If a colt is well broken at first there will be no necessity in after life to resort to such means as those which Rarey introduced, or the dodging process of M. Carriès as mentioned in the ‘Pall Mall Gazette,’ the paragraph concerning which I here reproduce:—
‘Horse Taming.—History repeats itself in horse-taming, it appears, as well as in other matters. Mr. Rarey and Cruiser have met with their match in M. Carriès and Trocadéro. [59] ]Trocadéro, son of Monarque and Antonio, has of late exhibited symptoms of the most fearful ferocity; and “about two months ago,” according to “Le Sport,” M. Aumont “met M. Carriès,” who offered to tame the animal. M. Aumont, having inquired whether the means employed would not be drugs or such violence as might injure the horse or render him still more furious, and having received an assurance that nothing of the kind would be used, he consented; and, at a time agreed upon, a visit was paid to the stud at Victat-Pontfol, and the experiments began. The first thing was to enter the horse-box. This M. Carriès did, in presence of M. Aumont and all the “stable,” who “s’attendait à le voir dévoré.” An exciting “duel” ensued; the horse rushing, time after time, with open mouth and with “hennissements féroces,” at M. Carriès, who merely dodged him by rapid movements aside, as the toreador dodges the bull. After ten of these attacks so met, “the animal suddenly stopped to contemplate the audacious individual who braved [60] ]him in this manner, and was at once seized with the nervous trembling which comes over ‘le lutteur aux prises avec un adversaire contre lequel ses moyens habituels ont échoué. Trocadéro était dompté!’” And M. Carriès took advantage of the horse’s stupor to put a saddle and bridle upon him, after which Trocadéro submitted like a lamb to have his fore-feet shod, and ultimately his hind-feet, without more ado. The dodging process of M. Carriès certainly beats for simplicity even the throwing-down process of Mr. Rarey; but it might be awkward if the tamer were to meet with a horse less susceptible of “stupeur” than Trocadéro appears to be. The question suggested by all these horse-taming feats, however, is whether they could not be rendered altogether unnecessary by care taken in the original training, and whether, as regards the trainer and the method he adopts towards his four-legged pupils, the gist of the whole matter does not lie in what has been said by a French authority:—“S’il est brutal, le poulain deviendra farouche, violent, et méfiant; si, [61] ]au contraire, il sait mettre l’animal en confiance, la bonne entente s’établira promptement.” It certainly seems that, if a horse in his years of discretion, or rather maturity, and of confirmed viciousness, can be tamed so readily by a resolute but gentle master, there ought to be little or no difficulty in training him up during foalhood, like Captain Cuttle’s fig-tree, in the way he should go, so that when he is old he would not depart from it.’
[63]
]CHAPTER IV.
TEACHING THE COLT HIS PACES.
THE WALK—IGNORANCE OF ENGLISHMEN AS TO THE VALUE OF THE WALK—AUSTRALIAN WALKING HORSES—THE TROT—THE JIG-JOG—THE FLYING TROT—LADIES’ TROTTERS—THE CANTER—LADIES’ ROCKING HORSES—THE GALLOP—TRAINERS.
[65]
]CHAPTER IV.
TEACHING THE COLT HIS PACES.
Now that the colt has been mounted and more or less mouthed during his fortnight’s road work, he must be taught his paces, viz., how to walk, trot, canter, and gallop properly. Ambling, pacing, and running not being in vogue in this country, I shall make no mention of them.
The Walk.—It is of great importance to teach a horse to walk well; there is nothing more disagreeable than riding a horse that walks as if he was crawling to his own funeral, or one which will not walk, but prefers to shake the life out of you with a jig-jog. People in this country do not place so much value on the walk as they would if they had long journeys to go. The Australians, on the contrary, [66] ]who live in the saddle, appreciate a good walking horse, and will give a good deal more for a walker than they will for one that is not. An Australian may be travelling a long distance, or in search of lost sheep, cattle, or horses; in either case the pace would be slow, and probably the distance covered daily from forty to forty-five miles, or perhaps more, and to ride a horse day after day for this distance, which will not walk, but only jig-jog, is simply martyrdom. Therefore those men who break-in horses for their own use take very great pains to teach them to walk well. In England the average pace of a horse which has any pretensions to walking is about four miles an hour, and I very much doubt if the best ever get to five. In Australia, where horses are educated to walk, good walkers can do their six miles an hour. The Americans educate their horses to trot, and beat us at that pace. A good Australian walking horse will be able to keep up five miles an hour for the distance of twenty miles; and for a long distance, say a journey of two or three [67] ]hundred miles, doing from thirty to fifty miles daily, he will walk four and a half
miles an hour. In fact a bushman knows to a mile how far he has gone by consulting his watch only, for he is able to tell through experience the pace his horse is walking at, just in the same way that a jockey judges the speed of his race-horse. At all the largest horse-shows in the Australian Colonies, special prizes are given for the best walking horses.
To teach a horse to walk well is a very easy matter, only requiring patience, time, and a certain amount of knack. The reins must not be drawn up tightly, but on the contrary they must be slack, and only so drawn up as just to feel the colt’s mouth and no more. A horse cannot extend himself and walk fast if he has not his head, which holds good with respect to any pace, for a horse can neither gallop, trot, or walk at his best, if his head is confined. When commencing to teach a horse to walk, the only thing to be done is to prevent him from indulging in the jig-jog; and to prevent [68] ]this every time he does so, he must be brought up to the walk again by means of pressure on the bit. No endeavour should now be made at fast walking; the only thing to be done is to make him walk in some style or other, and to prevent him from breaking. A man who is used to this work will feel the colt is going to break, or wants to do so, and so will be in readiness to prevent him, or at least prevent him breaking badly. It will take a month or more before the colt is tolerably free from breaking, but as soon as he has got to understand he is not to do so, and his breaks grow less in number, he may be taught to increase the speed of his walk by pressure of the heel or spur. You should not use a whip, for it generally causes them to break. As soon as he has recovered his break, slack the reins again and urge him to his fastest walk, which in time will be double what it was at first. The colt should not be sickened of one pace, but after walking a mile he must be trotted or cantered for half a mile, and then drawn up to the walk [69] ]again. When a colt is being taught his paces, he should not be out long; if he gets an hour of it twice daily, and is made to do his best all the time, it will be plenty for him. When he is walking he must be made to do his best, and when he gets a trot or canter to rest him from walking, he should be made to do that also in his best form. By so doing he is taught to exert himself, and to learn that he must not move in a slovenly manner, and at the same time, although the chief subject at present is to teach him to walk, he is also being initiated into the proper method of trotting and cantering. Although he will, in three or four months, be a fair walker, it will be a year, or perhaps two, before he has attained perfection. The Americans do not count months, but years, in educating a horse to trot. To get a horse at his best pace requires time, and time and patience alone can accomplish it.
The Trot.—There are three kinds of trot: the jog-trot or jig-jog, the true trot, and the flying-trot. The jog-trot is a most uncomfortable [70] ]pace, and is not faster than a walk; the flying-trot is that indulged in by the Americans, and by our own countrymen in trotting-matches, but as the true trot is the only one used by the bulk of the people in this country, I shall confine myself to describing the method of teaching the colt the proper mode of progressing in that pace. The jog-trot is a modification of the true trot, whilst the flying-trot is an exaggeration of it; therefore the true trot is the medium, and the best for all purposes with the exception of race trotting.