1833.] BREAKING-IN WILD tiORSES. 109 



understand on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the 

 single one with its flock, except that they consider, from some confused 

 notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in company with 

 its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed, that all animals that readily 

 enter into domestication, consider man as a member of their own 

 society, and thus fulfil their instinct of association. In the above case 

 the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as its fellow-brethren, and thus 

 gains confidence ; and the wild dogs, though knowing that the individual 

 sheep are not dogs, but are good to eat, yet partly consent to this view 

 when seeing them in a flock with a shepherd-dog at their head. 



One evening a "domidor" (a subduer of horses) came for the purpose 

 of breaking-in some colts. I will describe the preparatory steps, for 

 I believe they have not been mentioned by other travellers. A troop of 

 wild young horses is driven into the corral, or large enclosure of stakes, 

 and the door is shut We will suppose that one man alone has to 

 catch and mount a horse, which as yet had never felt bridle or saddle. 

 I conceive, except by a Gaucho, such a feat would be utterly impractic- 

 able. The Gaucho picks out a full-grown colt ; and as the beast 

 rushes round the circus, he throws his lazo so as to catch both the 

 front legs. Instantly the horse rolls over with a heavy shock, and 

 whilst struggling on the ground, the Gaucho, holding the lazo tight, 

 makes a circle, so as to catch one of the hind legs, just beneath the 

 fetlock, and draws it close to the two front legs : he then hitches the 

 lazo, so that the three are bound together. Then sitting on the horse's 

 neck, he fixes a strong bridle, without a bit, to the lower jaw : this he 

 does by passing a narrow thong through the eye-holes at the end of 

 the reins, and several times round both jaw and tongue. The two 

 front legs are now tied closely together with a strong leathern thong, 

 fastened by a slip-knot. The lazo, which bound the three together, 

 being then loosed, the horse rises with difficulty. The Gaucho now 

 holding fast the bridle fixed to the lower jaw, leads the horse outside 

 the corral. If a second man is present (otherwise the trouble is much 

 greater) he holds the animal's head, whilst the first puts on the horse- 

 cloths and saddle, and girths the whole together. During this operation, 

 the horse, from dread and astonishment at thus being bound round the 

 waist, throws himself over and over again on the ground, and, till 

 beaten, is unwilling to rise. At last, when the saddling is finished, the 

 poor animal can hardly breathe from fear, and is white with foam and 

 sweat. The man now prepares to mount by pressing heavily on the 

 stirrup, so that the horse may not lose its balance ; and at the moment 

 that he throws his leg over the animal's back, he pulls the slip-knot 

 binding the front legs, and the beast is free. Some " domidors " pull 

 the knot while the animal is lying on the ground, and, standing over the 

 saddle, allow him to rise beneath them. The horse, wild with dread, 

 gives a few most violent bounds, and then starts off at full gallop ; when 

 quite exhausted, the man, by patience, brings him back to the corral, 

 where, reeking hot and scarcely alive, the poor beast is let free. Those 

 animals which will not gallop away, but obstinately throw themselves 

 on the ground, are by far the most troublesome. This process ia 



