OPINION OF HORSEMEN. 25 



of his leg, which they dry, grind into powder, and 

 blow into his nostrils, sometimes using the oils of 

 rhodium, origanum, &c., that are noted for their 

 strong smell; and sometimes they scent the hand 

 with the sweat from under the arm, or blow their 

 breath into his nostrils, &c. &c. All of which, as far 

 as the scent goes, have no effect whatever in gentling 

 the horse, or conveying any idea to his mind; though 

 the acts that accompany these efforts handling 

 him, touching him about the nose and head, and 

 patting him, as they direct you should, after admi- 

 nistering the articles, may have a very great effect, 

 which they mistake to be the effect of the ingre- 

 dients used. And Faucher, in his work, entitled 

 "The Arabian Art of Taming Horses," page 17, 

 tells us how to accustom a horse to a robe, by admi- 

 nistering certain articles to his nose ; and goes on to 

 * say that these articles must first be applied to the 

 horse's nose, before you attempt to break him, in 

 order to operate successfully. 



Now, reader, can you, or any one else, give one 

 single reason how scent can convey any idea to the 

 horse's mind of what we want him to do ? If not, 

 then of course strong scents of any kind are of no 

 avail in taming the unbroken horse. For, every- 

 thing that we get him to do of his own accord, with- 

 out force, must be accomplished by some means of 

 conveying our ideas to his mind. I say to my horse, 

 "Go- ; long!" and he goes; "Ho!" and he stops 



