THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



95 



— not knowirijs; how to get into such a place, nor 

 how to get out of it. That he may take it as quietly 

 as possible, see that the shed is entirely free from 

 dogs, chickens, or anything that would annoy him. 

 Then give him a few ears of corn, and let him re- 

 main alone fifteen or twenty minutes, until he has 

 examined his apartment, and has become reconciled 

 to his confinement. 



TIME TO REFLECT. 



And now, while your horse is eating those few 

 ears of corn, is the proper time to see that your 

 halter is ready and all right, and to reflect on the 

 best mode of operations ; for in horSebreaking it is 

 highly important that you should be governed by 

 some system. And you should know, before you 

 attempt to do anything, just what you are going to 

 do, and how you are going to do it. And, if you 

 are experienced in the art of taming wild horses, 

 you ought to be able to tell, within a few minutes, 

 the length of time it would take you to halter the 

 colt, and teach him to lead. 



THE KIND OF HALTER. 



Always use a leather halter, and be sure to have 

 it made so that it will not draw tight around his 

 nose if he pulls on it. It should be of the right 

 size to fit his head easily and nicely ; so that the 

 nose-band will not be too tight or too low. Never 

 put a rope halter on an unbroken colt, under any 

 circumstances whatever. They have caused more 

 horses to hurt or kill themselves than would pay 

 for twice the cost of all the leather halters that have 

 ever been needed for the purpose of haltering colts. 

 It is almost impossible to break a colt that is very 

 wild with a rope halter, without having him pull, 

 rear, and throw himself, and thus endanger his 

 life; and I will tell you why. It is just as natural 

 for a horse to try to get his head out of anything 

 that hurts it, or feels unpleasant, as it would be for 

 you to try to get your hand out of a fire. The 

 cords of the rope are hard and cutting ; this makes 

 him raise his head and draw on it, and as soon as 

 he pulls, the slip noose (the way rope halters are 

 always made) tightens, and pinches his nose, and 

 then he will struggle for life, until, perchance, he 

 throws himself; and who would have his horse 

 throw himself, and run the risk of breaking his 

 neck, rather than pay the price of a leather halter ? 

 But this is not the worst. A horse that has once 

 pulled on his halter can never be as well broken as 

 one that has never pulled at all. 



REMARKS ON THE HORSE. 



But before we attempt to do anything more with 

 the colt, I will give you some of the characteristics 

 of his nature, that you may better understand his 

 motions. Every one that has ever paid any atten- 



tion to the horse, has noticed his natural inclination 

 to smell everything which to him looks new and 

 frightful. This is tlieir strange mode of examining 

 everything. And, when they are frightened at any- 

 thing, though they look at it sharply, they seem to 

 liave no confidence in this optical examination 

 alone, but must touch it with the nose before they 

 are entirely satisfied ; and, as soon as this is done, 

 all is right. 



EXPERIMENT WITH THE KOBE. 



If you want to satisfy yourself of this charac- 

 teristic of the horse, and learn something of im- 

 portance concerning the peculiarities of his nature, 

 &c., turn him into the barn-yard, or a large stable 

 will do. And then gather up something that you 

 know will frighten him — a red blanket, buffalo robe, 

 or something of that kind. Hold it up so that he 

 can see it, he will stick up his head and snort. 

 Then throw it down somewhere in the centre of the 

 lot or barn, and walk off to one side. Watch his 

 motions, and study his nature. If he is frightened 

 at the object, he will not rest until he has touched 

 it with his nose. You will see him begin to walk 

 around the robe and snort, all the time getting a 

 little closer, as if drawn up by some magic spell, 

 until he finally gets within reach of it. He will 

 then very cautiously stretch out his neck as far as 

 he can reach, merely touching it with his nose, as 

 though he thought it was ready to fly at him. But 

 after he has repeated these touches a few times, for 

 the first (though he has been looking at it all the 

 time), he seems to have an idea what it is. But 

 now he has found, by the sense of feeling, that it 

 is nothing that will do him any harm, and he is 

 ready to play with it. And if you watch him 

 closely, you will see him take hold of it with his 

 teeth, and raise it up and pull at it. And in a few 

 minutes you can see that he has not that same wild 

 look about his eyes, but stands like a horse biting 

 at some familiar stump. 



Yet the horse is never so well satisfied when he 

 is about anything that has frightened him, as when 

 he is standing with his nose to it. And, in nine 

 cases out of ten, you will see some of that same 

 wild look about him again, as he turns to walk from 

 it. And you will, probably, see him looking back 

 very suspiciously as he walks away, as though ha 

 thought it might come after him yet. And in all 

 probability, he will have to go back and make 

 another examination before he is satisfied. But he 

 will familiarize himself with it, and, if he should 

 run in that lot a few days, the robe that frightened 

 him so much at first will be no more to him than a 

 familiar stump. 



SUPPOSITIONS OF THE SENSE OF SMELLING. 



We might very naturally suppose from the fact 



