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.”
[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.”