126 TAMING HORSES. 



if handled witli dexterity, and rightly applied, ac- 

 companied with a sharp fierce word, will be suffi- 

 cient to enliven the spirits of any horse. With 

 this whi^) in your right hand, with the lash point- 

 ing backward, enter the stable alone. It is a great 

 disadvantage in training a horse to have any one 

 in the stable with you; you should be entirely 

 alone, so as to have nothing but yourself to attract 

 his attention. If he is wild, you will soon see him 

 on the opposite side of the stable from you ; and 

 now is the time to use a little judgment. I should 

 not want, for myself, more than half or three- 

 quarters of an hour to handle any kind of a colt, 

 and have him running about in the stable after me ; 

 though I would advise a new begimier to take 

 more time, and not be in too much of a hurry. If 

 you have but one colt to gentle, and are not par- 

 ticular about the length of time you spend, and 

 have not had any experience in handling colts, I 

 v/ould advise you to take Mr. Powel's method at 

 first, till you gentle him, which he says takes from 

 two to six hours. But as I want to accomplish the 

 same, and what is more, teach the horse to lead, in 

 less than one hour, I shall give.you a much quicker 

 process of accomplishing the same end. Accord- 

 ingly, when 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 



