A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses Part 5

The Germans use a wooden bit to make a horse's mouth, and good judges think they are right, as it may not be so unpleasant as metal to begin with; but wood or iron, the bridle should be properly put on, a point often neglected, and a fertile source of restiveness. There is as much need to fit a bridle to the length of a horse's head, as to buckle the girths of the saddle.

For conquering a vicious, biting horse, there is nothing equal to the large wooden gag-bit, which Mr. Rarey first exhibited in public on the zebra. A muzzle only prevents a horse from biting; a gag, properly used, cures; for when he finds he cannot bite, and that you caress him and rub his ears kindly with perfect confidence, he by degrees abandons this most dangerous vice. Stafford was driven in a wooden gag the first time. Colts inclined to crib-bite, should be dressed with one on.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODEN GAG BIT.]

Our woodcut is taken from the improved model produced by Mr. Stokey; no doubt Mr. Rarey took the idea of his gag-bit from the wooden gag, which has been in use among country farriers from time immemorial, to keep a horse's mouth while they are performing the cruel and useless operation of firing for lampas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leg strapped up.]

FOOTNOTES:

[51-*] Is there such a work? I cannot find it in any English catalogue.--EDITOR.

CHAPTER VI.

Taming a colt or horse.--Rarey's directions for strapping up and laying down detailed.--Explanations by Editor.--To approach a vicious horse with half door.--Cartwheel.--No. 1 strap applied.--No. 2 strap applied.--Woodcuts of.--How to hop about.--Knot up bridle.--Struggle described.--Lord B.'s improved No. 2 strap.--Not much danger.--How to steer a horse.--Laid down, how to gentle.--To mount, tied up.--Place and preparations for training described.

In this chapter I change the arrangement of the original work, and unite two sections which Mr. Rarey has divided, either because when he wrote them he was not aware of the importance of what is really the cardinal point, the mainstay, the foundation of his system, or because he wished to conceal it from the uninitiated. The Rarey system subst.i.tutes for severe longeing, for whipping and spurring, blinkers, physic, starving, the twitch, tying the tail down, sewing the ears together, putting shot in the ears, and all the cruelties. .h.i.therto resorted to for subduing high-spirited and vicious animals (and very often the high-spirited become, from injudicious treatment, the most vicious), a method of laying a horse down, tying up his limbs, and gagging, if necessary, his mouth, which makes him soon feel that man is his superior, and yet neither excites his terror or his hatred.

These two sections are to be found at pp. 48 and 51 and at pp. 59 and 60, _orig. edit._, under the t.i.tles of "How to drive a Horse that is very wild, and has any vicious Habits," and "How to make a Horse lie down." It is essential to unite these sections, because, if you put a well-bred horse in harness with his leg up, without first putting him down, it is ten to one but that he throws himself down violently, breaks the shafts of the vehicle, and his own knees.

The following are the sections verbatim, of which I shall afterwards give a paraphrase, with ill.u.s.trative woodcuts:--

"Take up one fore-foot and bend his knee till his hoof is bottom upwards, and nearly touching his body; then slip a loop over his knee, and up until it comes above the pastern-joint, to keep it up, being careful to draw the loop together between the hoof and pastern-joint with a second strap of some kind to prevent the loop from slipping down and coming off. This will leave the horse standing on three legs; you can now handle him as you wish, for it is utterly impossible for him to kick in this position. There is something in this operation of taking up one foot, that conquers a horse quicker and better than anything else you can do to him. There is no process in the world equal to it to break a kicking horse, for several reasons. First, there is a principle of this kind in the nature of the horse; that by conquering one member, you conquer, to a great extent, the whole horse.

"You have perhaps seen men operate upon this principle, by sewing a horse's ears together to prevent him from kicking. I once saw a plan given in a newspaper to make a bad horse stand to be shod, which was to fasten down one ear. There were no reasons given why you should do so; but I tried it several times, and thought that it had a good effect--though I would not recommend its use, especially st.i.tching his ears together. The only benefit arising from this process is, that by disarranging his ears we draw his attention to them, and he is not so apt to resist the shoeing. By tying up one foot we operate on the same principle to a much better effect. When you first fasten up a horse's foot, he will sometimes get very mad, and strike with his knee, and try every possible way to get it down; but he cannot do that, and will soon give up.

"This will conquer him better than anything you could do, and without any possible danger of hurting himself or you either, for you can tie up his foot and sit down and look at him until he gives up. When you find that he is conquered, go to him, let down his foot, rub his leg with your hand, caress him, and let him rest a little; then put it up again.

Repeat this a few times, always putting up the same foot, and he will soon learn to travel on three legs, so that you can drive him some distance. As soon as he gets a little used to this way of travelling, put on your harness, and hitch him to a sulky. If he is the worst kicking horse that ever raised a foot, you need not be fearful of his doing any damage while he has one foot up, for he cannot kick, neither can he run fast enough to do any harm. And if he is the wildest horse that ever had harness on, and has run away every time he has been hitched, you can now hitch him in a sulky, and drive him as you please.

If he wants to run, you can let him have the lines, and the whip too, with perfect safety, for he can go but a slow gait on three legs, and will soon be tired, and willing to stop; only hold him enough to guide him in the right direction, and he will soon be tired and willing to stop at the word. Thus you will effectually cure him at once of any further notion of running off. Kicking horses have always been the dread of everybody; you always hear men say, when they speak about a bad horse, 'I don't care what he does, so he don't kick.' This new method is an effectual cure for this worst of all habits. There are plenty of ways by which you can hitch a kicking horse, and force him to go, though he kicks all the time; but this doesn't have any good effect towards breaking him, for we know that horses kick because they are afraid of what is behind them, and when they kick against it and it hurts them, they will only kick the harder; and this will hurt them still more and make them remember the sc.r.a.pe much longer, and make it still more difficult to persuade them to have any confidence in anything dragging behind them ever after.

"But by this new method you can harness them to a rattling sulky, plough, waggon, or anything else in its worst shape. They may be frightened at first, but cannot kick or do anything to hurt themselves, and will soon find that you do not intend to hurt them, and then they will not care anything more about it. You can then let down the leg and drive along gently without any further trouble. By this new process a bad kicking horse can be learned to go gentle in harness in a few hours'

time."[70-*]

"HOW TO MAKE A HORSE LIE DOWN.

"Everything that we want to teach the horse must be commenced in such a way as to give him an idea of what you want him to do, and then be repeated till he learns it perfectly. To make a horse lie down, bend his left fore-leg and slip a loop over it, so that he cannot get it down. Then put a surcingle around his body, and fasten one end of a long strap around the other fore-leg, just above the hoof. Place the other end under the before-described surcingle, so as to keep the strap in the right direction; take a short hold of it with your right hand; stand on the left side of the horse, grasp the bit in your left hand, pull steadily on the strap with your right; bear against his shoulder till you cause him to move. As soon as he lifts his weight, your pulling will raise the other foot, and he will have to come on his knees. Keep the strap tight in your hand, so that he cannot straighten his leg if he rises up. Hold him in this position, and turn his head towards you; bear against his side with your shoulder, not hard, but with a steady, equal pressure, and in about ten minutes he will lie down. As soon as he lies down, he will be completely conquered, and you can handle him as you please. Take off the straps, and straighten out his legs; rub him lightly about the face and neck with your hand the way the hair lies; handle all his legs, and after he has lain ten or twenty minutes, let him get up again. After resting him a short time, make him lie down as before. Repeat the operation three or four times, which will be sufficient for one lesson. Give him two lessons a day, and when you have given him four lessons, he will lie down by taking hold of one foot. As soon as he is well broken to lie down in this way, tap him on the opposite leg with a stick when you take hold of his foot, and in a few days he will lie down from the mere motion of the stick."

EDITORS DETAILED EXPLANATIONS.

Although, as I before observed, the tying up of the fore-leg is not a new expedient, or even the putting a horse down single-handed, the two operations, as taught and performed by Mr. Rarey, not only subdue and render docile the most violent horses, but, most strange of all, inspire them with a positive confidence and affection after two or three lessons from the horse-tamer. "How this is or why this is," Mr. Langworthy, the veterinary surgeon to Her Majesty's stables, observed, "I cannot say or explain, but I am convinced, by repeated observation on many horses, that it is a fact."

If, however, a man, however clever with horses, were to attempt to perform the operations without other instruction than that contained in the American pamphlet, he would infallibly break his horse's knees, and probably get his toes trodden on, his eyes blacked, and his arm dislocated--for all these accidents have happened within my own knowledge to rash experimentalists; while under proper instructions, not only have stout and gouty n.o.blemen succeeded perfectly, but the slight-built, professional horsewoman, Miss Gilbert, has conquered thorough-bred colts and fighting Arabs, and a young and beautiful peeress has taken off her bonnet before going to a morning _fete_, and in ten minutes laid a full-sized horse prostrate and helpless as a sheep in the hands of the shearer.

Having, then, in your mind Mr. Rarey's maxim that a horseman should know neither fear nor anger, and having laid in a good stock of patience, you must make your approach to the colt or stallion in the mode prescribed in the preceding chapters. In dealing with a colt, except upon an emergency, he should be first accustomed to be handled and taught to lead; this, first-rate horse-tamers will accomplish with the wildest colt in three hours, but it is better to give at least one day up to these first important steps in education. It will also be as well to have a colt cleaned and his hoof trimmed by the blacksmith. If this cannot be done the operation will be found very dirty and disagreeable.

In approaching a spiteful stallion you had better make your first advances with a half-door between you and him, as Mr. Rarey did in his first interview with Cruiser: gradually make his acquaintance, and teach him that you do not care for his open mouth; but a regular biter must be gagged in the manner which will presently be described.

Of course there is no difficulty in handling the leg of a quiet horse or colt, and by constantly working from the neck down to the fetlock you may do what you please. But many horses and even colts have a most dangerous trick of striking out with their fore-legs. There is no better protection against this than a cart-wheel. The wheel may either be used loose, or the animal may be led up to a cart loaded with hay, when the horse-tamer can work under the cart through one of the wheels, while the colt is nibbling the load.

Having, then, so far soothed a colt that he will permit you to take up his legs without resistance, take the strap No. 1[73-*]--pa.s.s the tongue through the loop under the buckle so as to form a noose, slip it over the near fore-leg and draw it close up to the pastern-joint, then take up the leg as if you were going to shoe him, and pa.s.sing the strap over the fore-arm, put it through the buckle, and buckle the lower limb as close as you can to the arm without hurting the animal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STRAP NO. 1.]

Take care that your buckle is of the very best quality, and the leather sound. It is a good plan to stretch it before using it. The tongues of buckles used for this purpose, if not of the very best quality, are very likely to come out, when all your labour will have to be gone over again. Sometimes you may find it better to lay the loop open on the ground, and let the horse step into it. It is better the buckle should be inside the leg if you mean the horse to fall toward you, because then it is easier to unbuckle when he is on the ground.

In those instances in which you have had no opportunity of previously taming and soothing a colt, it will frequently take you an hour of quiet, patient, silent perseverance before he will allow you to buckle up his leg--if he resists you have nothing for it but _patience_. You must stroke him, you must fondle him, until he lets you enthral him. Mr.

Rarey always works alone, and disdains a.s.sistance, and so do some of his best pupils, Lord B., the Marquis of S., and Captain S. In travelling in foreign countries you may have occasion to tame a colt or wild horse alone, but there is no reason why you should not have a.s.sistance if you can get it, and in that case the process is of course much easier. But it must never be forgotten that to tame a horse properly no unnecessary force must be employed; it is better that he should put down his foot six times that he may yield it willingly at last, and under no circ.u.mstances must the trainer lose patience, or give way to temper.

The near fore-leg being securely strapped, and the horse, if so inclined, secured from biting by a wooden bit, the next step is to make him hop about on three legs. This is comparatively easy if the animal has been taught to lead, but it is difficult with one which has not. The trainer must take care to keep behind his horse's shoulder and walk in a circle, or he will be likely to be struck by the horse's head or strapped-up leg.

Mr. Rarey is so skilful that he seldom considers it necessary to make his horses hop about; but there is no doubt that it saves much after-trouble by fatiguing the animal; and that it is a useful preparation before putting a colt or kicking horse into harness. Like every other operation it must be done very gently, and accompanied by soothing words--"Come along"--"Come along, old fellow," &c.

A horse can hop on three legs, if not severely pressed, for two or three miles; and no plan is more successful for curing a kicker or jibber.

When the horse has hopped for as long as you think necessary to tire him, buckle a common single strap roller or surcingle on his body tolerably tight. A single strap surcingle is the best.

It is as well, if possible, to teach colts from a very early age to bear a surcingle. At any rate it will require a little management the first time.

You have now advanced your colt so far that he is not afraid of a man, he likes being patted and caressed, he will lead when you take hold of the bridle, and you have buckled up his leg so that he cannot hop faster than you can run.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 2 STRAP, FOR OFF FORE-LEG.]

Shorten the bridle (the bit should be a thick plain snaffle) so that the reins, when laid loose on his withers, come nearly straight. This is best done by twisting the reins twice round two fore-fingers and pa.s.sing the ends through in a loop, because this knot can be easily untied. Next take strap No. 2, and, making a loop, put it round the off fore-leg.

With a very quiet horse this can easily be done; with a wild or vicious horse you may have to make him step into it; at any rate, when once the off fore-leg is caught in the noose it must be drawn tight round the pastern-joint. Then put a stout glove or mitten on your right hand, having taken care that your nails have been cut short, pa.s.s the strap through the belly part of the surcingle, take a firm short hold of it with your gloved right hand, standing close to the horse behind his shoulders, and with your left hand take hold of the near rein; by pulling the horse gently to the near side he will be almost sure to hop; if he will not he must be led, but Mr. Rarey always makes him hop alone. The moment he lifts up his off fore-foot you must draw up strap No. 2 tightly and steadily. The motion will draw up the off leg into the same position as the near leg, and the horse will go down on his knees.

Your object is to hold the strap so firmly that he will not be able to stretch his foot out again. Those who are very confident in their skill are content to hold the strap only with a twist round their hand, but others take the opportunity of the horse's first surprise to give the strap a double turn round the surcingle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Horse with Straps Nos. 1 and 2.]

Another way of performing this operation is to use with difficult violent horses the strap invented by Lord B----h, which consists first of the loop for the off fore-leg shown in our cut. A surcingle strap, at least seven feet long, with a buckle, is thrown across the horse's back; the buckle end is pa.s.sed through the ring; the tongue is pa.s.sed through the buckle, and the moment the horse moves the Tamer draws the strap tight round the body of the horse, and in buckling it makes the leg so safe that he has no need to use any force in holding it up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LORD B.'S IMPROVED STRAP NO. 2.]

As soon as a horse recovers from his astonishment at being brought to his knees, he begins to resist; that is, he rears up on his hind-legs, and springs about in a manner that is truly alarming for the spectators to behold, and which in the case of a well-bred horse in good condition requires a certain degree of activity in the Trainer. (See page of Horse Struggling.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: SURCINGLE FOR LORD B.'S STRAP NO. 2.]

You must remember that your business is not to set your strength against the horse's strength, but merely to follow him about, holding the strap just tight enough to prevent him from putting out his off fore-leg. As long as you keep _close to him_ and _behind his shoulders_ you are in very little danger. The bridle in the left hand must be used like steering lines: by pulling to the right or left as occasion requires, the horse, turning on his hind-legs, maybe guided just as a boat is steered by the rudder lines; or pulling straight, the horse may be fatigued by being forced to walk backwards. The strap pa.s.sing through the surcingle keeps, or ought to keep, the Trainer in his right place--he is not to pull or in any way fatigue himself more than he can help, but, standing upright, simply follow the horse about, guiding him with the bridle away from the walls of the training school when needful. It must be admitted that to do this well requires considerable nerve, coolness, patience, and at times agility; for although a gra.s.s-fed colt will soon give in, a corn-fed colt, and, above all, a high-couraged hunter in condition, will make a very stout fight; and I have known one instance in which a horse with both fore-legs fast has jumped sideways.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Horse struggling.]

The proof that the danger is more apparent than real lies in the fact that no serious accidents have as yet happened; and that, as I before observed, many n.o.blemen, and some n.o.ble ladies, and some boys, have succeeded perfectly. But it would be untrue to a.s.sert that there is no danger. When held and guided properly, few horses resist more than ten minutes; and it is believed that a quarter of an hour is the utmost time that any horse has ever fought before sinking exhausted to the earth.