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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



of the horse's applying his nose to everything new 

 to him, that he always does so for the purpose of 

 smelling these objects. But 1 believe that it is as 

 much or more for the purpose of feeling, and that 

 he makes use of his nose, or muzzle (as it is some- 

 times called), as we would of our hands ; because 

 it is the only organ by which he can touch or feel 

 anything with much susceptibility. 



I believe that he invariably makes use of the 

 four senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling, 

 in all of his examinations, of which the sense of 

 feeling is, perhaps, the most important. And I 

 think that, in the experiment with the robe, his 

 gradual approach and final touch with his nose was 

 as much for the purpose of feeling as anything else, 

 his sense of smell being so keen that it would not 

 be necessary for him to touch his nose against any- 

 thing in order to get the proper scent ; for it is said 

 a horse can smell a man the distance of a mile. 

 And, if the scent of the robe was all that was 

 necessary he could get that several rods oft". But 

 we know from experience, that if a horse sees and 

 smells a robe a short distance from him he is very 

 much frightened (unless he is used to it) until he 

 touches or feels it with his nose ; which is a posi- 

 tive proof that feeling is the controlling sense in 

 this case. 



PREVAILING OPINION OF HORSEMEN. 



It is a prevailing opinion among horsemen gene- 

 rally that the sense of smell is the governing sense 

 of the horse ; and Faucher, as well as others, has 

 with that view got up receipts of strong smelling 

 oils, &c., to tame the horse, sometimes using the 

 chesnut of his leg, which they dry, grind into 

 powder, and blow into his nostrils, sometimes using 

 the oil of rhodium organum, &c., that are noted 

 for their strong smell : and sometimes they scent 

 the hand with the sweat from under the arm, or 

 blow their breath into his nostrils, &c., &c. All of 

 which, as far as the scent goes, have no effect 

 whatever in gentling the horse, or conveying any 

 idea to his mind ; though the works that accom- 

 pany these efforts — handling him, touching him 

 about the nose and head, and patting him, as they 

 direct you should, after administering the articles, 

 may have a very great effect, which they mistake 

 to be the eff'ect of the ingredients used. And 

 Faucher, in his work entitled " The Arabian Art of 

 Taming Horses," page 17, tells us how to accus- 

 tom a horse to a robe, by administering certain 

 articles to his nose ; and goes on to say that these 

 articles must first be applied to the horse's nose, 

 before you attempt to break him, in order to ope- 

 rate successfully. 



Now, reader, can you, or any one else, give one 

 single reason how scent can convey any idea to the 

 horse's mind of what we want him to do ? If not, 

 then of course strong scents of any kind are of no 

 account in taming the unbroken horse. For, every- 

 thing that we get him to do of his own accord, 

 without force, must be accomplished by some means 

 of conveying our ideas to his mind. I say to my 

 horse, " Go-'long I" and he goes ; " Ho !" and he 

 stoi)S ; because these two words, of which he has 

 learned the meaning by the tap of the whip and 



the pull of the rein that first accompanied them, 

 convey the two ideas to his mind of (jo and stop. 



Faucher, or no one else, can ever teach the horse 

 a single thing by the means of scent alone. 



How long do you suppose a horse would 

 have to stand and smell a bottle of oil before he 

 would learn to bend his knee and make a bow at 

 your bidding, " Go yonder and bring your hat," or 

 " Come here and lie down ?" Thus you see the 

 absurdity of trying to tame or break the horse by 

 the means of receipts for articles to smell at, or 

 medicine to give him, of any kind whatever. 



The only science that has ever existed in the 

 world, relative to the breaking of horses, that has 

 been of any account, is that true method which 

 takes them in fheir native state, and improves their 

 intelligence. 



powel's system of approaching the colt* 



But, before we go further, I will give you Willis 

 J. Powel's system of approaching a wild colt, as 

 given by him in a work published in Europe, about 

 the year 1814, on the "Art of Taming Wild 

 Horses." He says, "A horse is gentled by ray 

 secret in from two to sixteen hours." The time I 

 have most commonly employed has been from four 

 to six hours. He goes on to say, " Cause your 

 horse to be put in a small yard, stable, or room. 

 If in a stable or room, it ought to be large, in order 

 to give him some exercise with the halter before 

 you lead him out. If the horse belongs to that 

 class which appears only to fear man, you must in- 

 troduce yourself gently into the stable, room, or yard, 

 where the horse is. He will naturally run from you, 

 and frequently turn his head from you ; but you 

 must walk about extremely slow and softly, so that 

 he can see you whenever he turns his head towards 

 you, which he never fails to do in a short time, say 

 in a quarter or half an hour. I never knew one to 

 be much longer without turning towards me. 



"At the very moment he turns his head, hold 

 out your left hand towards him, and stand perfectly 

 still, keeping your eyes upon the horse, watching 

 his motions, if he makes any. If the horse does 

 not stir for ten or fifteen minutes, advance as slowly 

 as possible, and without making the least noise, 

 always holding out your left hand, without any 

 other ingredient in it than what nature put in it." 

 He says, " I have made use of certain ingredients 

 before people, euch as the sweat under my arm, 

 &c., to disguise the real secret, and many believed 

 that the docility, to which the horse arrived in so 

 short a time, was owing to these ingredients ; but 

 you see from this explanation that they were of no 

 use whatever. The implicit faith placed in these 

 ingredients, though innocent of themselves, be- 

 comes ' faith without works.' And thus men re- 

 mained always in doubt concerning this secret. If 

 the horse makes the least motion when you advance 

 towards him, stop, and remain perfectly still until 

 he is quiet. Remain a few moments in this con- 

 dition, and then advance again in the same slow 

 and almost imperceptible manner. Take notice — 

 if the horse stirs, stop, without changing your 

 position. It is very uncommon for the horse to 

 stir more than once after you begin to advance, yet 

 there are exceptions. He generally keeps his eye 



