TRAINING, OR BREAKING. 321 



if this can not be effected, his next reliance is battle, or 

 fight, and he becomes the more desperate as he has an in- 

 stinctive idea of the superiority of man. 



"Self-preservation is the first law of nature," and the 

 horse is not less sensitive to its impulses than man, and 

 arouses all of his energies for defense even against the ap- 

 proach of apparent danger. At the same time the horse is 

 taught man's superiority and obedience to him, he must also 

 be made to know that he is a protector and defender, and 

 not a tyrant over him. If any unhandled horse is not of a 

 vicious disposition, and very few are until made so by bad 

 treatment, but little difficulty will be experienced in ap- 

 proaching him. First commence by feeding him, and talk- 

 ing to him, and gently handling him. He will very soon 

 become sufficiently docile to admit the halter, or even the 

 bridle, to be put on. But if the horse is of an excitable or 

 vicious disposition, the following plan will succeed the best, 

 and, if firmly pursued, I think will be found equally effectual 

 in bringing into subjection the vicious animal, with the dif- 

 ferent systems which, in the hands of some individuals, 

 have acquire^:! such celebrity, and has the advantage over- 

 other plans of taming, that it may be practiced by any person, 

 who has only nerve enough to not betray any expression, 

 of fear to the animal, though he may never before have- 

 even seen the plan pursued in a single instance. I have- 

 seen the most vicious animals completely subdued in a few- 

 days by this plan. One splendid mare, eight years old,, 

 which had baffled the most successful trainers, was pur- 

 chased by myself for forty dollars; and though it was re- 

 garded extremely dangerous for any person to even enter the 

 door of her stable, she was rendered perfectly submissive in 

 three days under this system, and is now, as she has been, 

 over since, entirely free from her former vicious disposition. 

 The following is the course to be pursued. Having the horse' 

 loose in '6. stable, take a narrow board or hoop-pole, and, enter- 

 21 



