TAMING HORSES. 55 



this difference : the first class, or those that appear 

 to fear nothing, must not be approached so sudden- 

 ly as the others. Take notice : Whenever a horse 

 that you begin to handle, hangs down his head, or 

 apj)ears sleepy and careless, (and this will happen 

 in some in less than an hour,) your business is half 

 over. I have broken an extremely wild horse, so 

 as to saddle him, bridle him, and make him follow 

 me without pulling him by the halter, and so that 

 men, women and children have riddeii him, with- 

 out the least danger, in the streets of one of the 

 most populous towns of the United Mexican 

 states: and this I have done in less than two hours 

 from the time I went into the place where the 

 horse was. I always carried a watch with me, 

 when I broke a horse. I have now and then 

 gentled one, so as to ride him with jDerfect safety, 

 in less than one hour. However, these are rare 

 cases. I never had but two that kept me ten 

 hours, and one nearly fifteen hours and a half. I 

 began him at two o'clock, and worked upon him 

 till seven ; and the next day I began at five, and 

 finished him a little after one o'clock. This was 

 the Governor of San Louis Potosi's, and one of the 

 highest sjoirited horses I ever saw. I have gene- 

 rally employed from four to six hours, and some 

 times eight, in rendering a horse completely gentle 

 and useful, and on which a man or woman might 



