Powel's System. 57 



towel's system of approaching the colt. 



But before we go further, I will give you Willis J. 

 Powel's system of approaching a wild colt, as given by 

 him in a work published in Europe, about the year 

 1814, on the "Art of taming wild horses." He says, 

 " A horse is gentled by my secret in from two to six- 

 teen hours. The time I have most commonly em- 

 ployed has been from four to six hours." He goes on 

 to say : " Cause your horse to be put in a small yard, 

 stable, or room. If in a stable or room, it ought to be 

 large, in order to give him some exercise with the hal- 

 ter before you lead him out. If the horse belongs to 

 that class which appears only to fear man, you must 

 introduce yourself gently into the stable, room, or 

 yard, where the horse is ; he will naturally run from 

 you, and frequently turn his head from you ; but you 

 must walk about extremely slow and softly, so that he 

 can see you whenever he turns his head towards you, 

 which he never fails to do in a short time, say in a 

 quarter or half an hour. I never knew one to be much 

 longer without turning towards me. 



" At the very moment he turns his head, hold out 

 your left hand towards him, and stand perfectly still, 

 keeping your eyes upon the horse, watching his mo- 

 tions, if he makes any. If the horse does not stir for 

 ten or fifteen minutes, advance as slowly as possible, 

 and without making the least noise, always holding out 

 your left hand, without any other ingredient in it than 

 what nature put in it." He says, " I have made use of 

 certain ingredients before people, such as the sweat 

 under my arm, etc., to disguise the real secret, and 

 many believed that the docility, to which the horse ar- 

 rived in so short a time, was owing to these ingredients; 



