; so that he came very near the
Rarey methods, but missed the chain of reasoning that would have led him
to go further with these expedients.[5-*]
Mons. Baucher, of Paris (misprinted Faucher in the American edition),
the great modern authority in horse-training and elaborate school
equitation, under whom our principal English cavalry generals have
studied--amongst others, two enthusiastic disciples of Mr. Rarey, Lord
Vivian and General Laurenson, commanding the cavalry at
Aldershott--admitted Mr. Rarey's system was not only "most valuable,"
but "quite new to him."
After Mr. Rarey had taught five or six hundred subscribers, some of whom
of course had wives, Mr. Cooke, of Astley's, began to exhibit a way of
making a horse lie down, which bore as much resemblance to Mr. Rarey's
system, as Buckstone's or Keeley's travestie of Othello would to a
serious performance by a first-rate tragedian. Mr. Cooke pulling at a
strap over the horse's back, was, until he grew, by practice, skilful,
more than once thrown down by the extension of the off fore-leg.
Indeed, the proof that the circus people knew neither the Rarey plan,
nor the results to be obtained from it, is to be found in the fact, that
they continually failed in subduing unruly horses sent to them for that
purpose.
A friend of mine, an eminent engineer, sent to Astley's, about two years
ago, a horse which had cost him two hundred pounds, and was useless from
a habit of standing still and rearing at the corner of streets; he was
returned worse rather than better, and sold for forty pounds. Six
lessons from Mr. Rarey would have produced, at least, temporary
docility.
Monsieur Baucher, in his _Méthode d'Equitation_, says, _speaking of the
surprise created by the feats_ he performed with trained
horses,--"According to some, I was a new 'Carter,'[6-*] taming my horses
by depriving them of rest and nourishment: others would have it, that I
tied ropes to their legs, and suspended them in the air; some again
supposed that I fascinated them by the power of the eye; and part of the
audience, seeing my horses (Partisan, Capitaine, Neptune, and Baridan)
work in time to my friend Monsieur Paul Cuzent's charming music,
seriously argued that the horses had a capital ear for music, and that
they stopped when the clarionets and trombones ceased to play, and that
the music had more power over the horse than I had. That the beast
obeyed an '_ut_' or a '_sol_' or '_staccato_,' but my hands and legs
went for nothing.
"Could any one imagine that such nonsense could emanate from people who
passed for horsemen?
"Now from this, although in some respects the same class of nonsense
that was talked about Mr. Rarey, it does not seem that any Parisian
veterinary surgeon staked his reputation on the efficacy of oils and
scents."
M. Baucher then proceeds to give what he calls sixteen "_Airs de
Manége_," which reflect the highest credit on his skill as a rational
horseman, using his hands and legs. But he proceeds to say--"It is with
regret I publish the means of making a horse kneel, limp, lie down, and
sit on his haunches in the position called the '_Cheval Gastronomie_,'
or 'The Horse at Dinner.' This work is degrading to the poor horse, and
painful to the trainer, who no longer sees in the poor trembling beast
the proud courser, full of spirit and energy, he took such pleasure in
training.
"To make a horse kneel, tie his pastern-joint to his elbow, make fast a
longer line to the other pastern-joint, have this held tight, and strike
the leg with the whip; the instant he raises it from the ground, pull at
the longeing line to bend the leg. He cannot help it--he must fall on
his knees. Make much of the horse in this position, and let him get up
free of all hindrance.
"As soon as he does this without difficulty, leave off the use of the
longeing line, and next leave both legs at liberty: by striking him on
the shins with the whip, he will understand that he is to kneel down.
"When on his knees, send his head well to the off-side, and, supporting
him with the left rein, pull the right rein down against his neck till
he falls to the near side; when down at full length, you cannot make
too much of him; _have his head held that he may not get up too
suddenly_, or before you wish him. You can do this by placing your right
foot on the right reins; this keeps the horse's nose raised from the
ground, and thus deprives him of the power of struggling successfully
against you. Profit by his present position to make him sit up on his
haunches, and in the position of the 'Cheval Gastronomie.'"
The difference between this and Rarey's plan of laying down a horse is
as great as between Franklin's kite and Wheatstone's electrical
telegraph; and foremost to acknowledge the American's merits was M.
Baucher.
So little idea had cavalry authorities that a horse could be trained
without severity, that, during the Crimean war, a Mademoiselle Isabel
came over to this country with strong recommendations from the French
war minister, and was employed at considerable cost at Maidstone for
some months in spoiling a number of horses by _her system_, the
principal features of which consisted in a new dumb jockey, and a severe
spur attached to a whip!
It is true that Mademoiselle Isabel's experiment was made contrary to
the wishes and plans of the head of the Cavalry Training Department, the
late General Griffiths; but it is not less true that within the last two
years influential cavalry officers were looking for an improvement in
training horses from an adroit use of the whip and spur.
From the time of Alexander the Great down to the Northumberland
Horse-Breaker, there have been instances of courageous men who have been
able to do extraordinary things with horses. But they may be divided
into two classes, neither of which have been able to originate or impart
a system for the use of ordinary horsemen.
The one class relied and relies on personal influence over lower
animals. They terrify, subdue, or conciliate by eye, voice, and touch,
just as some wicked women, not endowed with any extraordinary external
charms, bewitch and betray the wisest men.
The other class rely on the infliction of acute pain, or, stupefaction
by drugs, or other similar expedients for acquiring a temporary
ascendancy.
In a work printed in 1664, quoted by Nolan, we have a melancholy account
of the fate of an ingenious horse-tamer. "A Neapolitan, called Pietro,
had a little horse, named Mauroço, doubtless a Barb or Arab, which he
had taught to perform many tricks. He would, at a sign from his master,
lie down, kneel, and make as many courvettes (springs on his hind-legs
forward, like rearing), as his master told him. He jumped over a stick,
and through hoops, carried a glove to the person Pietro pointed out, and
performed a thousand pretty antics. He travelled through the greater
part of the Continent, but unfortunately passing through Arles, the
people in that 'age of faith,' took him for a sorcerer, and burned him
and poor Mauroço in the market-place." It was probably from this
incident that Victor Hugo took the catastrophe of La Esmeralda and her
goat.
Dan Sullivan, who flourished about fifty years ago, was the greatest
horse-tamer of whom there is any record in modern times. His triumph
commenced by his purchasing for an old song a dragoon's horse at Mallow,
who was so savage "that he was obliged to be fed through a hole in the
wall." After one of Sullivan's lessons the trooper drew a car quietly
through Mallow, and remained a very proverb of gentleness for years
after. In fact, with mule or horse, one half-hour's lesson from Sullivan
was enough; but they relapsed in other hands. Sullivan's own account of
the secret was, that he originally acquired it from a wearied soldier
who had not money to pay for a pint of porter he had drunk. The landlord
was retaining part of his kit as a pledge, when Sullivan, who sat in the
bar, vowed he would never see a hungry man want, and gave the soldier so
good a luncheon, that, in his gratitude, he drew him aside at parting,
and revealed what he believed to be an Indian charm.
Sullivan never took any pupils, and, as far as I can learn, never
attempted to train colts by his method, although that is a more
profitable and useful branch of business than training vicious horses.
It is stated in an article in "Household Words" on Horse-Tamers, that he
was so jealous of his gift that even the priest of Ballyclough could not
wring it from him at the confessional. His son used to boast how his
reverence met his sire as they both rode towards Mallow, and charged him
with being a confederate of the wicked one, and how the "whisperer" laid
the priest's horse under a spell, and forthwith led him a weary chase
among the cross roads, till he promised in despair to let Sullivan alone
for ever. Sullivan left three sons: one only practised his art, with
imperfect success till his death; neither of the others pretended to any
knowledge of it. One of them is to this day a horse-breaker at Mallow.
The reputation of Mr. Rarey brought to light a number of provincial
horse-tamers, and, amongst others, a grandson of Sullivan has opened a
list under the auspices of the Marquis of Waterford, for teaching his
grandfather's art of horse-taming. It is impossible not to ask, why, if
the art is of any value, it has not been taught long ago?
In Ireland as in England, the accepted modes of taming a determined
colt, or vicious horse, are either by a resolute rider with whip and
spur, and violent longeings, or by starving, physic, and sleepless
nights. It was by these means combined that the well-known horseman,
Bartley the bootmaker, twenty years ago, tamed a splendid thorough-bred
horse, that had defied all the efforts of all the rough-riders of the
Household Cavalry regiments.
Bleeding a vicious horse has been recommended in German books on
equitation. In the family Robinson Crusoe, paterfamilias conquers the
quagga by biting its ear, and every farrier knows how to apply a twitch
to a horse's ear or nose to secure his quietness under an operation. A
Mr. King, some years since, exhibited a learned horse, which he said he
subdued by pinching a nerve of its mouth, called "_the nerve of
susceptibility_."
The writer in the "Household Words" article, to which I have already
referred, tells how "a coachman in Kent, who had been quite mastered by
horses, called in the assistance of a professed whisperer. After his
ghostly course the horses had the worst of it for two months, when their
ill-humour returned, and the coachman himself immediately darkened his
stable, and held what he termed a little conversation with them, which
kept them placid till two more months had passed. He did not seem
altogether to approve of the system, and plainly confessed that it was
cruel." Putting shot in the ear is an old stupid and fatal trick of
ignorant carters to cure a gibbing horse--it cures and kills him too.
The latest instantaneous system which acquired a certain degree of
temporary popularity was that introduced from the western prairies, by
Mr. Ellis, of Trinity College, Cambridge, which consisted in breathing
into the nostrils of a colt, or buffalo colt, while its eyes were
covered. But although on some animals this seemed to produce a soothing
effect, on others it totally failed.
There can be very little doubt that most of the mysterious
"horse-whisperers" relied for their power of subduing a vicious horse
partly on the special personal influence already referred to, and partly
on some one of those cruel modes of intimidating the animal. It has been
observed that idiots can sometimes manage the most savage horses and
bulls, and conciliate the most savage dogs at first sight.
The value of Mr. Rarey's system consists in the fact that it may be
taught to, and successfully practised by, a ploughboy of thirteen or
fourteen for use on all except extremely vicious and powerful horses.
It requires patience--it requires the habit of dealing with horses as
well as coolness; but the real work is rather a matter of skill than
strength. Not only have boys of five or six stone become successful
horse-tamers, but ladies of high rank have in the course of ten minutes
perfectly subdued and reduced to death-like calmness fiery blood-horses.
Therefore, in dealing with Mr. Rarey's plan we are not wasting our time
about a trick for conquering these rare exceptions--incurably-savage
horses--but considering the principles of a universally applicable
system for taming and training horses for man's use, with a perfection
of docility rarely found except in aged pet horses, and with a rapidity
heretofore quite unknown.
The system of Arabia and Australia are the two extremes. In Australia,
where the people are always in a hurry, the usual mode of breaking in
the bush horses is _to ride them quiet_; that is, to let the man fight
it out with the horse until the latter gives in; for the time, at any
rate. The result is, that nine-tenths of the Australian horses are
vicious, and especially given to the trick of "buck-jumping." This vile
vice consists in a succession of leaps from all-fours, the beast
descending with the back arched, the limbs rigid, and the head as low
down between the legs as possible. Not one horseman in a hundred can sit
three jumps of a confirmed buck-jumper. Charles Barter, who was one of
the hardest riders in the Heythrope Hunt, in his "Six Months in Natal,"
says, "when my horse began buck-jumping I dismounted, and I recommend
every one under the same circumstances to do the same."
The Guachos on the South American Pampas lasso a wild horse, throw him
down, cover his head with one of their ponchos, or cloaks, and, having
girthed on him one of their heavy demi-piqued saddles, from which it is
almost impossible to be dislodged, thrust a curb-bit, capable of
breaking the jaw with one tug, into the poor wretch's mouth, mount him
with a pair of spurs with rowels six inches long, and ride him over the
treeless plains until he sinks exhausted _in a fainting state_. But
horses thus broken are almost invariably either vicious or stupid; in
fact, idiotic. There is another milder method sometimes adopted by these
Pampas horsemen, on which, no doubt, Mr. Rarey partly founded his
system. After lassoing a horse, they blind his eyes with a poncho, tie
him fast to a post, and girth a heavy saddle on him. The animal
sometimes dies at once of fright and anger: if not, he trembles, sweats,
and would, after a time, fall down from terror and weakness. The Guacho
then goes up to him, caresses him, removes the poncho from his eyes,
continues to caress him; so that, according to the notion of the
country, the horse becomes grateful and attached to the man for
delivering him from something frightful; and from that moment the
process of training becomes easy, and, with the help of the long spurs,
is completed in a few days. This plan must spoil as many horses as it
makes quiet, and fail utterly with the more nervous and high-spirited;
for the very qualities that render a horse most useful and beautiful,
when properly trained, lead him, when unbroken, to resist more
obstinately rough violent usage.
In a French newspaper article on Mr. Rarey's system, it is related that
a French horse-breaker, in 1846, made a good speculation by purchasing
vicious horses, which are more common in France than in England, and
selling them, after a few days' discipline, perfectly quiet. His remedy
lay in a loaded whip, freely applied between the ears when any symptom
of vice was displayed. This expedient was only a revival of the method
of Grisoné, the Neapolitan, called, in the fifteenth century, the
regenerator of horsemanship, predecessor of the French school, who
says--"In breaking young horses, put them into a circular pit; be very
severe with those that are sensitive, and of high courage; beat them
between the ears with a stick." His followers tied their horses to the
pillars in riding-schools, and beat them to make them raise their
fore-legs. We do not approve of Grisoné's maxims at the present day in
print, but we leave our horses too much to ignorant colt-breakers, who
practise them.
The Arabs alone, who have no need to hurry the education of their
horses, and who live with them as we do with our pet dogs, train their
colts by degrees, with patient gentleness, and only resort to severe
measures to teach them to gallop and stop short. For this reason Arabs
are most docile until they fall into the hands of cruel grooms.
It was from considering the docility of the high-bred Arab horse and
intractableness of the quibly, roughly broken prairie or Pampas horse,
that Mr. Rarey was led to think over and perfect the system which he has
repeatedly explained and illustrated by living examples in his lectures,
and very imperfectly explained in his valuable, original, but crude
little book.
It is very fortunate that this book did not find its way to England
before Mr. Rarey himself came and conquered Cruiser, and in face-to-face
interviews gained the confidence and co-operation of all our
horse-loving aristocracy. For had the book appeared unsupported by
lectures (or such explanations written and pictorial as this edition
will supply), there would have been so many accidents and so many
failures, that Mr. Rarey would have had great difficulty in obtaining a
hearing, and for many years our splendid colts would have been left to
the empirical treatment of ignorant rough-riders.
An accident withdrew the great reformer of horse-training from
obscurity.
In the course of his travels as a teacher of horse-taming he met with
Mr. Goodenough, a sharp, hard-fisted New Englander, of the true "Yankee"
breed, so well-described by Sam Slick, settled in the city of Toronto,
Canada, as a general dealer. In fact, a "sort of Barnum." Mr. Goodenough
saw that there was money to be made out of the Rarey system--formed a
partnership with the Ohio farmer--conducted him to Canada--obtained an
opportunity of exhibiting his talents before Major Robertson,
Aide-de-camp to General Sir William Eyre, K.C.B., Commander of the
forces, and, through the Major, before Sir William himself, who is (as I
can say from having seen him with hounds) an accomplished horseman and
enthusiastic fox-hunter. From these high authorities the partners
obtained letters of introduction to the Horse Guards in England, and to
several gentlemen attached to the Court; in one of the letters of
introduction, General Eyre said, "that the system was new to him, and
valuable for military purposes." On arriving in England, Mr. Rarey made
known his system, and was fortunate enough to convert and obtain the
active assistance of Sir Richard Airey, Quarter-Master General, Lord
Alfred Paget,[16-*] and Colonel Hood, the two first being noted for
their skill as horsemen, and the two latter being attached to the Court.
From these gentlemen of high degree, Mr. Rarey proceeded, under good
advice, to make known his art to Mr. Joseph Anderson of Piccadilly, and
his prime minister, the well-known George Rice--tamed for them a black
horse that had been returned by Sir Matthew White Ridley, as unridable
from vice and nervousness. The next step was an introduction to Messrs.
Tattersall of Hyde Park, whose reputation for honour and integrity in
most difficult transactions is world wide and nearly a century old.
Introduced at Hyde Park Corner with the strongest recommendations and
certificates from such authorities as Lord Alfred Paget, Sir Richard
Airey, Colonel Hood, &c., &c., Messrs. Tattersall investigated Mr.
Rarey's system, and became convinced that its general adoption would
confer an invaluable benefit on what may be called "the great horse
interest," and do away with a great deal of cruelty and unnecessary
severity now practised on the best-bred and most high-spirited animals
through ignorance of colt-breakers and grooms. They, therefore, decided,
with that liberality which has always distinguished the firm, to lend
Mr. Rarey all the assistance in their power, without taking any
commission, or remuneration of any kind.
As the methods used by Mr. Rarey are so exceedingly simple, the question
next arose of how Mr. Rarey was to be remunerated when teaching in a
city where hundreds live by collecting and retailing news. His previous
lessons had been given to the thinly-populated districts of Ohio and
Texas, where each pupil was a dealer in horses, and kept his secret for
his own sake. Had he been the inventor of an improved corkscrew or
stirrup-iron, a patent would have secured him that limited monopoly
which very imperfectly rewards many invaluable mechanical inventions.
Had his countrymen chosen to agree to a reciprocity treaty for copyright
of books, he might have secured some certain remuneration by a printed
publication of his Lectures. But they prefer the liberty of borrowing
our copyrights without consulting the author, and we occasionally return
the compliment. In this instance the author cannot say that the British
nation has not paid him handsomely.
After a consultation with Mr. Rarey's noble patrons, it was decided that
a list should be opened at Hyde Park Corner for subscribers at £10
10_s._ each, paid in advance, the teaching to commence as soon as five
hundred subscriptions had been paid, each subscriber signing an
engagement, under a penalty of £500, not to teach or divulge Mr. Rarey's
method, and Messrs. Tattersall undertaking to hold the subscriptions in
trust until Mr. Rarey had performed his part of the agreement.[17-*] To
this fund, at the request of my friends Messrs. Tattersall, I agreed to
act as Secretary. My duties ceased when the list was filled, and the
management of the business passed from those gentlemen to Mr. Rarey's
partner, Mr. Goodenough, on the 3rd of May, 1858.
This list was opened the first day at Mr. Jos. Anderson's, after Mr.
Rarey had exhibited, not his method, but the results of his method on
the celebrated black, or rather iron-gray, horse already mentioned.
Leaving the list to fill, Mr. Rarey went to Paris, and there tamed the
vicious and probably half-mad coaching stallion, Stafford.[18-*] It is
not generally known that having omitted the precautions of gagging this
wild beast with the wooden bit, which forms one of the vignettes of this
book, he turned round suddenly, while the tamer was soothing his legs,
caught his shoulder in his mouth, and would have made an end of the
Rarey system if assistance had not been at hand in the shape of Mr.
Goodenough and a pitchfork.
Intense enthusiasm was created in Paris by the conquest of Stafford, but
250 francs was too large a sum to found a long subscription list in a
city so little given to private horsemanship, and a French experiment
did not produce much effect in England.
In fact, the English list, which started so bravely under distinguished
patronage, after touching some 250 names, languished, and in spite of
testimonials from great names, only reached 320, when Mr. Rarey, at the
pressing recommendation of his English friends, returned from Paris, and
fixed the day for commencing his lessons in the private riding-school of
the Duke of Wellington, the use of which had been in the kindest manner
offered by his Grace as a testimony of his high opinion of the value of
the new system.
The course was commenced on the 20th March, by inviting to a private
lesson a select party of noblemen and gentlemen, twenty-one in all,
including, amongst other accomplished horsemen and horse-breeders, Lord
Palmerston, the two ex-masters of the Royal Buckhounds, Earls Granville
and Bessborough, the Marquis of Stafford, Vice-President of the
Four-Horse Driving Club, and the Honourable Admiral Rous, the leading
authority of the Jockey Club on all racing matters. The favourable
report of these, perhaps, among the most competent judges of anything
appertaining to horses in the world, settled the value of Mr. Rarey's
lessons, and the list began to fill speedily; many of the subscribers,
no doubt, being more influenced by the prevailing fashion and curiosity,
than by an inclination to turn horse-tamers.
But early in April, when it became known that Mr. Rarey had tamed
Cruiser,[20-*] the most vicious stallion in England, "who could do more
fighting in less time than any horse in the world," and that he had
brought him to London on the very day after, that he first backed him
and had ridden him within three hours after the first interview, slow
conviction swelled to enthusiasm. The list filled up rapidly.
The school in Kinnerton Street, to which Mr. Rarey was obliged to
remove, was crowded, the excitement increasing with each lesson. On the
day that Cruiser was exhibited for the first time, long before the doors
were open, the little back street was filled with a fashionable mob,
including ladies of the highest rank. An admission by noble
non-subscribers with notes, gold, and cheques in hands, was begged for
with a polite insinuating humility that was quite edifying. A hatful of
ten-guinea subscriptions was thrust upon the unwilling secretary at the
door with as much eagerness as if he had been the allotter of shares in
a ten per cent railway in the day of Hudsonian guarantees. And it must
be observed that this crowd included among the mere fashion-mongers
almost every distinguished horseman and hunting-man in the three
kingdoms.
It is quite too late now to attempt to depreciate a system the value of
which has been repeatedly and openly acknowledged by authorities above
question. As to the "secret," the subscribers must have known that it
was impossible that a system that required so much space, and involved
so much noise, could long remain a secret.
The Earl of Jersey, so celebrated in this century as a breeder of
race-horses, in the last century as a rider to hounds, _stood_ through
a long lesson, and was as much delighted as his son the Honourable
Frederick Villiers, Master of the Pytchley Hounds. Sir Tatton Sykes of
Sledmere, perhaps the finest amateur horseman that ever rode a race,
whose equestrian performances on the course and in the hunting-field
date back more than sixty years, was as enthusiastic in his approval as
the young Guardsman who, fortified by Mr. Rarey's lessons, mastered a
mare that had defied the efforts of all the farriers of the Household
Cavalry.
In a word, the five-hundred list was filled, and overflowed, the
subscribers were satisfied, and the responsibility of Messrs. Tattersall
as stakeholders for the public ceased, and the Secretary and Treasurer
to the fund, having wound up the accounts and retired, the connection
between Mr. Rarey and the Messrs. Tattersall resolved itself into the
use of an office at Hyde Park Corner.
The London subscription list had passed eleven hundred names, and, in
conjunction with the subscription received in Yorkshire, Liverpool,
Manchester, Dublin, and Paris, besides private lessons at £25 each, had
realised upwards of £20,000 for Mr. Rarey and his partner, when the
five-hundred secrecy agreement was extinguished by the re-publication of
the little American pamphlet already mentioned.
It was high time that it should, for, while Mr. Rarey had been
handsomely paid for his instruction, the more scrupulous of his
subscribers were unable to practise his lessons for want of a place
where they could work in secrecy.
But although the re-publication of Mr. Rarey's American pamphlet
virtually absolved his subscribers from the agreement which he gave up
formally a few days later in his letter to the _Times_, it is quite
absurd to assert that the little pamphlet teaches the Art of
Horse-Taming as now practised by Mr. Rarey. Certainly no one but a
horseman skilled in the equitation of schools could do much with a horse
without great danger of injuring the animal and himself, if he had no
other instruction than that contained in Mr. Rarey's clever, original,
but vague chapters.
In the following work I shall endeavour to fill up the blanks in Mr.
Rarey's sketch, and with the help of pictures and diagrams, show how a
cool determined man or boy may break in any colt, and make him a docile
hack, harness horse, or hunter; stand still, follow, and obey the voice
almost as much as the reins.
To say that written or oral instructions will teach every man how to
grapple with savages like Stafford, Cruiser, Phlegon, or Mr. Gurney's
gray colt, would be sheer humbug--that must depend on the man; but we
have an instance of what can be done that is encouraging. When Mr. Rarey
was so ill that he was unable to sit Mr. Gurney's gray colt, the
boasting Mr. Goodenough tried his hand, and was beaten pale and
trembling out of the circus by that equine tiger; but Mr. Thomas Rice,
the jobmaster of Motcombe Street, who had had the charge of Cruiser in
Mr. Rarey's absence up to that time, although he had never before tried
his hand at Rareyfying a horse, stuck to the gray colt, laid down, made
him fast, and completely conquered him in one evening, so that he was
fit to be exhibited the next day, when Mr. Goodenough, _more suo_,
claimed the benefit of the victory.
Several ladies have succeeded famously in horse-taming; but they have
been ladies accustomed to horses and to exercise, and always with
gentlemen by, in case a customer proved too tough.
Before concluding this desultory but necessary introductory sketch of
the rise, progress, and success of the Rarey system, it will be as well,
perhaps, for the benefit of lady readers, to give a personal sketch of
Mr. Rarey, who is by no means the athletic giant that many imagine.
Mr. Rarey is about thirty years of age, of middle height, and
well-proportioned figure, wiry and active rather than muscular--his
complexion is almost effeminately fair, with more colour than is usually
found in those of his countrymen who live in the cities of the
sea-coast. And his fair hair, large gray eyes, which only light up and
flash fire when he has an awkward customer to tackle, give him
altogether the appearance of a Saxon Englishman. His walk is remarkably
light and springy, yet regular, as he turns round his horse; something
between the set-up of a soldier and the light step of a sportsman.
Altogether his appearance and manners are eminently gentlemanly.
Although a self-educated and not a book-educated man, his conversation,
when he cares to talk, for he is rather reserved, always displays a good
deal of thoughtful originality, relieved by flashes of playful humour.
This may be seen in his writing.
It may easily be imagined that he is extremely popular with all those
with whom he has been brought in contact, and has acquired the personal
friendship of some of the most accomplished noblemen and gentlemen of
the day.
Mr. Rarey's system of horse-training will infallibly supersede all
others for both civil and military purposes, and his name will take rank
among the great social reformers of the nineteenth century. May we have
many more such importations from America!
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[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, April 7." "DORCHESTER."
CHAPTER II.
Mr. Rarey's Pamphlet.--Introduction.
Mr. Rarey's American Pamphlet would make about fifty pages of this type,
if given in full; but, in revising my Illustrated Edition, I have
decided on omitting 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 understand how 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
Cape[27-*] horse, which has also been improved by judicious 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-like scimitar 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 for training 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 a _courageous, calm-tempered horseman_ to
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 spangled troupe, yet, in the midst of his rage, he
halted and ran up on being called by Rarey.
From this we learn that such a horse won'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.
FOOTNOTES:
[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. 286 _et seq._
CHAPTER III.
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 him _mind_ in
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 there was
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 or movement 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_, and _feeling_, 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 fearlessness_ alike 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, not to 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 by SEEING, SMELLING, and FEELING." It
must be the business of every one who undertakes to train colts that
they shall _see_, _smell_, and _feel_ everything that they are to wear
or to bear.
[Illustration: HALTER OR BRIDLE FOR COLTS.]
CHAPTER IV.
How to drive a colt from pasture.--How to drive into a stable.--The
kind of halter.--Experiment with a robe or cloak.--Horse-taming
drugs.--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.
HOW TO DRIVE A COLT FROM PASTURE.
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.
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 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 go slowly 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 has examined his
apartment, 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 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.
THE KIND OF HALTER.
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 are hard 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.
EXPERIMENT WITH THE ROBE.
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 his
motions, 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 these objects. 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, and FEELING, 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.
HORSE-TAMING DRUGS (?).
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 of _go_ and _stop_.
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 by the 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.
EDITOR'S REMARKS.
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 Exmoor[47-*] 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 and limbs 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 in Chapter V.
for approaching a colt deserve to be studied very minutely, remembering
always the maxim printed at p. 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."
FOOTNOTES:
[47-*] See page 215--"The Wild Ponies of Exmoor."
[48-*] Made by Stokey, North Street, Little Moorfields, London.
CHAPTER V.
Powell's system of approaching a colt.--Haley's remarks on.--Lively
high-spirited horses tamed easily.--Stubborn sulky ones more
difficult.--Motto, "Fear, love and obey."--Use of a whalebone
gig-whip.--How to frighten and then approach.--Use kind words.--How
to halter and lead a colt.--By the side of a horse.--To lead into a
stable.--To tie up to a manger.--Editor's remarks.--Longeing.--Use
and abuse of.--On bitting.--Sort of bit for a colt.--Dick
Christian's bit.--The wooden gag bit.
But, before we go further, I will give you Willis J. Powell's system of
approaching a wild colt, as given by him in a work published in Europe,
about the year 1814, on the "Art of Taming Wild Horses."[51-*] He says,
"A horse is gentled by my secret in from two to sixteen hours." The time
I have most commonly employed has been from four to six hours. He goes
on to say, "Cause your horse to be put in a small yard, stable, or room.
If in a stable or room, it ought to be large, in order to give him some
exercise with the halter before you lead him out. If the horse belongs
to that class which appears only to fear man, you must introduce
yourself gently into the stable, room, or yard, where the horse is. He
will naturally run from you, and frequently turn his head from you; for
you must walk about extremely slow and softly, so that he can see you
whenever he turns his head towards you, which he never fails to do in a
short time, say in a quarter or half an hour. I never knew one to be
much longer without turning towards me.
"At the very moment he turns his head, hold out your left hand towards
him, and stand perfectly still, keeping your eyes upon the horse,
watching his motions, if he makes any. If the horse does not stir for
ten or fifteen minutes, advance as slowly as possible, and without
making the least noise, always holding out your left hand, without any
other ingredient in it than what nature put in it." He says, "I have
made use of certain ingredients before people, such as the sweat under
my arm, &c., to disguise the real secret, and many believed that the
docility to which the horse arrived in so short a time was owing to
these ingredients: but you see from this explanation that they were of
no use whatever. The implicit faith placed in these ingredients, though
innocent of themselves, becomes 'faith without works.' And thus men
remained always in doubt concerning the secret. If the horse makes the
least motion when you advance towards him, stop, and remain perfectly
still until he is quiet. Remain a few moments in this condition, and
then advance again in the same slow and almost imperceptible manner.
Take notice--if the horse stirs, stop, without changing your position.
It is very uncommon for the horse to stir more than once after you begin
to advance, yet there are exceptions. He generally keeps his eyes
steadfast on you, until you get near enough to touch him on the
forehead. When you are thus near to him, raise slowly and by degrees
your hand, and let it come in contact with that part just above the
nostrils, as lightly as possible. If the horse flinches (as many will),
repeat with great rapidity these light strokes upon the forehead, going
a little farther up towards his ears by degrees, and descending with
the same rapidity until he will let you handle his forehead all over.
Now let the strokes be repeated with more force over all his forehead,
descending by lighter strokes to each side of his head, until you can
handle that part with equal facility. Then touch in the same light
manner, making your hands and fingers play around, the lower part of the
horse's ears, coming down now and then to his forehead, which may be
looked upon as the helm that governs all the rest.
"Having succeeded in handling his ears, advance towards the neck, with
the same precautions, and in the same manner; observing always to
augment the force of the strokes whenever the horse will permit it.
Perform the same on both sides of the neck, until he lets you take it in
your arms without flinching.
"Proceed in the same progressive manner to the sides, and then to the
back of the horse. Every time the horse shows any nervousness, return
immediately to the forehead, as the true standard, patting him with your
hands, and thence rapidly to where you had already arrived, always
gaining ground a considerable distance farther on every time this
happens. The head, ears, neck, and body being thus gentled, proceed from
the back to the root of the tail.
"This must be managed with dexterity, as a horse is never to be depended
on that is skittish about the tail. Let your hand fall lightly and
rapidly on that part next to the body a minute or two, and then you will
begin to give it a slight pull upwards every quarter of a minute. At the
same time you continue this handling of him, augment the force of the
strokes as well as the raising of the tail, until you can raise it and
handle it with the greatest ease, which commonly happens in a quarter of
an hour in most horses, in others almost immediately, and in some much
longer. It now remains to handle all his legs; from the tail come back
again to the head, handle it well, as likewise the ears, breast, neck,
&c., speaking now and then to the horse. Begin by degrees to descend to
the legs, always ascending and descending, gaming 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; but let him hear the sound of your voice,
which at the beginning of the operation is not quite so necessary, but
which I have always done in making him lift up his feet. 'Hold up your
foot'--'Lève le pied'--'Alza el pié'--'Aron ton poda,' &c.; at the same
time lift his foot with your hand. He soon becomes familiar with the
sounds, and will hold up his foot at command. Then proceed to the hind
feet, and go on in the same manner; and in a short time the horse will
let you lift them, and even take them up in your arms.
"All this operation is no magnetism, no galvanism; it is merely taking
away the fear a horse generally has of a man, and familiarizing the
animal with his master. As the horse doubtless experiences a certain
pleasure from this handling, he will soon become gentle under it, and
show a very marked attachment to his keeper."
RAREY'S REMARKS ON POWELL'S TREATMENT.
These instructions are very good, but not quite sufficient for horses of
all kinds, and for haltering and leading the colt; but I have inserted
them here because they give some of the true philosophy of approaching
the horse, and of establishing confidence between man and horse. He
speaks only of the kind that fear man.
To those who understand the philosophy of horsemanship, these are the
easiest trained; for when we have a horse that is wild and lively, we
can train him to our will in a very short time--for they are generally
quick to learn, and always ready to obey. But there is another kind that
are of a stubborn or vicious disposition; and although they are not
wild, and do not require taming, in the sense it is generally
understood, they are just as ignorant as a wild horse, if not more so,
and need to be taught just as much: and in order to have them obey
quickly, it is very necessary that they should be made to fear their
master; for, in order to obtain perfect obedience from any horse, we
must first have him fear us, for our motto is, "_Fear, love and obey_;"
and we must have the fulfilment of the first two before we can expect
the latter; for it is by our philosophy of creating fear, love, and
confidence, that we govern to our will every kind of horse whatever.
Then, in order to take horses as we find them, of all kinds, and to
train them to our liking, we should always take with us, when we go into
a stable to train a colt, a long switch whip (whalebone buggy-whips are
the best), with a good silk cracker, so as to cut keenly and make a
sharp report. This, if handled with dexterity, and rightly applied,
accompanied with a sharp, fierce word, will be sufficient to enliven the
spirits of any horse. With this whip in your right hand, with the lash
pointing backward, enter the stable alone. It is a great disadvantage,
in training a horse, to have any one in the stable with you; you should
be entirely alone, so as to have nothing but yourself to attract his
attention. If he is wild, you will soon see him on the opposite side of
the stable from you; and now is the time to use a little judgment. I
should not require, myself, more than half or three-quarters of an hour
to handle any kind of colt, and have him running about in the stable
after me; though I would advise a new beginner to take more time, and
not be in too much of a hurry. If you have but one colt to gentle, and
are not particular about the length of time you spend, and have not had
any experience in handling colts, I would advise you to take Mr.
Powell's method at first, till you gentle him, which, he says, takes
from two to six hours. But as I want to accomplish the same, and, what
is more, teach the horse to lead, in less than one hour, I shall give
you a much quicker process of accomplishing the same end. Accordingly,
when you have entered the stable, stand still, and let your horse look
at you a minute or two, and as soon as he is settled in one place,
approach him slowly, with both arms stationary, your right hanging by
your side, holding the whip as directed, and the left bent at the elbow,
with your hand projecting. As you approach him, go not too much towards
his head or croup, so as not to make him move either forward or
backward, thus keeping your horse stationary; if he does move a little
either forward or backward, step a little to the right or left very
cautiously; this will keep him in one place. As you get very near him,
draw a little to his shoulder, and stop a few seconds. If you are in his
reach he will turn his head and smell your hand, not that he has any
preference for your hand, but because that is projecting, and is the
nearest portion of your body to the horse. This all colts will do, and
they will smell your naked hand just as quickly as they will of anything
that you can put in it, and with just as good an effect, however much
some men have preached the doctrine of taming horses by giving them the
scent of articles from the hand. I have already proved that to be a
mistake. As soon as he touches your hand with his nose, caress him as
before directed, always using a very light, soft hand, merely touching
the horse, always rubbing the way the hair lies, so that your hand will
pass along as smoothly as possible. As you stand by his side, you may
find it more convenient to rub his neck or the side of his head, which
will answer the same purpose as rubbing his forehead. Favour every
inclination of the horse to smell or touch you with his nose. _Always
follow each touch or communication of this kind with the most tender and
affectionate caresses, accompanied, with a kind look, and pleasant word
of some sort_, such as, "Ho! my little boy--ho! my little boy!" "Pretty
boy!" "Nice lady!" or something of that kind, constantly repeating the
same words, with the same kind, steady tone of voice; for the horse soon
learns to read the expression of the face and voice, and will know as
well when fear, love, or anger prevails, as you know your own feelings;
two of which, FEAR AND ANGER, A GOOD HORSEMAN SHOULD NEVER FEEL.
IF YOUR HORSE IS OF A STUBBORN DISPOSITION.
If your horse, instead of being wild, seems to be of a stubborn or
_mulish_ disposition; if he lays back his ears as you approach him, or
turns his heels to kick you, he has not that regard or fear of man that
he should have, to enable you to handle him quickly and easily; and it
might be well to give him a few sharp cuts with the whip, about the
legs, pretty close to the body. It will crack keenly as it plies around
his legs, and the crack of the whip will affect him as much as the
stroke; besides, one sharp cut about his legs will affect him more than
two or three over his back, the skin on the inner part of his legs or
about his flank being thinner, more tender, than on his back. But do
not whip him much--just enough to frighten him; _it is not because we
want to hurt the horse that we whip him_--we only do it to frighten vice
and stubbornness out of him. But whatever you do, do quickly, sharply,
and with a good deal of fire, but always without anger. If you are going
to frighten him at all, you must do it at once. Never go into a pitched
battle with your horse, and whip him until he is mad and will fight you;
it would be better not to touch him at all, for you will establish,
instead of fear and respect, feelings of resentment, hatred, and
ill-will. It will do him no good, but harm, to strike him, unless you
can frighten him; but if you can succeed in frightening him, you can
whip him without making him mad; _for fear and anger never exist
together in the horse_, and as soon as one is visible, you will find
that the other has disappeared. As soon as you have frightened him, so
that he will stand up straight and pay some attention to you, approach
him again, and caress him a good deal more than you whipped him; thus
you will excite the two controlling passions of his nature, love and
fear; he will love and fear you, too; and, as soon as he learns what you
require, will obey 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 before, and on the same side that you
have gentled him. If he is very timid about your approaching closely to
him, you can get up to him quicker by making the whip a part of your
arm, and reaching out very gently with the butt end of it, rubbing him
lightly on the neck, all the time getting a little closer, shortening
the whip by taking it up in your hand, until you finally get close
enough to put your hands on him. If he is inclined to hold his head from
you, put the end of the halter-strap around his neck, drop your whip,
and draw very gently; he will let his neck give, and you can pull his
head to you. Then take hold of that part of the halter which buckles
over the top of his head, and pass the long side, or that part which
goes into the buckle, under his neck, grasping it on the opposite side
with your right hand, letting the first strap loose--the latter will be
sufficient to hold his head to you. Lower the halter a little, just
enough to get his nose into that part which goes around it; then raise
it somewhat, and fasten the top buckle, and you will have it all right.
The first time you halter a colt you should stand on the left side,
pretty well back to his shoulder, only taking hold of that part of the
halter that goes around his neck; then with your two hands about his
neck you can hold his head to you, and raise the halter on it without
making him dodge by putting your hands about his nose. You should have a
long rope or strap ready, and as soon as you have the halter on, attach
this to it, so that you can let him walk the length of the stable
without letting go of the strap, or without making him pull on the
halter, for if you only let him feel the weight of your hand on the
halter, and give him rope when he runs from you, he will never rear,
pull, or throw himself, yet you will be holding him all the time, and
doing more towards gentling him than if you had the power to snub him
right up, and hold him to one spot; because he does not know anything
about his strength, and if you don't do anything to make him pull, he
will never know that he can. In a few minutes you can begin to control
him with the halter, then shorten the distance between yourself and the
horse by taking up the strap in your hand.
As soon as he will allow you to hold him by a tolerably short strap, and
to step up to him without flying back, you can begin to give him some
idea about leading. But to do this, do not go before and attempt to pull
him after you, but commence by pulling him very quietly to one side. He
has nothing to brace either side of his neck, and will soon yield to a
steady, gradual pull of the halter; and as soon as you have pulled him a
step or two to one side, step up to him and caress him, and then pull
him again, repeating this operation until you can pull him around in
every direction, and walk about the stable with him, which you can do in
a few minutes, for he will soon think when you have made him step to the
right or left a few times, that he is compelled to follow the pull of
the halter, not knowing that he has the power to resist your pulling;
besides, you have handled him so gently that he is not afraid of you,
and you always caress him when he comes up to you, and he likes that,
and would just as lief follow you as not. And after he has had a few
lessons of that kind, if you turn him out in a field, he will come up to
you every opportunity he gets.
You should lead him about in the stable some time before you take him
out, opening the door, so that he can see out, leading him up to it and
back again, and past it.
See that there is nothing on the outside to make him jump when you take
him out, and as you go out with him, try to make him go very slowly,
catching hold of the halter close to the jaw with your left hand, while
the right is resting on the top of the neck, holding to his mane. After
you are out with him a little while, you can lead him about as you
please.
Don't let any second person come up to you when you first take him out;
a stranger taking hold of the halter would frighten him, and make him
run. There should not even be any one standing near him, to attract his
attention or scare him. If you are alone, and manage him rightly, it
will not require any more force to lead or hold him than it would to
manage a broken horse.
HOW TO LEAD A COLT BY THE SIDE OF A BROKEN HORSE.
If you should want to lead your colt by the side of another horse, as is
often the case, I would advise you to take your horse into the stable,
attach a second strap to the colt's halter, and lead your horse up
alongside of him. Then get on the broken horse and take one strap around
his breast, under his martingale (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 with the strap pulling
against the horse's breast. The other strap take up in your right hand
to prevent him from running ahead; then turn him about a few times in
the stable, and if the door is wide enough, ride out with him in that
position; if not, take the broken horse out first, and stand his breast
up against the door, then lead the colt to the same spot, and take the
straps as before directed, one on each side of his neck, then let some
one start the colt out, and as he comes out, turn your horse to the
left, and you will have them all right. This is the best way to lead a
colt; you can manage any kind of colt in this way, without any trouble;
for if he tries to run ahead, or pull back, the two straps will bring
the horses facing each other, so that you can very easily follow up his
movements without doing much holding, and as soon as he stops running
backward you are right with him, and all ready to go ahead; and if he
gets stubborn and does not want to go, you can remove all his
stubbornness by riding your horse against his neck, thus compelling him
to turn to the right; and as soon as you have turned him about a few
times, he will be willing to go along. The next thing after you have got
through leading him, will be to take him into a stable, and hitch him in
such a way as not to have him pull on the halter; and as they are often
troublesome to get into a stable the first few times, I will give you
some instructions about getting him in.
TO LEAD INTO A STABLE.
You should lead the broken horse into the stable first, and get the
colt, if you can, to follow in after him. If he refuses to go, step unto
him, taking a little stick or switch in your right hand; then take hold
of the halter close to his head with your left hand, at the same time
reaching over his back with your right arm so that you can tap him on
the opposite side with your switch; bring him up facing the door, tap
him slightly with your switch, reaching as far back with it as you can.
This tapping, by being pretty well back, and on the opposite side, will
drive him ahead, and keep him close to you; then by giving him the right
direction with your left hand you can walk into the stable with him. I
have walked colts into the stable this way in less than a minute, after
men had worked at them half an hour, trying to pull them in. If you
cannot walk him in at once in this way, turn him about and walk him
around in every direction, until you can get him up to the door without
pulling at him. Then let him stand a few minutes, keeping his head in
the right direction with the halter, and he will walk in in less than
ten minutes. Never attempt to pull the colt into the stable; that would
make him think at once that it was a dangerous place, and if he was not
afraid of it before he would be then. Besides, we do not want him to
know anything about pulling on the halter. Colts are often hurt and
sometimes killed, by trying to force them into the stable; and those who
attempt to do it in that way go into an up-hill business, when a plain
smooth road is before them.
If you want to tie up your colt, put him in a tolerably wide stall,
which should not be too long, and should be connected by a bar or
something of that kind to the partition behind it; so that, after the
colt is in he cannot go far enough back to take a straight, backward
pull on the halter; then by tying him in the centre of the stall, it
would be impossible for him to pull on the halter, the partition behind
preventing him from going back, and the halter in the centre checking
him every time he turns to the right or left. In a stall of this kind
you can break any horse to stand tied with a light strap, anywhere,
without his ever knowing anything about pulling. For if you have broken
your horse to lead, and have taught him the use of the halter (which you
should always do before you hitch him to anything), you can hitch him in
any kind of a stall, and if you give him something to eat to keep him up
to his place for a few minutes at first, there is not one colt in fifty
that will pull on his halter.
EDITORS REMARKS.
Mr. Rarey says nothing about "longeing," which is the first step of
European and Eastern training. Perhaps he considers his plan of pulling
up the leg to be sufficient; but be that as it may, we think it well to
give the common sense of a much-abused practice.
Ignorant horse-breakers will tell you that they _longe_ a colt to supple
him. That is ridiculous nonsense. A colt unbroken will bend himself with
most extraordinary flexibility. Look at a lot of two-years before
starting for a run; observe the agility of their antics: or watch a colt
scratching his head with his hind foot, and you will never believe that
such animals can require suppling. But it is an easy way of teaching a
horse simple acts of obedience--of getting him to go and stop at your
orders: but in brutal hands more horses are spoiled and lamed by the
longe than any other horse-breaking operation. A stupid fellow drags a
horse's head and shoulders into the circle with the cord, while his
hind-quarters are driven out by the whip.
"_A colt should be longed at a walk only, until he circles without
force._
"He should never be compelled to canter in the longe, though he may be
permitted to do it of himself.
"He must not be stopped by pulling the cord, which would pull him
across, but by meeting him, so that he stops himself straight. A skilful
person will, single-handed, longe, and, by heading him with the whip,
change him without stopping, and longe him in the figure of 8. No man is
fit to be trusted with such powerful implements as the longe-cord and
whip who cannot do this.
"The snaffle may be added when he goes freely in the head-stall."
A colt should never be buckled to the pillar reins by his bit, but by
the head-stall; for if tightly buckled to the bit, he will bear
heavily--even go to sleep: raw lip, which, when cured, becomes callous,
is the result. Yet nothing is more common than to see colts standing for
hours on the bit, with reins tightly buckled to the demi-jockey, under
the ignorant notion of giving him a mouth, or setting up his head in the
right place. The latter, if not done by nature, can only be done, if
ever, by delicate, skilful hands.
A colt's bit should be large and smooth snaffle, with players to keep
his mouth moist.
Dick Christian liked a bit for young horses as thick as his thumb--we
don't know how thick that was--and four and a half inches between the
cheeks; and there was no better judge than Dick.
The Germans use a wooden bit to make a horse's mouth, and good judges
think they are right, as it may not be so unpleasant as metal to begin
with; but wood or iron, the bridle should be properly put on, a point
often neglected, and a fertile source of restiveness. There is as much
need to fit a bridle to the length of a horse's head, as to buckle the
girths of the saddle.
For conquering a vicious, biting horse, there is nothing equal to the
large wooden gag-bit, which Mr. Rarey first exhibited in public on the
zebra. A muzzle only prevents a horse from biting; a gag, properly used,
cures; for when he finds he cannot bite, and that you caress him and rub
his ears kindly with perfect confidence, he by degrees abandons this
most dangerous vice. Stafford was driven in a wooden gag the first
time. Colts inclined to crib-bite, should be dressed with one on.
[Illustration: WOODEN GAG BIT.]
Our woodcut is taken from the improved model produced by Mr. Stokey; no
doubt Mr. Rarey took the idea of his gag-bit from the wooden gag, which
has been in use among country farriers from time immemorial, to keep a
horse's mouth while they are performing the cruel and useless operation
of firing for lampas.
[Illustration: Leg strapped up.]
FOOTNOTES:
[51-*] Is there such a work? I cannot find it in any English
catalogue.--EDITOR.
CHAPTER VI.
Taming a colt or horse.--Rarey's directions for strapping up and
laying down detailed.--Explanations by Editor.--To approach a
vicious horse with half door.--Cartwheel.--No. 1 strap
applied.--No. 2 strap applied.--Woodcuts of.--How to hop
about.--Knot up bridle.--Struggle described.--Lord B.'s improved
No. 2 strap.--Not much danger.--How to steer a horse.--Laid down,
how to gentle.--To mount, tied up.--Place and preparations for
training described.
In this chapter I change the arrangement of the original work, and unite
two sections which Mr. Rarey has divided, either because when he wrote
them he was not aware of the importance of what is really the cardinal
point, the mainstay, the foundation of his system, or because he wished
to conceal it from the uninitiated. The Rarey system substitutes for
severe longeing, for whipping and spurring, blinkers, physic, starving,
the twitch, tying the tail down, sewing the ears together, putting shot
in the ears, and all the cruelties hitherto resorted to for subduing
high-spirited and vicious animals (and very often the high-spirited
become, from injudicious treatment, the most vicious), a method of
laying a horse down, tying up his limbs, and gagging, if necessary, his
mouth, which makes him soon feel that man is his superior, and yet
neither excites his terror or his hatred.
These two sections are to be found at pp. 48 and 51 and at pp. 59 and
60, _orig. edit._, under the titles of "How to drive a Horse that is
very wild, and has any vicious Habits," and "How to make a Horse lie
down." It is essential to unite these sections, because, if you put a
well-bred horse in harness with his leg up, without first putting him
down, it is ten to one but that he throws himself down violently, breaks
the shafts of the vehicle, and his own knees.
The following are the sections verbatim, of which I shall afterwards
give a paraphrase, with illustrative woodcuts:--
"Take up one fore-foot and bend his knee till his hoof is bottom
upwards, and nearly touching his body; then slip a loop over his knee,
and up until it comes above the pastern-joint, to keep it up, being
careful to draw the loop together between the hoof and pastern-joint
with a second strap of some kind to prevent the loop from slipping down
and coming off. This will leave the horse standing on three legs; you
can now handle him as you wish, for it is utterly impossible for him to
kick in this position. There is something in this operation of taking up
one foot, that conquers a horse quicker and better than anything else
you can do to him. There is no process in the world equal to it to break
a kicking horse, for several reasons. First, there is a principle of
this kind in the nature of the horse; that by conquering one member, you
conquer, to a great extent, the whole horse.
"You have perhaps seen men operate upon this principle, by sewing a
horse's ears together to prevent him from kicking. I once saw a plan
given in a newspaper to make a bad horse stand to be shod, which was to
fasten down one ear. There were no reasons given why you should do so;
but I tried it several times, and thought that it had a good
effect--though I would not recommend its use, especially stitching his
ears together. The only benefit arising from this process is, that by
disarranging his ears we draw his attention to them, and he is not so
apt to resist the shoeing. By tying up one foot we operate on the same
principle to a much better effect. When you first fasten up a horse's
foot, he will sometimes get 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 you could do, and without
any possible danger of hurting himself or you either, for you can tie up
his foot and sit down and look at him until he gives up. When you find
that he is conquered, go to him, let down his foot, rub his leg with
your hand, caress him, and let him rest a little; then put it up again.
Repeat this a few times, always putting up the same foot, and he will
soon learn to travel on three legs, so that you can drive him some
distance. As soon as he gets a little used to this way of travelling,
put on your harness, and hitch him to a sulky. If he is the worst
kicking horse that ever raised a foot, you need not be fearful of his
doing any damage while he has one foot up, for he cannot kick, neither
can he run fast enough to do any harm. And if he is the wildest horse
that ever had harness on, and has run away every time he has been
hitched, you can now hitch him in a sulky, and drive him as you please.
If he wants to run, you can let him have the lines, and the whip too,
with perfect safety, for he can go but a slow gait on three legs, and
will soon be tired, and willing to stop; only hold him enough to guide
him in the right direction, and he will soon be tired and willing to
stop at the word. Thus you will effectually cure him at once of any
further notion of running off. Kicking horses have always been the dread
of everybody; you always hear men say, when they speak about a bad
horse, 'I don't care what he does, so he don't kick.' This new method is
an effectual cure for this worst of all habits. There are plenty of ways
by which you can hitch a kicking horse, and force him to go, though he
kicks all the time; but this doesn't have any good effect towards
breaking him, for we know that horses kick because they are afraid of
what is behind them, and when they kick against it and it hurts them,
they will only kick the harder; and this will hurt them still more and
make them remember the scrape much longer, and make it still more
difficult to persuade them to have any confidence in anything dragging
behind them ever after.
"But by this new method you can harness them to a rattling sulky,
plough, waggon, or anything else in its worst shape. They may be
frightened at first, but cannot kick or do anything to hurt themselves,
and will 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 gently without any further trouble. By this new process a
bad kicking horse can be learned to go gentle in harness in a few hours'
time."[70-*]
"HOW TO MAKE A HORSE LIE DOWN.
"Everything that we want to teach the horse must be commenced in such a
way as to give him an idea of what you want him to do, and then be
repeated till he learns it perfectly. To make a horse lie down, bend
his left fore-leg and slip a loop over it, so that he cannot get it
down. Then put a surcingle around his body, and fasten one end of a long
strap around the other fore-leg, just above the hoof. Place the other
end under the before-described surcingle, so as to keep the strap in the
right direction; take a short hold of it with your right hand; stand on
the left side of the horse, grasp the bit in your left hand, pull
steadily on the strap with your right; bear against his shoulder till
you cause him to move. As soon as he lifts his weight, your pulling will
raise the other foot, and he will have to come on his knees. Keep the
strap tight in your hand, so that he cannot straighten his leg if he
rises up. Hold him in this position, and turn his head towards you; bear
against his side with your shoulder, not hard, but with a steady, equal
pressure, and in about ten minutes he will lie down. As soon as he lies
down, he will be completely conquered, and you can handle him as you
please. Take off the straps, and straighten out his legs; rub him
lightly about the face and neck with your hand the way the hair lies;
handle all his legs, and after he has lain ten or twenty minutes, let
him get up again. After resting him a short time, make him lie down as
before. Repeat the operation three or four times, which will be
sufficient for one lesson. Give him two lessons a day, and when you have
given him four lessons, he will lie down by taking hold of one foot. As
soon as he is well broken to lie down in this way, tap him on the
opposite leg with a stick when you take hold of his foot, and in a few
days he will lie down from the mere motion of the stick."
EDITORS DETAILED EXPLANATIONS.
Although, as I before observed, the tying up of the fore-leg is not a
new expedient, or even the putting a horse down single-handed, the two
operations, as taught and performed by Mr. Rarey, not only subdue and
render docile the most violent horses, but, most strange of all, inspire
them with a positive confidence and affection after two or three lessons
from the horse-tamer. "How this is or why this is," Mr. Langworthy, the
veterinary surgeon to Her Majesty's stables, observed, "I cannot say or
explain, but I am convinced, by repeated observation on many horses,
that it is a fact."
If, however, a man, however clever with horses, were to attempt to
perform the operations without other instruction than that contained in
the American pamphlet, he would infallibly break his horse's knees, and
probably get his toes trodden on, his eyes blacked, and his arm
dislocated--for all these accidents have happened within my own
knowledge to rash experimentalists; while under proper instructions, not
only have stout and gouty noblemen succeeded perfectly, but the
slight-built, professional horsewoman, Miss Gilbert, has conquered
thorough-bred colts and fighting Arabs, and a young and beautiful
peeress has taken off her bonnet before going to a morning _féte_, and
in ten minutes laid a full-sized horse prostrate and helpless as a sheep
in the hands of the shearer.
Having, then, in your mind Mr. Rarey's maxim that a horseman should know
neither fear nor anger, and having laid in a good stock of patience, you
must make your approach to the colt or stallion in the mode prescribed
in the preceding chapters. In dealing with a colt, except upon an
emergency, he should be first accustomed to be handled and taught to
lead; this, first-rate horse-tamers will accomplish with the wildest
colt in three hours, but it is better to give at least one day up to
these first important steps in education. It will also be as well to
have a colt cleaned and his hoof trimmed by the blacksmith. If this
cannot be done the operation will be found very dirty and disagreeable.
In approaching a spiteful stallion you had better make your first
advances with a half-door between you and him, as Mr. Rarey did in his
first interview with Cruiser: gradually make his acquaintance, and teach
him that you do not care for his open mouth; but a regular biter must be
gagged in the manner which will presently be described.
Of course there is no difficulty in handling the leg of a quiet horse or
colt, and by constantly working from the neck down to the fetlock you
may do what you please. But many horses and even colts have a most
dangerous trick of striking out with their fore-legs. There is no better
protection against this than a cart-wheel. The wheel may either be used
loose, or the animal may be led up to a cart loaded with hay, when the
horse-tamer can work under the cart through one of the wheels, while the
colt is nibbling the load.
Having, then, so far soothed a colt that he will permit you to take up
his legs without resistance, take the strap No. 1[73-*]--pass the tongue
through the loop under the buckle so as to form a noose, slip it over
the near fore-leg and draw it close up to the pastern-joint, then take
up the leg as if you were going to shoe him, and passing the strap over
the fore-arm, put it through the buckle, and buckle the lower limb as
close as you can to the arm without hurting the animal.
[Illustration: STRAP NO. 1.]
Take care that your buckle is of the very best quality, and the leather
sound. It is a good plan to stretch it before using it. The tongues of
buckles used for this purpose, if not of the very best quality, are very
likely to come out, when all your labour will have to be gone over
again. Sometimes you may find it better to lay the loop open on the
ground, and let the horse step into it. It is better the buckle should
be inside the leg if you mean the horse to fall toward you, because then
it is easier to unbuckle when he is on the ground.
In those instances in which you have had no opportunity of previously
taming and soothing a colt, it will frequently take you an hour of
quiet, patient, silent perseverance before he will allow you to buckle
up his leg--if he resists you have nothing for it but _patience_. You
must stroke him, you must fondle him, until he lets you enthral him. Mr.
Rarey always works alone, and disdains assistance, and so do some of his
best pupils, Lord B., the Marquis of S., and Captain S. In travelling in
foreign countries you may have occasion to tame a colt or wild horse
alone, but there is no reason why you should not have assistance if you
can get it, and in that case the process is of course much easier. But
it must never be forgotten that to tame a horse properly no unnecessary
force must be employed; it is better that he should put down his foot
six times that he may yield it willingly at last, and under no
circumstances must the trainer lose patience, or give way to temper.
The near fore-leg being securely strapped, and the horse, if so
inclined, secured from biting by a wooden bit, the next step is to make
him hop about on three legs. This is comparatively easy if the animal
has been taught to lead, but it is difficult with one which has not. The
trainer must take care to keep behind his horse's shoulder and walk in a
circle, or he will be likely to be struck by the horse's head or
strapped-up leg.
Mr. Rarey is so skilful that he seldom considers it necessary to make
his horses hop about; but there is no doubt that it saves much
after-trouble by fatiguing the animal; and that it is a useful
preparation before putting a colt or kicking horse into harness. Like
every other operation it must be done very gently, and accompanied by
soothing words--"Come along"--"Come along, old fellow," &c.
A horse can hop on three legs, if not severely pressed, for two or three
miles; and no plan is more successful for curing a kicker or jibber.
When the horse has hopped for as long as you think necessary to tire
him, buckle a common single strap roller or surcingle on his body
tolerably tight. A single strap surcingle is the best.
It is as well, if possible, to teach colts from a very early age to bear
a surcingle. At any rate it will require a little management the first
time.
You have now advanced your colt so far that he is not afraid of a man,
he likes being patted and caressed, he will lead when you take hold of
the bridle, and you have buckled up his leg so that he cannot hop faster
than you can run.
[Illustration: NO. 2 STRAP, FOR OFF FORE-LEG.]
Shorten the bridle (the bit should be a thick plain snaffle) so that the
reins, when laid loose on his withers, come nearly straight. This is
best done by twisting the reins twice round two fore-fingers and passing
the ends through in a loop, because this knot can be easily untied. Next
take strap No. 2, and, making a loop, put it round the off fore-leg.
With a very quiet horse this can easily be done; with a wild or vicious
horse you may have to make him step into it; at any rate, when once the
off fore-leg is caught in the noose it must be drawn tight round the
pastern-joint. Then put a stout glove or mitten on your right hand,
having taken care that your nails have been cut short, pass the strap
through the belly part of the surcingle, take a firm short hold of it
with your gloved right hand, standing close to the horse behind his
shoulders, and with your left hand take hold of the near rein; by
pulling the horse gently to the near side he will be almost sure to hop;
if he will not he must be led, but Mr. Rarey always makes him hop
alone. The moment he lifts up his off fore-foot you must draw up strap
No. 2 tightly and steadily. The motion will draw up the off leg into the
same position as the near leg, and the horse will go down on his knees.
Your object is to hold the strap so firmly that he will not be able to
stretch his foot out again. Those who are very confident in their skill
are content to hold the strap only with a twist round their hand, but
others take the opportunity of the horse's first surprise to give the
strap a double turn round the surcingle.
[Illustration: Horse with Straps Nos. 1 and 2.]
Another way of performing this operation is to use with difficult
violent horses the strap invented by Lord B----h, which consists first
of the loop for the off fore-leg shown in our cut. A surcingle strap, at
least seven feet long, with a buckle, is thrown across the horse's back;
the buckle end is passed through the ring; the tongue is passed through
the buckle, and the moment the horse moves the Tamer draws the strap
tight round the body of the horse, and in buckling it makes the leg so
safe that he has no need to use any force in holding it up.
[Illustration: LORD B.'S IMPROVED STRAP NO. 2.]
As soon as a horse recovers from his astonishment at being brought to
his knees, he begins to resist; that is, he rears up on his hind-legs,
and springs about in a manner that is truly alarming for the spectators
to behold, and which in the case of a well-bred horse in good condition
requires a certain degree of activity in the Trainer. (See page of Horse
Struggling.)
[Illustration: SURCINGLE FOR LORD B.'S STRAP NO. 2.]
You must remember that your business is not to set your strength against
the horse's strength, but merely to follow him about, holding the strap
just tight enough to prevent him from putting out his off fore-leg. As
long as you keep _close to him_ and _behind his shoulders_ you are in
very little danger. The bridle in the left hand must be used like
steering lines: by pulling to the right or left as occasion requires,
the horse, turning on his hind-legs, maybe guided just as a boat is
steered by the rudder lines; or pulling straight, the horse may be
fatigued by being forced to walk backwards. The strap passing through
the surcingle keeps, or ought to keep, the Trainer in his right
place--he is not to pull or in any way fatigue himself more than he can
help, but, standing upright, simply follow the horse about, guiding
him with the bridle away from the walls of the training school when
needful. It must be admitted that to do this well requires considerable
nerve, coolness, patience, and at times agility; for although a
grass-fed colt will soon give in, a corn-fed colt, and, above all, a
high-couraged hunter in condition, will make a very stout fight; and I
have known one instance in which a horse with both fore-legs fast has
jumped sideways.
[Illustration: The Horse struggling.]
The proof that the danger is more apparent than real lies in the fact
that no serious accidents have as yet happened; and that, as I before
observed, many noblemen, and some noble ladies, and some boys, have
succeeded perfectly. But it would be untrue to assert that there is no
danger. When held and guided properly, few horses resist more than ten
minutes; and it is believed that a quarter of an hour is the utmost time
that any horse has ever fought before sinking exhausted to the earth.
But the time seems extremely long to an inexperienced performer; and it
is a great comfort to get your assistant to be tune-keeper, if there is
no clock in a conspicuous situation, and tell you how you are getting
on. Usually at the end of eight minutes' violent struggles, the animal
sinks forward on his knees, sweating profusely, with heaving flanks and
shaking tail, as if at the end of a thirty minutes' burst with
fox-hounds over a stiff country.
Then is the time to get him into a comfortable position for lying down;
if he is still stout, he may be forced by the bit to walk backwards.
Then, too, by pushing gently at his shoulder, or by pulling steadily the
off-rein, you can get him to fall, in the one case on the near side, on
the other on the off side; but this assistance should be so slight that
the horse must not be able to resist it. The horse will often make a
final spring when you think he is quite beaten; but, at any rate, at
length he slides over, and lies down, panting and exhausted, on his
side. If he is full of corn and well bred, take advantage of the moment
to tie up the off fore-leg to the surcingle, as securely as the other,
in a slip loop knot.
Now let your horse recover his wind, and then encourage him to make a
second fight. It will often be more stubborn and more fierce than the
first. The object of this tying-up operation is, that he shall
thoroughly exhaust without hurting himself, and that he shall come to
the conclusion that it is you who, by your superior strength, have
conquered him, and that you are always able to conquer him.
Under the old rough-riding system, the most vicious horses were
occasionally conquered by daring men with firm seats and strong arms,
who rode and flogged them into subjection; but these conquests were
temporary, and usually _personal_; with every stranger, the animal would
begin his game again.
One advantage of this Rarey system is, that the horse is allowed to
exhaust himself under circumstances that render it impossible for him to
struggle long enough to do himself any harm. It has been suggested that
a blood-vessel would be likely to be broken, or apoplexy produced by the
exertion of leaping from the hind legs; but, up to the present time, no
accident of any kind has been reported.
When the horse lies down for the second or third time thoroughly beaten,
the time has arrived for teaching him a few more of the practical parts
of horse-training.
[Illustration: The Horse exhausted.]
When you have done all you desire to the horse tied up,--smoothed his
ears, if fidgety about the ears--the hind-legs, if a kicker--shown
him a saddle, and allowed him to smell it, and then placed it on his
back--mounted him yourself, and pulled him all over--take off all the
straps. In moving round him for the purpose of gentling him, walk slowly
always from the head round the tail, and again to the head: scrape the
sweat off him with a scraper; rub him down with a wisp; smooth the hair
of his legs, and draw the fore one straight out. If he has fought hard,
he will lie like a dead horse, and scarcely stir. You must now again go
over him as conscientiously as if you were a mesmeric doctor or
shampooer: every limb must be "_gentled_," to use Mr. Rarey's expressive
phrase; and with that operation you have completed your _first_ and
_most_ important lesson.
You may now mount on the back of an unbroken colt, and teach him that
you do not hurt him in that attitude: if he were standing upright he
might resist, and throw you from fright; but as he is exhausted and
powerless, he has time to find out that you mean him no harm. You can
lay a saddle or harness on him, if he has previously shown aversion to
them, or any part of them: his head and his tail and his legs are all
safe for your friendly caresses; don't spare them, and speak to him all
the time.
If he has hitherto resisted shoeing, now is the time for handling his
fore and hind legs; kindly, yet, if he attempts to resist, with a voice
of authority. If he is a violent, savage, confirmed kicker, like
Cruiser, or Mr. Gurney's gray colt, or the zebra, as soon as he is down
put a pair of hobbles on his hind-legs, like those used for mares during
covering. (Frontispiece of Zebra.) These must be held by an assistant on
whom you can depend; and passed through the rings of the surcingle. With
his fore-legs tied, you may usefully spend an hour, in handling his
legs, tapping the hoofs with your hand or hammer--all this to be done in
a firm, measured, soothing manner; only now and then, if he resist,
crying, as you paralyze him with the ropes, "_Wo ho!_" in a determined
manner. It is by this continual soothing and handling that you establish
confidence between the horse and yourself. After patting him as much as
you deem needful, say for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, you may
encourage him to rise. Some horses will require a good deal of helping,
and their fore-legs drawing out before them.
It may be as well to remark, that the handling the limbs, of colts
particularly, requires caution. A cart colt, tormented by flies, will
kick forward nearly up to the fore-legs.
If a horse, unstrapped, attempts to rise, you may easily stop him by
taking hold of a fore-leg and doubling it back to the strapped position.
If by chance he should be too quick, don't resist; it is an essential
principle in the Rarey system, never to enter into a contest with a
horse unless you are certain to be victorious.
In all these operations, you must be calm, and not in a hurry.
Thus, under the Rarey system, all indications are so direct, that the
horse must understand them. You place him in a position, and under such
restraint, that he cannot resist anything that you chose to do to him;
and then you proceed to caress him when he assents, to reprove him when
he _thinks_ of resisting--resist, with all his legs tied, he
cannot--repeated lessons end by persuading the most vicious horse that
it is useless to try to resist, and that acquiescence will be followed
by the caresses that horses evidently like.
[Illustration: The Horse tamed.]
The last instance of Mr. Rarey's power was a beautiful gray mare, which
had been fourteen years in the band of one of the Life Guards regiments,
and consequently at least seventeen years old; during all that time she
would never submit quietly to have her hind-legs shod; the farriers had
to put a twitch on her nose and ears, and tie her tail down: even then
she resisted violently. In three days Mr. Rarey was able to shoe her
with her head loose. And this was not done by a trick, but by proving to
her that she could not resist even to the extent of an inch, and that no
harm was meant her; her lessons were repeated many times a day for three
days. Such continual impressive perseverance is an essential part of the
system.
When you have to deal with a horse as savage a kicker as Cruiser, or the
zebra, a horse that can kick from one leg as fiercely as others can from
two, in that case, to subdue and compel him to lie down, have a leather
surcingle with a ring sewed on the belly part, and when the hobbles are
buckled on the hind-legs, pass the ropes through the rings, and when the
horse rises again, by buckling up one fore-leg, and pulling steadily,
when needful, at the hind-legs, or tying the hobble-ropes to a collar,
you reduce him to perfect helplessness; he finds that he cannot rear,
for you pull his hind-legs--or kick, for you can pull at all three legs,
and after a few lessons he gives in in despair.
These were the methods by which Cruiser and the zebra were subdued. They
seem, and are, very simple; properly carried out they are effective for
subduing the most spirited colt, and curing the most vicious horse. But
still in difficult and exceptional cases it cannot be too often repeated
that a MAN is required, as well as a method. Without nerve nothing can
be attempted; without patience and perseverance mere nerve will be of
little use; all the quackery and nonsense that has been talked and
written under the inspiration of the Barnum who has had an interest in
the success of the silent, reserved, practical Rarey, must be dismissed.
Horse-training is not a conjuror's trick. The principles may certainly
be learned by once reading this book; a few persons specially organised,
accustomed to horses all their lives, may succeed in their first
attempts with even difficult horses. The success of Lord Burghersh,
after one lesson from Rarey, with a very difficult mare; of Lord Elvers,
Lord Vivian, the Hon. Frederick Villiers, and the Marquess of Stafford,
with colts, is well known in the sporting world. Mr. Thomas Rice, of
Motcombe Street, who has studied everything connected with the horse, on
the Continent as well as in England, and who is thoroughly acquainted
with the Spanish school, as well as the English cross-country style of
horsemanship, succeeded, as I have already mentioned, the very first
time he took the straps in hand in subduing Mr. Gurney's gray colt--the
most vicious animal, next to Cruiser, that Mr. Rarey tackled in England.
This brute tore off the flaps of the saddle with his teeth.
But it is sheer humbug to pretend that a person who knows no more of
horses than is to be learned by riding a perfectly-trained animal now
and then for an hour or two, can acquire the whole art of horse-taming,
or can even safely tackle a violent horse, without a previous
preparation and practice.
As you must not be nervous or angry, so you must not be in a hurry.
Many ladies have attended Mr. Rarey's lessons, and studied his art, but
very few have tried, and still fewer have succeeded. It is just one of
those things that all ladies fond of horses should know, as well as
those who are likely to visit India, or the Colonies, although it is not
exactly a feminine occupation; crinoline would be sadly in the way--
"Those little hands were never made
To hold a leather strap."
But it may be useful as an emergency, as it will enable any lady to
instruct a friend, or groom, or sailor, or peasant, how to do what she
is not able to do herself, and to argue effectively that straps will do
more than whips and spurs.
At the Practice Club of noblemen and gentlemen held at Miss Gilbert's
stables, it has been observed that every week some horse more determined
than the average has been too much for the wind, or the patience, of
most of the subscribers. One only has never been beaten, the Marquess of
S----, but then he was always in condition; a dab hand at every athletic
sport, extremely active, and gifted with a "calmness," as well as a
nerve, which few men of his position enjoy.
In a word, the average horse may be subdued by the average horseman, and
colts usually come within the average; but a fierce, determined, vicious
horse requires a man above the average in temper, courage, and activity;
activity and skill in _steering_ being of more importance than strength.
It is seldom necessary to lay a colt down more than twice.
Perhaps the best way is to begin practising the strap movements with a
donkey, or a quiet horse full of grass or water, and so go on from day
to day with as much perseverance as if you were practising skating or
walking on a tight rope; until you can approach, halter, lead, strap
up, and lay down a colt with as much calmness as a huntsman takes his
fences with his eye on his hounds, you are not perfect.
Remember you must not hurry, and you must _not chatter_. When you feel
impatient you had better leave off, and begin again another day. And the
same with your horse: you must not tire him with one lesson, but you
must give him at least one lesson every day, and two or three to a
nervous customer; we have a striking example of patience and
perseverance in Mr. Rarey's first evening with Cruiser. He had gone
through the labour of securing him, and bringing him up forty miles
behind a dog-cart, yet he did not lose a moment, but set to work the
same night to tame him limb by limb, and inch by inch, and from that day
until he produced him in public, he never missed a day without spending
twice a day from two to three hours with him, first rendering him
helpless by gag-bit, straps and hobbles, then caressing him, then
forcing him to lie down, then caressing him again, stroking every limb,
talking to him in soothing tones, and now and then, if he turned
vicious, taking up his helpless head, giving it a good shake, while
scolding him as you would a naughty boy. And then again taking off the
gag and rewarding submission with a lock of sweet hay and a drink of
water, most grateful after a tempest of passion, then making him rise,
and riding him--making him stop at a word.
I mention these facts, because an idea has gone abroad that any man with
Mr. Rarey's straps can manage any horse. It would be just as sensible to
assert that any boy could learn to steer a yacht by taking the tiller
for an hour under the care of an "old salt."
The most curious and important fact of all in connection with this
strapping up and laying down process, is, that the moment the horse
rises _he seems to have contracted a personal friendship for the
operator_, and with a very little encouragement will generally follow
him round the box or circus; this feeling may as well be encouraged by a
little bit of carrot or bread and sugar.
PLACE AND PREPARATIONS FOR TRAINING A COLT.
It is almost impossible to train or tame a horse quickly in an open
space. As his falls are violent, the floor must be very soft. The best
place is a space boarded off with partitions six or seven feet high, and
on the floor a deep layer of tan or sand or saw-dust, on which, a thick
layer of straw has been spread; but the floor must not be too soft; if
it is, the horse will sink on his knees without fighting, and without
the lesson of exhaustion, which is so important. To throw a horse for a
surgical operation, the floor cannot be too soft: the enclosure should
be about thirty feet from side to side, of a square or octagonal shape;
but not round if possible, because it is of great advantage to have a
corner into which a colt may turn when you are teaching him the first
haltering lesson. A barn may be converted into a training-school, if the
floor be made soft enough with straw. But in every case, it is extremely
dangerous to have pillars, posts, or any projections against which the
horse in rearing might strike; as when the legs are tied, a horse is apt
to miscalculate his distance. And if the space is too narrow, the
trainer, in dealing with a violent horse, may get crushed or kicked. It
is of great advantage that the training-school should be roofed, and if
possible, every living thing, that might distract the horse's attention
by sight or sound, should be removed. Other horses, cattle, pigs, and
even dogs or fowls moving about or making a noise, will spoil the
effect of a good lesson.
In an emergency, the first lesson may be given in an open straw-yard.
Lord Burghersh trained his first pupil on a small space in the middle of
a thick wood; Cruiser was laid down the first time in a bullock-yard.
But if you have many colts to train, it is well worth while to dig out a
pit two feet deep, fill it with tan and straw, and build round it a shed
of rough poles, filled in with gorse plastered with clay, on the same
plan as a bullock feeding-box. The floor should not be too deep or soft,
because if it is, the colt will sink at once without fighting, and a
good lesson in obedience is lost.
This may be done for from 30_s._ to 2_l._ on a farm. In a riding-school
it is very easy to have lofty temporary partitions. It is probable that
in future every riding-school will have a Rarey box for training hacks,
as well as to enable pupils to practise the art.
It is quite out of the question to attempt to do anything with a
difficult horse while other horses can be seen or heard, or while a
party of lookers-on are chattering and laughing.
As to the costume of the trainer, I recommend a close cap, a stout pair
of boots, short trousers or breeches of stout tweed or corduroy, a short
jacket with pockets outside, one to hold the straps and gloves, the
other a few pieces of carrot to reward the pupil. A pocket-handkerchief
should be handy to wipe your perspiring brow. A trainer should not be
without a knife and a piece of string, for emergencies. Spare straps,
bridles, a surcingle, a long whalebone whip, and a saddle, should be
hung up outside the training inclosure, where they can be handed, when
required, to the operator as quickly and with as little delay and fuss
as possible. A sort of dumb-waiter, with hooks instead of trays, could
be contrived for a man who worked alone.
If a lady determines to become a horse-trainer, she had better adopt a
Bloomer costume, without any stiff petticoats, as long robes would be
sure to bring her to grief. To hold the long strap No. 2, it is
necessary to wear a stout glove, which will be all the more useful if
the tips of the fingers are cut off at the first joint, so as to make it
a sort of mitten.
FOOTNOTES:
[70-*] I should not recommend this plan with a well-bred horse without
first laying him down, as he would be likely to throw himself
down.--EDITOR.
[73-*] All these straps may be obtained from Mr. Stokey, saddler, North
Street, Little Moorfields, who supplied Mr. Rarey, and has patterns of
the improvements by Lord B---- and Colonel R----.
CHAPTER VII.
The Drum.--The Umbrella.--Riding-habit.--How to bit a colt.--How to
saddle.--To mount.--To ride.--To break.--To harness.--To make a
horse follow and stand without holding.--Baucher's plan.--Nolan's
plan.
It is an excellent practice to accustom all horses to strange sounds and
sights, and of very great importance to young horses which are to be
ridden or driven in large towns, or used as chargers. Although some
horses are very much more timid and nervous than others, the very worst
can be very much improved by acting on the first principles laid down in
the introduction to this book--that is, by proving that the strange
sights and sounds will do them no harm.
When a railway is first opened, the sheep, the cattle, and especially
the horses, grazing in the neighbouring fields, are terribly alarmed at
the sight of the swift, dark, moving trains, and the terrible snorting
and hissing of the steam-engines. They start away--they gallop in
circles--and when they stop, gaze with head and tail erect, until the
monsters have disappeared. But from day to day the live stock become
more accustomed to the sight and sound of the steam horse, and after a
while they do not even cease grazing when the train passes. They have
learned that it will do them no harm. The same result may be observed
with respect to young horses when first they are brought to a large
town, and have to meet great loads of hay, omnibuses crowded with
passengers, and other strange or noisy objects--if judiciously treated,
not flogged and ill-used, they lose their fears without losing their
high courage. Nothing is more astonishing in London than the steadiness
of the high-bred and highly-fed horses in the streets and in Hyde Park.
But until Mr. Rarey went to first principles, and taught "the reason
why" there were horses that could not be brought to bear the beating of
a drum, the rustling of an umbrella, or the flapping of a riding-habit
against their legs--and all attempts to compel them by force to submit
to these objects of their terror failed and made them furious. Mr.
Rarey, in his lectures, often told a story of a horse which shied at
buffalo-robes--the owner tied him up fast and laid a robe on him--the
poor animal died instantly with fright. And yet nothing can be more
simple.
_To accustom a horse to a drum._--Place it near him on the ground, and,
without forcing him, induce him to smell it again and again until he is
thoroughly accustomed to it. Then lift it up, and slowly place it on the
side of his neck, where he can see it, and tap it gently with a stick or
your finger. If he starts, pause, and let him carefully examine it. Then
re-commence, gradually moving it backwards until it rests upon his
withers, by degrees playing louder and louder, pausing always when he
seems alarmed, to let him look at it and smell, if needful. In a very
few minutes you may play with all your force, without his taking any
notice. When this practice has been repeated a few times, your horse,
however spirited, will rest his nose unmoved on the big drum while the
most thundering piece is played.
_To teach a horse to bear an umbrella_, go through the same cautious
forms, let him see it, and smell it, open it by degrees--gain your
point inch by inch, passing it always from his eyes to his neck, and
from his neck to his back and tail; and so with a riding-habit, in half
an hour any horse may be taught that it will not hurt him, and then the
difficulty is over.
_To fire off a horse's back._--Begin with caps, and, by degrees, as with
the drum, instead of lengthening the reins, stretch the bridle hand to
the front, and raise it for the carbine to rest on, with the muzzle
clear of the horse's head, a little to one side. Lean the body forward
without rising in the stirrups. _Avoid interfering with the horse's
mouth, or exciting his fears by suddenly closing your legs either before
or after firing--be quiet yourself and your horse will be quiet._ The
colt can learn, as I have already observed, to bear a rider on his bare
back during his first lessons, when prostrate and powerless, fast bound
by straps. The surcingle has accustomed him to girths--he leads well,
and has learned that when the right rein is pulled he must go to the
right, and when the left rein to the left. You may now teach him to bear
the BIT and the SADDLE--if you have not placed it upon his back while on
the ground, and for this operation I cannot do better than return, and
quote literally from Mr. Rarey.
"HOW TO ACCUSTOM A HORSE TO A BIT.
"You should use a large, smooth, snaffle bit, so as not to hurt his
mouth, with a bar to each side, to prevent the bit from pulling through
either way. This you should attach to the head-stall of your bridle, and
put it on your colt without any reins to it, and let him run loose in a
large stable or shed some time, until he becomes a little used to the
bit, and will bear it without trying to get it out of his mouth. It
would be well, if convenient, to repeat this several times, before you
do anything more with the colt; as soon as he will bear the bit, attach
a single rein to it. You should also have a halter on your colt, or a
bridle made after the fashion of a halter, with a strap to it, so that
you can hold or lead him about without pulling on the bit much. (See
Woodcut, p. 39.) He is now ready for the saddle.
"THE PROPER WAY TO BIT A COLT.
"Farmers often put bitting harness on a colt the first thing they do to
him, buckling up the bitting as tight as they can draw it, to make him
carry his head high, and then turn him out in a field to run a half-day
at a time. This is one of the worst of punishments that they could
inflict on the colt, and very injurious to a young horse that has been
used to running in pasture with his head down. I have seen colts so
injured in this way that they never got over it.
"A horse should be well accustomed to the bit before you put on the
bitting harness, and when you first bit him you should only rein his
head up to that point where he naturally holds it, let that be high or
low; he will soon learn that he cannot lower his head, and that raising
it a little will loosen the bit in his mouth. This will give him the
idea of raising his head to loosen the bit, and then you can draw the
bitting a little tighter every time you put it on, and he will still
raise his head to loosen it; by this means you will gradually get his
head and neck in the position you want him to carry it, and give him a
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 will bear on it all the time, and paw,
sweat, and throw himself. Many horses have been killed by falling
backward with the bitting on; their heads being drawn up strike the
ground with the whole weight of the body. Horses that have their heads
drawn up tightly should not have the bitting on more than fifteen or
twenty minutes at a time.
"HOW TO SADDLE A COLT.
"The first thing will be to tie each stirrup-strap into a loose knot to
make them short, and prevent the stirrups from flying about and hitting
him. Then double up the skirts and take the saddle under your right arm,
so as not to frighten him with it as you approach. When you get to him
rub him gently a few times with your hand, and then raise the saddle
very slowly, until he can see it, and smell and feel it with his nose.
Then let the skirt loose, and rub it very gently against his neck the
way the hair lies, letting him hear the rattle of the skirts as he feels
them against him; each time getting a little farther backward, and
finally slipping it over his shoulders on his back. Shake it a little
with your hand, and in less than five minutes you can rattle it about
over his back as much as you please, and pull it off and throw it on
again, without his paying much attention to it.
"As soon as you have accustomed him to the saddle, fasten the girth. Be
careful how you do this. It often frightens the colt when he feels the
girth binding him, and making the saddle fit tight on his back. You
should bring up the girth very gently, and not draw it too tight at
first, just enough to hold the saddle on. Move him a little, and then
girth it as tight as you choose, and he will not mind it.
"You should see that the pad of your saddle is all right before you put
it on, and that there is nothing to make it hurt him, or feel unpleasant
to his back. It should not have any loose straps on the back part of it,
to flap about and scare him. After you have saddled him in this way,
take a switch in your right hand to tap him up with, and walk about in
the stable a few times with your right arm over your saddle, taking hold
of the reins on each side of his neck with your right and left hands,
thus marching him about in the stable until you teach him the use of the
bridle and can turn him about in any direction, and stop him by a gentle
pull of the rein. Always caress him, and loose the reins a little every
time you stop him.
"You should always be alone, and have your colt in some light stable or
shed, the first time you ride him; the loft should be high, so that you
can sit on his back without endangering your head. You can teach him
more in two hours' time in a stable of this kind, than you could in two
weeks in the common way of breaking colts, out in an open place. If you
follow my course of treatment, you need not run any risk, or have any
trouble in riding the worst kind of horse. You take him a step at a
time, until you get up a mutual confidence and trust between yourself
and horse. First teach him to lead and stand hitched; next acquaint him
with the saddle, and the use of the bit; and then all that remains is to
get on him without scaring him, and you can ride him as well as any
horse.
"HOW TO MOUNT THE COLT.
"First gentle him well on both sides, about the saddle, and all over
until he will stand still without holding, and is not afraid to see you
anywhere about him.
"As soon as you have him thus gentled, get a small block, about one foot
or eighteen inches in height, and set it down by the side of him, about
where you want to stand to mount him; step up on this, raising yourself
very gently: horses notice every change of position very closely, and,
if you were to step up suddenly on the block, it would be very apt to
scare him; but, by raising yourself gradually on it, he will see you,
without being frightened, in a position very nearly the same as when you
are on his back.
"As soon as he will bear this without alarm, untie the stirrup-strap
next to you, and put your left foot into the stirrup, and stand square
over it, holding your knee against the horse, and your toe out, so as
not to touch him under the shoulder with the toe of your boot. Place
your right hand on the front of the saddle, and on the opposite side of
you, taking hold of a portion of the mane and the reins, as they hang
loosely over his neck, with your left hand; then gradually bear your
weight on the stirrup, and on your right hand, until the horse feels
your whole weight on the saddle: repeat this several times, each time
raising yourself a little higher from the block, until he will allow you
to raise your leg over his croup and place yourself in the saddle.
"There are three great advantages in having a block to mount from.
First, a sudden change of position is very apt to frighten a young horse
who has never been handled: he will allow you to walk up to him, and
stand by his side without scaring at you, because you have gentled him
to that position; but if you get down on your hands and knees and crawl
towards him, he will be very much frightened; and upon the same
principle, he would be frightened at your new position if you had the
power to hold yourself over his back without touching him. Then the
first great advantage of the block is to gradually gentle him to that
new position in which he will see you when you ride him.
"Secondly, by the process of leaning your weight in the stirrups, and on
your hand, you can gradually accustom him to your weight, so as not to
frighten him by having him feel it all at once. And, in the third place,
the block elevates you so that you will not have to make a spring in
order to get on the horse's back, but from it you can gradually raise
yourself into the saddle. When you take these precautions, there is no
horse so wild but what you can mount him without making him jump. I have
tried it on the worst horses that could be found, and have never failed
in any case. When mounting, your horse should always stand without being
held. _A horse is never well broken when he has to be held with a tight
rein when mounting_; and a colt is never so safe to mount as when you
see that assurance of confidence, and absence of fear, which cause him
to stand without holding." [Mr. Rarey's improved plan is to press the
palm of the right hand on the off-side of the Saddle, and as you rise
lean your weight on it; by this means you can mount with the girths
loose, or without any girths at all.--EDITOR.]
"HOW TO RIDE THE COLT.
"When you want him to start do not touch him on the side with your heel,
or do anything to frighten him and make him jump. But speak to him
kindly, and if he does not start pull him a little to the left until he
starts, and then let him walk off slowly with the reins loose. Walk him
around in the stable a few times until he gets used to the bit, and you
can turn him about in every direction and stop him as you please. It
would be well to get on and off a good many times until he gets
perfectly used to it before you take him out of the stable.
"After you have trained him in this way, which should not take you more
than one or two hours, you can ride him anywhere you choose without ever
having him jump or make any effort to throw you.
"When you first take him out of the stable be very gentle with him, as
he will feel a little more at liberty to jump or run, and be a little
easier frightened than he was while in the stable. But after handling
him so much in the stable he will be pretty well broken, and you will be
able to manage him without trouble or danger.
"When you first mount him take a little the shortest hold on the left
rein, so that if anything frightens him you can prevent him from jumping
by pulling his head round to you. This operation of pulling a horse's
head round against his side will prevent 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 round to one side, when whipping would
have no effect. And turning him round a few times will make him dizzy,
and then by letting him have his head straight, and giving him a little
touch with the whip, he will go along without any trouble.
"Never use martingales on a colt when you first ride him; every movement
of the hand should go right to the bit in the direction in which it is
applied to the reins, without a martingale to change the direction of
the force applied. You can guide the colt much better without it, and
teach him the use of the bit in much less time. Besides, martingales
would prevent you from pulling his head round if he should try to jump.
"After your colt has been ridden until he is gentle and well accustomed
to the bit, you may find it an advantage, if he carries his head too
high or his nose too far out, to put martingales on him.
"_You should be careful not to ride your colt so far at first as to
heat, worry, or tire him._ Get off as soon as you see he is a little
fatigued; gentle him and let him rest; this will make him kind to you,
and prevent him from getting stubborn or mad.
"TO BREAK A HORSE TO HARNESS.
"Take him in a light stable, as you did to ride him; take the harness
and go through the same process that you did with the saddle, until you
get him familiar with it, so that you can put it on him, and rattle it
about without his caring for it. As soon as he will bear this, put on
the lines, caress him as you draw them over him, and drive him about in
the stable till he will bear them over his hips. The _lines_ are a great
aggravation to some colts, and often frighten them as much as if you
were to raise a whip over them. As soon as he is familiar with the
harness and lines, take him out and put him by the side of a gentle
horse, and go through the same process that you did with the balking
horse. _Always use a bridle without blinkers when you are breaking a
horse to harness._
"Lead him to and around a light gig or phaeton; let him look at it,
touch it with his nose, and stand by it till he does not care for it;
then pull the shafts a little to the left, 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 left side, 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, bringing them up
very gently to the left hand, which still remains stationary. Do not let
anything but your arm touch his back, and as soon as you have the shafts
square over him, let the person on the opposite side take hold of one of
them, and lower them very gently to the shaft-bearers. Be very slow and
deliberate about hitching; the longer time you take the better, as a
general thing. When you have the shafts placed, shake them slightly, so
that he will feel them against each side. As soon as he will bear them
without scaring, fasten your braces, &c., and start him along very
slowly. Let one man lead the horse, to keep him gentle, while the other
gradually works back with the lines till he can get behind and drive
him. After you have driven him in this way a short distance, you can get
into the sulky, and all will go right. It is very important to have your
horse go gently when you first hitch him. After you have walked him
awhile, there is not half so much danger of his scaring. Men do very
wrong to jump up behind a horse to drive him as soon as they have him
hitched. There are too many things for him to comprehend all at once.
The shifts, the lines, the harness, and the rattling of the sulky, all
tend to scare him, and he must be made familiar with them by degrees. If
your horse is very wild, I would advise you to put up one foot the first
time you drive him."
[Illustration: Second Lesson in Harness.]
With the leg strapped up, the lighter the break or gig the better, and
four wheels are better than two.
TO MAKE A HORSE FOLLOW YOU.
The directions make simple what have hitherto been among the mysteries
of the circus. I can assert from personal observation that by the means
described by Mr. Rarey a very nervous thorough-bred mare, the property
of the Earl of Derby, was taught to stand, answer to her name, and
follow one of his pupils in less than a week.
No hack, and certainly no lady's horse, is perfect until he has been
taught to stand still, and no hunter is complete until he has learned to
follow his master. Huntsmen may spend a few hours in the summer very
usefully in teaching their old favourites to wait outside cover until
wanted.
Turn him into a large stable or shed, where there is no chance to get
out, with a halter or bridal on. Go to him and gentle him a little, take
hold of his halter, and turn him towards you, at the same time touching
him lightly over the hips with a long whip. Lead him the length of the
stable, rubbing him on the neck, saying in a steady tone of voice as you
lead him, "Come along, boy!" or use his name instead of "boy," if you
choose. Every time you turn, touch him slightly with the whip, to make
him step up close to you, and then caress him with your hand. He will
soon learn to hurry up to escape the whip and be caressed, and you can
make him follow you around without taking hold of the halter. If he
should stop and turn from you, give him a few sharp cuts about the hind
legs, and he will soon turn his head towards you, when you must always
caress him. A few lessons of this kind will make him run after you, when
he sees the motion of the whip--in twenty or thirty minutes he will
follow you about the stable. After you have given him two or three
lessons in the stable, take him out into a small field and train him;
and from thence you can take him into the road and make him follow you
anywhere, and run after you.
To make a horse stand without holding, after you have him well broken to
follow you, place him in the centre of the stable--begin at his head to
caress him, gradually working backwards. If he move, give him a cut with
the whip, and put him back to the same spot from which he started. If he
stands, caress him as before, and continue gentling him in this way
until you can get round him without making him move. Keep walking around
him, increasing your pace, and only touch him occasionally. Enlarge your
circle as you walk around, and if he then moves, give him another cut
with the whip, and put him back to his place. If he stands, go to him
frequently and caress him, and then walk around him again. Do not keep
him in one position too long at a time, but make him come to you
occasionally, and follow you around the stable. Then make him stand in
another place, and proceed as before. You should not train your horse
more than half an hour at a time.
The following is Baucher's method of making a horse stand to be mounted,
which, he says, may be taught in two lessons, of half an hour each. I
do not know any one who has tried, but it is worth trying.
"Go up to him, pat him on the neck (_i. e._ gentle him), and speak to
him; then taking the curb reins a few inches from the rings with the
left hand, place yourself so as to offer as much resistance as possible
to him when he tries to break away. Take the whip in the right hand with
the point down, raise it quietly and tap the horse on the chest; he will
rein back to avoid punishment; resist and follow him, continuing the
tapping of the whip, but without anger or haste. The horse, soon tired
of running back, will endeavour to avoid the infliction by rushing
forward; then stop and make much of him. This repeated once or twice
will teach the horse that, to stand still, is to avoid punishment, and
will move up to you on a slight motion of the whip."
I doubt whether high-spirited horses would stand this treatment.
_To teach a horse to stand in the field._--Nolan's plan was, to draw the
reins over the horse's head and fasten them to the ground with a peg,
walk away, return in a few minutes and reward him with bread, salt, or
carrot; in a short time the horse will fancy himself fast whenever the
reins are drawn over his head. It may be doubted whether, in the
excitement of the hunting-field, either Rarey's or Nolan's plan would
avail to make a huntsman's horse stand while hounds were running.
Scrutator gives another method which is not within everyone's means to
execute.
"In my father's time we had a large field, enclosed by a high wall,
round which the lads used to exercise their horses, with a thick rug
only, doubled, to sit upon. A single snaffle and a sharp curb-bit were
placed in the horse's mouth; the former to ride and guide by. To the
curb was attached a long single rein, which was placed in the boy's
hand, or attached to his wrist. When the horse was in motion, either
walking, trotting, or cantering, the lad would throw himself off,
holding only the long rein attached to the curb, the sudden pull upon
which, when the lad was on the ground, would cause the horse's head to
be turned round, and stop him in his career. The boy would then
gradually shorten the rein, until the horse was brought up to him, then
patting and caressing him, he would again mount. After a very few
lessons of this kind, the horse would always stop the instant the boy
fell, and remain stationary beside him. The lads, as well as the horses,
were rewarded by my father for their proper performance of this rather
singular manoeuvre, but I never saw or knew any accident occur. The
horses thus trained proved excellent hunters, and would never run away
from their riders when thrown, always standing by them until re-mounted.
From the lads constantly rubbing and pulling their legs about, we had no
kickers. When a boy of only fifteen, I was allowed to ride a fine mare
which has been thus broken in, in company with the hounds. Being nearly
sixteen hands high, I had some difficulty in clambering up and down; but
when dislodged from my seat, she would stand quietly by until
re-mounted, and appeared as anxious for me to get up again as I was
myself.
"It may be said that all this was time and trouble thrown away, and that
the present plan of riding a young four-year-old, straight across
country at once, will answer the same purpose. My reply is, that a good
education, either upon man, horse, or dog, will never be thrown away;
and, notwithstanding the number of horses now brought into the
hunting-field, there are still few well-trained hunters to be met with.
The horse, the most beautiful and useful of animals to man, is seldom
sufficiently instructed or familiarised, although certainly capable of
the greatest attachment to his master when well used, and deserving to
be treated more as a friend than a slave. It is a general remark how
quiet some high-spirited horses will become when ridden by ladies. The
cause of this is, that they are more quietly handled, patted, and
caressed by them, and become soon sensible of this difference of
treatment, from the rough whip-and-spur system, too generally adopted by
men."
ON BAULKING OR JIBBING HORSES.
Horses are taught the dangerous vice of baulking, or jibbing, as it is
called in England, by improper management. When a horse jibs in harness,
it is generally from some mismanagement, excitement, confusion, or from
not knowing how to pull, but seldom from any unwillingness to perform
all that he understands. High-spirited free-going horses are the most
subject to baulking, and only so because drivers do not properly
understand how to manage this kind. A free horse in a team may be so
anxious to go, that when he hears the word he will start with a jump,
which will not move the load, but give him such a severe jerk on the
shoulders that he will fly back and stop the other horse. The teamster
will continue his driving without any cessation, and by the time he has
the slow horse started again, he will find that the free horse has made
another jump, and again flown back. And now he has them both badly
baulked, and so confused that neither of them knows what is the matter,
or how to start the load. Next will come the slashing and cracking of
the whip, and hallooing of the driver, till something is broken, or he
is through with his course of treatment. But what a mistake the driver
commits by whipping his horse for this act! Reason and common sense
should teach him that the horse was willing and anxious to go, but did
not know how to start the load. And should he whip him for that? If so,
he should whip him again for not knowing how to talk. A man that wants
to act with reason should not fly into a passion, but should always
think before he strikes. It takes a steady pressure against the collar
to move a load, and you cannot expect him to act with a steady,
determined purpose while you are whipping him. There is hardly one
baulking horse in five hundred that will pull truly from whipping: it is
only adding fuel to fire, and will make him more liable to baulk another
time. You always see horses that have been baulked a few times turn
their heads and look back as soon as they are a little frustrated. This
is because they have been whipped, and are afraid of what is behind
them. This is an invariable rule with baulked horses, just as much as it
is for them to look around at their sides when they have the
bots.[106-*] In either case they are deserving of the same sympathy and
the same kind, rational treatment.
When your horse baulks, or is a little excited, if he wants to start
quickly, or looks around and doesn't want to go, there is something
wrong, and he needs kind treatment immediately. Caress him kindly, and
if he doesn't understand at once what you want him to do, he will not be
so much excited as to jump and break things, and do everything wrong
through fear. As long as you are calm, and keep down the excitement of
the horse, there are ten chances that you will make him understand you,
where there would not be one under harsh treatment; and then the little
_flare up_ will not carry with it any unfavourable recollections, and he
will soon forget all about it, and learn to pull truly. Almost every
wrong act the horse commits is from mismanagement, fear, or excitement:
one harsh word will so excite a nervous horse as to increase his pulse
ten beats in a minute.
When we remember that we are dealing with dumb brutes, and reflect how
difficult it must be for them to understand our motions, signs, and
language, we should never get out of patience with them because they
don't understand us, or wonder at their doing things wrong. With all our
intellect, if we were placed in the horse's situation, it would be
difficult for us to understand the driving of some foreigner, of foreign
ways and foreign language. We should always recollect that our ways and
language are just as foreign and unknown to the horse as any language in
the world is to us, and should try to practise what we could understand
were we the horse, endeavouring by some simple means to work on his
understanding rather than on the different parts of his body. All
baulked horses can be started 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 baulked horse that I could not teach to start his load in
fifteen, and often less than three, minutes' time.
Almost any team, when first baulked, will start kindly if you let them
stand five or ten minutes as though there was nothing wrong, and then
speak to them with a steady voice, and turn them a little to the right
or left, so as to get them both in motion before they feel the pinch of
the load. But if you want to start a team that you are not driving
yourself, that has been baulked, fooled, and whipped for some time, go
to them and hang the lines on their hames, or fasten them to the waggon,
so that they will be perfectly loose; make the driver and spectators (if
there are any) stand off some distance to one side, so as not to attract
the attention of the horses; unloose their check-reins, so that they can
get their heads down if they choose; let them stand a few minutes in
this condition until you can see that they are a little composed. While
they are standing, you should be about their heads, gentling them: it
will make them a little more kind, and the spectators will think that
you are doing something that they do not understand, and will not learn
the secret. When you have them ready to start, stand before them, and,
as you seldom have but one baulky horse in a team, get as near in front
of him as you can, and, if he is too fast for the other horse, let his
nose come against your breast: this will keep him steady, for he will go
slow rather than run on you. Turn them gently to the right, without
letting them pull on the traces as far as the tongue will let them go:
stop them with a kind word, gentle them a little, and then turn them
back to the left, by the same process. You will then have them under
your control by this time; and as you turn them again to the right,
steady them in the collar, and you can take them where you please.
There is a quicker process that will generally start a baulky horse, but
not so sure. Stand him a little ahead, so that his shoulders will be
against the collar; and then take up one of his fore feet in your hand,
and let the driver start them, and when the weight comes against his
shoulders he will try to step: then let him have his foot, and he will
go right along. If you want to break a horse from baulking that has long
been in that habit, you ought to set apart a half-day for that purpose.
Put him by the side of some steady horse; have driving reins on them;
tie up all the traces and straps, so that there will be nothing to
excite them; do not rein them up, but let them have their heads loose.
Walk them about together for some time as slowly and lazily as possible;
stop often, and go up to your baulky horse and gentle him. Do not take
any whip about him, or do anything to excite him, but keep him just as
quiet as you 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 an empty waggon; have it
standing in a favourable position for starting. It would be well to
shorten the trace-chain behind the steady horse, so that, if it is
necessary, he can take the weight of the waggon the first time you start
them. Do not drive more than a few rods at first; watch your jibbing
horse closely, and if you see that he is getting excited, stop him
before he stops of his own accord, caress him a little, and start again.
As soon as they go well, drive them over a small hill a few times, and
then over a larger one, occasionally adding a little load. This process
will make any horse true to pull.
The following anecdote from Scrutator's "Horses and Hounds," illustrates
the soundness of Mr. Rarey's system:--"A gentleman in our neighbourhood
having purchased a very fine carriage horse, at a high price, was not a
little annoyed, upon trial, to find that he would not pull an ounce, and
when the whip was applied he began plunging and kicking. After one or
two trials the coachman declared he could do nothing with him, and our
neighbour, meeting my father, expressed his grievances at being thus
taken in, and asked what he had better do. The reply was 'Send the horse
to me tomorrow morning, and I will return him a good puller within a
week.' The horse being brought, was put into the shafts of a wagon, in a
field, with the hind wheels tied, and being reined up so that he could
not get his head between his legs, was there left, with a man to watch
him for five or six hours, and, of course, without any food. When my
father thought he had enough of standing still, he went up to him with a
handful of sweet hay, let down the bearing rein, and had the wheels of
the wagon released. After patting the horse on the neck, when he had
taken a mouthful or two of hay, he took hold of the bridle and led him
away--the wagon followed--thus proving stratagem to be better than
force. Another lesson was scarcely required, but, to make sure, it was
repeated, and, after that, the horse was sent back to the owner. There
was no complaint ever made of his jibbing again. The wagon to which he
was attached was both light and empty, and the ground inclined rather
towards the stable."
FOOTNOTES:
[106-*] A much more severe disease in America than in England.--EDIT.
[Illustration: LADY'S SEAT, WITH HUNTING-HORN POMMEL.]
CHAPTER VIII.
Value of good horsemanship to both sexes.--On teaching
children.--Anecdote.--Havelock's opinion.--Rarey's plan to train
ponies.--The use of books.--Necessity of regular teaching for
girls, boys can be self-taught.--Commence without a bridle.--Ride
with one pair of reins and two hands.--Advantage of hunting-horn on
side-saddle.--On the best plan for mounting.--Rarey's plan.--On a
man's seat.--Nolan's opinion.--Military style.--Hunting style.--Two
examples in Lord Cardigan.--The Prussian style.--Anecdote by Mr.
Gould, Blucher, and the Prince Regent.--Hints for men learning to
ride.--How to use the reins.--Pull right for right, and left for
left.--How to collect your horse.
You cannot learn to ride from a book, but you may learn how to do some
things and how to avoid many things of importance. Those who know all
about horses and horsemanship, or fancy they do, will not read this
chapter. But as there are riding-schools in the City of London, where an
excellent business is done in teaching well-grown men how to ride for
health or fashion, and as papas who know their own bump-bump style very
well often desire to teach their daughters, I have collected the
following instructions from my own experience, now extending over full
thirty years, on horses of all kinds, including the worst, and from the
best books on the subject, some of the best being anonymous
contributions by distinguished horsemen, printed for private
circulation. Every man and woman, girl and boy, who has the opportunity,
should learn to ride on horseback. It is almost an additional sense--it
is one of the healthiest exercises--it affords amusement when other
amusements fail--relaxation from the most severe toil, and often, in
colonies or wild countries, the only means of travelling or trading.
A man feels twice a man on horseback. The student and the farmer meet,
when mounted, the Cabinet Minister and the landlord on even terms--good
horsemanship is a passport to acquaintances in all ranks of life, and to
make acquaintances is one of the arts of civilised life; to ripen them
into use or friendship is another art. On horseback you can call with
less ceremony, and meet or leave a superior with less form than on
foot. Rotten Row is the ride of idleness and pleasure, but there is a
great deal of business done in sober walks and slow canters, commercial,
political, and matrimonial.
For a young lady not to be able to ride with a lover is a great loss;
not to be able to ride with a young husband a serious privation.
The first element for enjoying horse exercise is good horsemanship.
Colonel Greenwood says very truly:--"_Good_ riding is worth acquiring by
those whose pleasure or business it is to ride, because it is soon and
easily acquired, and, when acquired, it becomes habitual; and it is as
easy, nay, much more easy, and infinitely more safe, than bad riding."
"Good riding will last through age, sickness, and decrepitude, but bad
riding will last only as long as youth, health, and strength supply
courage; _for good riding is an affair of skill, but bad riding is an
affair of courage_."
A bold bad rider must not be merely brave; he must be fool-hardy; for he
is perpetually in as much danger as a blind man among precipices.
In riding, as in most other things, danger is for the timid and the
unskilful. The skilful rider, when apparently courting danger in the
field, deserves no more credit for courage than for sitting in an
arm-chair, and the unskilful no more the imputation of timidity for
backwardness than if without practice he declined to perform on the
tight-rope. Depend upon it, the bold bad rider is the hero.
There is nothing heroic in good riding, when dissected. The whole thing
is a matter of detail--a collection of trifles--and its principles are
so simple in theory and so easy in practice that they are despised.
It is an accomplishment that may, to a certain extent, be acquired late
in life. I know instances in both sexes of a fair firm seat having been
acquired under the pressure of necessity after forty years of age (I
could name lawyers, sculptors, architects, and sailors), but it may be
acquired with ease and perfection in youth, and it is most important
that no awkward habits should be acquired.
Children who have courage may be taught to ride almost as soon as they
can walk. On the Pampas of South America you may see a boy seven years
old on horseback, driving a herd of horses, and carrying a baby in his
arms!
I began my own lessons at four, when I sat upon an old mare in the stall
while the groom polished harness or blacked his boots. Mr. Nathaniel
Gould, who, at upwards of seventy years, and sixteen stone weight, can
still ride hunting for seven or eight hours at a stretch, mentions, in
his observations on horses and hunting,[114-*] that a nephew of his
followed the Cheshire fox-hounds at seven years of age. "His manner of
gathering up his reins was most singular, and his power of keeping his
seat, with his little legs stretched horizontally along the saddle,
quite surprising." The hero Havelock, writing to his little boy, says,
"You are now seven years old, and ought to learn to ride. I hope to hear
soon that you have made progress in that important part of your
education. Your uncle William (a boy-hero in the Peninsula) rode well
before he was seven years old." The proper commencement for a boy is a
pony in which he can interest himself, and on which he may learn to sit
as a horseman should.
I particularly warn parents against those broad-backed animals which,
however suitable for carrying heavy old gentlemen, or sacks to market,
are certainly very uncomfortable for the short legs of little boys, and
likely to induce rupture. On a narrow, well-bred pony, of 11 or 12 hands
high, a boy of six can sit like a little man. It is cruel to make
children ride with bare legs.
Before Rarey introduced his system, there was no satisfactory mode of
training those ponies that were too small for a man to mount, unless the
owner happened to live near some racing stable, where he could obtain
the services of a "feather-weight doll," and then the pony often learned
tricks more comic than satisfactory.
By patiently applying the practices explained in the preceding chapters,
the smallest and most highly-bred pony may be reduced to perfect
docility without impairing its spirit, and taught a number of amusing
tricks.
Young ladies may learn on full-sized horses quite as well as on ponies,
if they are provided with suitable side-saddles.
A man, or rather a boy, may learn to ride by practice and imitation, and
go on tumbling about until he has acquired a firm and even elegant seat,
but no lady can ever learn to ride as a lady should ride, without a good
deal of instruction; because her seat on horseback is so thoroughly
artificial, that without some competent person to tell her of her
faults, she is sure to fall into a number of awkward ungraceful tricks.
Besides, a riding-school, with its enclosed walls and trained horses,
affords an opportunity of going through the preliminary lessons without
any of those accidents which on the road, or in a field, are very likely
to occur with a raw pupil on a fresh horse. For a young lad to fall on
the grass, is not a serious affair, but a lady should never be allowed
to run the chance of a fall, because it is likely to destroy the nerve,
without which no lessons can be taught successfully. All who have
noticed the performances of Amazones in London, or at Brighton, must
have in remembrance the many examples of ladies who, with great courage,
sit in a manner that is at once fearful and ridiculous to behold;
entirely dependent on the good behaviour of horses, which they, in
reality, have no power of turning, and scarcely of stopping.
Little girls who learn their first lessons by riding with papa, who is
either absorbed in other business, or himself a novice in the art of
horsemanship, get into poky habits, which it is extremely difficult to
eradicate when they reach the age when every real woman wishes to be
admired.
Therefore, let everyone interested in the horsemanship of a young lady
commence by placing her, as early as possible, under the tuition of a
competent professional riding-master, unless he knows enough to teach
her himself. There are many
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