308 Western Livestock Management 



out of sight of the barns and other horses. In fact, he 

 should be out of sight and hearing of other horses all the 

 time while breaking. There will now be very little diffi- 

 culty, and one will find that he can ride the horse around 

 almost any way desired. He should be ridden only a short 

 distance the first time, and one should not be fooled be- 

 cause he rides like an old horse. It is likely that there will 

 be a struggle before many times, but the colt will be used 

 to the rider then and can be handled all right, although 

 one may have to spur him rather hard and he may jump 

 around and try to buck a little. There are many men in 

 the West who would call this a cowardly way of breaking 

 horses, but we are discussing matters from the standpoint 

 of the good of the horse. The professional wild horse- 

 men use the method outlined when they want a reliable 

 saddle horse. They call it " breaking them gentle." 

 The practice of roping a horse, saddling him up, and riding 

 him off is not breaking ; it is simply riding without break- 

 ing. A horse so handled rarely becomes tame enough 

 so that he can be ridden by an ordinary man. After the 

 colt is accustomed to general handling and to riding, is 

 the time to start in with the training. If he is to be used 

 as a cattle horse, the proper procedure is to start him to 

 work with the cattle. If he is to be trained at special 

 gaits, he should be first taught to walk and walk fast; 

 then he should be taught to trot and later taught the 

 canter, which is a restrained gallop. 



SPECIAL DEVICES FOR BREAKING 



Famous horse trainers who have made a reputation 

 for handling the most vicious horses use some special 

 methods for gaining mastery of the horse. These are 



