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 30s. to 2l. 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.
[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.