THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



93 



tened to the horse's feet by the same simple 

 means. 



Here again, as in the case of the stirrupless 

 saddle, when we reflect that men should, for nearly 

 a thousand years, have gone on fastening plates of 

 metal under horses' hoofs by the clumsy means of 

 straps and strings, without its ever occurring to 

 them to try so simple an improvement as nails, we 

 have another remarkable demonstration of the 

 slow steps by which horsemanship has reached its 

 present state. 



In the foregoing remarks, I have taken the 

 liberty of extracting several facts from a valuable 

 little work by Rolla Springfield. 



With this short comment on the rise and pro- 

 gress of horsemanship, from its commencement up 

 to the j)resent time, I will proceed to give you the 

 principles of a new theory of taming wild horses, 

 which is the result of many experiments, and a 

 thorough investigation and trial of the different 

 methods of horsemanship now in use. 



THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCPLES OF 

 MY THEORY. 



Founded on the Leading Characteristics of the Horse, 



First, — That he is so constituted by nature that 

 he will not offer resistance to any demand made of 

 him which he fully comprehends, if made in a way 

 consistent with the laws of his nature. 



Second. — That he has no consciousness of his 

 strength beyond his experience, and can be handled 

 according to our will without force. 



Third. — That we can, in compliance with the 

 laws of his nature, by which he examines all things 

 new to him, take any object, however frightful, 

 around, over, or on him, that does not inflict pain 

 — without causing him to fear. 



To take these assertions in order, I will first give 

 you some of the reasons why I think he is naturally 

 obedient, and will not offer resistance to anything 

 fully comprehended. The horse, though possessed 

 of some faculties superior to man's, being deficient 

 in reasoning powers, has no knowledge of right or 

 wrong, of free will and independent government, 

 and knows not of any imposition practised upon 

 him, however unreasonable these impositions may 

 be. Consequently, he cannot come to any decision 

 as to what he should or should not do, because he 

 has not the reasoning faculties of man to argue the 

 justice of the thing demanded of him. If he had, 

 taking into consideration his superior strength, he 

 would be useless to man as a servant. Give him 

 mind in proportion to his strength, and he will de- 

 mand of us the green fields for his inheritance, 

 where he will roam at leisure, denying the right of 



servitude at all. God has wisely formed his nature 

 so that it can be operated upon by the knowledge 

 of man according to tlie dictates of his will, and he 

 might well be termed an unconscious, submissive 

 servant. This truth we can see verified in every 

 day's experience by the abuses practised upon him. 

 Any one -who chooses to be so cruel, can mount 

 the noble steed and run him till he drops with 

 fatigue, or, as is often the case with the more 

 spirited, falls dead beneath his rider. If he had the 

 power to reason, would he not vault and pitch his 

 rider, rather than suft'er him to run him to death ? 

 Or would he condescend to carry at all the vain 

 impostor, who, with but equal intellect, was trying 

 to impose on his equal rights and equally indepen- 

 dent spirit ? But happily for us, he has no con- 

 sciousness of imposition, no thought of diso- 

 bedience except by impulse caused by the violation 

 of the law of his nature. Consequently, when 

 disobedient, it is the fault of man. 



Then, we can but come to the conclusion that, 

 if a horse is not taken in a way at variance with 

 the laws of his nature, he will do anything that he 

 fully comprehends, without making any offer of 

 resistance. 



Second. — The fact of the horse being unconscious 

 of the amount of his strength can be proven to the 

 satisfaction of any one. For instance, such re- 

 marks as these are common, and perhaps familiar 

 to your recollection. One person says to another, 

 "If that wild horse there was conscious of the 

 amount of his strength, his owner would have no 

 business with him in that vehicle ; such light reins 

 and harness, too — if he knew, he could snap them 

 asunder in a minute and be as free as the air we 

 breathe;" and, "That horse yonder, that is pawing 

 and fretting to follow the company that is fast 

 leaving him— if he knew his strength, he would 

 not remain long fastened to that hitching post so 

 much against his will, by a strap that would no 

 more resist his powerful weight and strength than 

 a cotton thread would bind a strong man." Yet 

 these facts, made common by every-day occurrence, 

 are not thought of as anything wonderful. Like 

 the ignorant man who looks at the different phases 

 of the moon, you look at these things as he looks 

 at her different changes, without troubhng your 

 mind with the question, " Why are these things 

 so ?" What would be the condition of the world 

 if all our minds lay dormant ? If men did not 

 think, reason, and act, our undisturbed, slumbering 

 intellects would not excel the imbecility of the 

 brute ; we should live in chaos, hardly aware of 

 our existence. And yet, with all our activity of 

 mind, we daily pass by unobserved that which 

 would be wonderful if philosophical and reasoned 

 upon ; and with the same inconsistency wonder at 



