98 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Accordingly, M'hen you have entered the stable, 

 stand still, and let your horse look at you a minute 

 or two, and as soon as he is settled in one place, 

 approach him slowly, with both arms stationary, 

 your right hanging by your side, holding the whip 

 as directed, and the left bent at the elbow, with 

 your hand projecting. As you approach him, go 

 not too much towards his head or croup, so as not 

 to make him move either forward or backward, 

 thus keeping your horse stationary ; if he does 

 move a little either forward or l)ackward, step a 

 little to the right or left very cautiously; this will 

 keep him in one place. As you get very near him 

 draw a little to his shoulder, and stop a few seconds. 

 If you are in his reach he will turn his head and 

 smell your hand, not that he has any preference for 

 your hand, but because that is projecting, and is 

 the nearest portion of your body to the horse. This 

 all colts will do, and they will smell your naked 

 hand just as quickly as they will of anything that 

 you can put in it, and with just as good an effect, 

 however much some men have preached the doc- 

 trine of taming horses by giving them the scent of 

 articles from the hand. I have already proved that 

 to be a mistake. As soon as he touches his nose 

 to your hand, caress him as before directed, always 

 using a very light soft hand, merely touching the 

 horse, always rubbing the way the hair lies, so that 

 your hand will pass along as smoothly as possible. 

 As you stand by his side, you may find it more 

 convenient to rub his neck or the side of his head, 

 which will answer the same purpose as rubbing 

 his forehead. Favour every inclination of the horse 

 to smell or touch you with his nose. Always fol- 

 low each touch or communication of this kind with 

 the most tender and affectionate caresses, accom- 

 panied with a kind look, and pleasant word of some 

 sort, such as, " Ho I my little boy — ho ! my little 

 boy !" "■ Pretty boy !" " Nice lady !" or some- 

 thing of that kind, constantly repeating the same 

 words, with the same kind, steady tone of voice ; 

 for the horse soon learns to read the expression of 

 the face and voice, and will know as well when fear, 

 love, or anger prevails, as you know your own 

 feelings ; two of which, fear and anyer, a good 

 horseman should never feel. 



HOW TO PIIOCEED IF YOUR HORSE IS OF A 

 STUBBORN DISPOSITION. 



If your horse, instead of being wild, seems to be 

 of a stubborn or mulish disposition ; if he lays back 

 his ears as you approach him, or turns his heels to 

 kick you, he has not that regard or fear of man 

 that he should have, to enable you to handle him 

 quickly and easily ; and it might be well to give 

 him a few sharp cuts with the whip about the legs, 

 pretty close to the body. It will crack keen as it 

 plies around his legs, and the crack of the whip 

 will affect him as much as the stroke ; besides, one 

 sharp cut about his legs will affect him more than 

 two or three over his back, the skin on the inner 

 part of his legs or about his Hank being thinner, 

 more tender, than on his back. But do not whip 

 him much — ^^just enough to scare him ; it is not 

 because we want to hurt the horse that we whip 

 him, we only do it to scare that bad disposition 

 out of him. But whatever you do, do quickly. 



sharpl}', and with a good deal of fire, but always 

 without anger. If you are going to scare him at 

 all you must do it at once. Never go into a pitched 

 battle with your horse, and whip him until he is 

 mad and will fight you ; you had better not touch 

 him at all, for you will establish, instead of fear 

 and regard, feelings of resentment, hatred, and ill- 

 will. It will do him no good, but an injury, to* 

 strike a blow, unless you can scare him ; but if you 

 succeed in scaring him, you can whip him without 

 making him mad ; for fear and anger never exist 

 together in the horse, and as soon as one is visible, 

 you will find that the other has disappeared. As 

 soon as you have frightened him so that he will 

 stand up straight and pay some attention to you, 

 approach him again, and caress him a good deal 

 more than you whipjied him, then you will excite 

 the two controlling passions of his nature, love and 

 fear, and then he will love and fear you too, and as 

 soon as he learns what to do, will obey quickly. 



now TO HALTER AND LEAD A COLT. 



As soon as you have gentled the colt a little, take 

 the halter in your left hand and approach him as 

 before, and on the same side that you have gentled 

 him. If he is very timid about your approaching 

 closely to him, you can get up to him quicker by 

 making the whip a part of your arm, and reaching 

 out very gently with the butt end of it ; rubbing 

 him lightly on the neck, all the time getting a 

 little closer, shortening the whip by taking it up in 

 your hand, until you finally get close enough to 

 put your hands on him. If he is inchned to hold 

 his head from you, put the end of the halter-strap 

 around his neck, drop your whip, and draw very 

 gently ; he will let his neck give, and you can pull 

 his head to you. Then take hold of that part of 

 the halter which buckles over the top of his head, 

 and pass the long side, or that i)art which goes 

 into the buckle, under the neck, grasping it on the 

 op])osite side with your right hand, letting the first 

 strap loose — the latter will be sufficient to hold his 

 head to you. Lower the halter a little just enough 

 to get his nose into that part which goes around it ; 

 then raise it somewhat, and fasten the top buckle, 

 and you will have it all right. The first time you 

 halter a colt you sliould stand on the left side, 

 pretty well back to his shoulder, only taking hold 

 of that part of the halter that goes around his neck ; 

 then with your two hands about his neck you can 

 hold his head to you, and raise the halter on it 

 without making him dodge by putting your hands 

 about his nose. You should have a long rope or 

 strap ready, and as soon as you have the halter on, 

 attach this to it, so that you can let him walk the 

 length of the stable without letting go of the strap, 

 or without making him ])ull on the halter, for if 

 you only let him feel the weight of your hand on 

 the halter, and give him rope when he runs from 

 you, he will never rear, pull, or throw himself, yet 

 you will be holding him all the time, and doing 

 more towards gentling him than if you had the 

 power to snub him fight up and hold him to one 

 spot; because, he does not know anything about 

 his strength, and if you don't do anything to make 

 him ]jull, he will never know that he can. In a 

 few minutes you can begin to control him with the 



