MAKING A HORSE LIE DOWN 245 



towards you ; bear against his side with your shoulder, 

 not hard, but with a steady, equal pressure, and in about 

 ten minutes he will lie down. As soon as he hes down he 

 will be completely conquered, and you can handle him 

 as you please. Take off the straps, and straighten out 

 his legs ; rub him hghtly about the face and neck with 

 your hand, the way the hair lies ; handle all his legs ; and 

 after he has lain ten or twenty minutes let him get up 

 again. Repeat the operation three or four times, which 

 will be sufficient for one lesson. Give him two lessons 

 a-day ; and when you have given him four lessons he will 

 lie down by taking hold of one foot. 



" As soon as he is well broken to lie down in this way, 

 tap him on the opposite leg with a stick when you take 

 hold of his foot, and in a few days he will lie down from the 

 mere action of the stick." Here then, according to Mr. 

 Rarey's plan, a horse must be thrown on his knees from 

 twelve to sixteen times before his tuition will be complete 

 in this useless manoeuvre ; and I am quite sure that no 

 man of common sense and common feeling would subject 

 a valuable horse to this harsh treatment, by which his 

 knees must be sorely bruised, if not otherwise injured, 

 for the vain, puerile gratification of making him lie 

 down. 



Having before expressed my opinion, from which no 

 arguments will turn me, that the process of breaking colts 

 ought to be gradual, to be efficient, I have only one point 

 left for consideration — ^whether this method of throwing 

 is a necessary step towards the subjugation of a vicious 

 horse ? Being from long experience thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with the nature and habits of the horse, and 

 having ridden some as vicious animals as any man ever 

 possessed, I say, with the knowledge of a plan somewhat 



