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.