Illustrated Horse Breaking

by M. Horace Hayes

If the animal prove thoroughly stubborn, and time be of consequence, he should be made to lie down, and held with his head turned round (see [page 158]), until he appears to “give in.” The driving gear should be again put on, and another trial given. This process may have to be repeated. Such strong measures will hardly ever be necessary, if we commence with the fence low enough.

When putting the animal through the course of the discipline which I have described, for overcoming stubbornness by the use of the long reins, I have found that the good effect has been greatly increased, by utilising the action of the outward rein on the pad.

The log may be gradually raised to a height of three feet, which will be sufficient for the first lesson, and the horse made to jump freely, when circling to the right, as well as to the left. A second fence may be made on the other side of the enclosure, opposite to the first one. When the horse has learned to jump with the outward rein low down, he should be taught to do so with it resting on the pad; as it will then be, more or less, in the position it will occupy, when held by the rider.

By teaching a horse in an enclosure, he will be free from outside disturbing influences, and, having become accustomed to go round the track, will the more readily jump any obstacle placed across it.

By this method, horses may quickly learn to jump, and not alone to clear the obstacle, but also to negotiate it in the exact style they are required to do, when a man is on their back. The more horses are practised in this manner, the more they appear to like jumping, and very rarely exhibit, as they will do with a rider, any dislike to the work, from numerous repetitions, backwards and forwards, over the same fence.

The old plan of teaching a horse to jump by leading him over fences with a cavesson and one or two leading-reins, is an abomination that no horseman should perpetrate; for its tendency is to make the animal jump in the very way he ought not to do, namely, with the weight on the fore-hand, and not on the hind-quarters. Besides this, horses are very apt to resist any forward pull on either cavesson or head-stall. The action of the crupper leading-rein, on the contrary, while leaving the head entirely free, is to make the horse get his hind-legs well under him, as we may see by the way he throws up his hind-quarters, when being led by it over a fence. We all have, of course, heard the well-founded objection to the use of the cavesson and leading-rein for teaching horses to jump, that it makes them slow to “get away” on landing over a fence; a fault, no doubt, caused by the habit of having the weight on the fore-hand. If we want a horse to jump “big” and “get away” quick, we must “catch a good hold of his head;” the very opposite of which is done by the cavesson method.

The system of turning horses loose into a small circular course, fenced in and provided with obstacles, and then making them jump with a long whip, is good as far as it goes; but neither it, nor the lunging plan, has any pretensions to teaching obedience to the rein when jumping, without which a safe and clever style is unattainable.

By using a circular track, the horse can be taught to jump at any pace, and the nature of the fences, which should never be made weak enough to “chance,” varied as may be desired. The breaker might have three circles, each containing three jumps of different kinds; for instance, a post and rails, water jump, hurdle, double bank, stone wall, hedge, open ditch, ditch and bank, and bank and ditch.

Two or three lessons of this sort will be sufficient to make the generality of horses clever enough to carry a rider in good style. The horse should then be saddled; a man or boy put up, without giving him, at first, any reins to hold; and the horse driven over the fences, as before. When the breaker finds that the animal jumps as well with the man up as he did without him, he may take off the long reins, put on the ordinary ones, and hand them to the rider, who should then take the horse over the fences as before; the breaker using the crack of the whip, as a stimulus, if required. The rider should not be given spurs, unless he is a fine horseman, and unless the horse requires them to make him more lively; but not as a means for overcoming any reluctance he may have to jumping, which should be accomplished in the manner I have laid down.

After the animal has learned all we can teach him in our enclosures, he should be made over to a good rider, to school him in the country, and, if possible, with hounds.