The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses by P. R. Kincaid
P >>
P. R. Kincaid >> The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses
If you want to hitch your colt, put him in a tolerably wide stall which
should not be too long, and should be connected by a bar or something of
that kind to the partition behind it; so that, after the colt is in he
cannot get far enough back to take a straight, backward pull on the
halter; then by hitching him in the center of the stall, it would be
impossible for him to pull on the halter, the partition behind preventing
him from going back, and the halter in the center checking him every time
he turns to the left or right. In a state of this kind you can break every
horse to stand hitched by a light strap, any where, without his ever
knowing any thing about pulling. But if you have broke your horse to lead,
and have learned him the use of the halter (which you should always do
before you hitch him to any thing), you can hitch him in any kind of a
stall, and give him something to eat to keep him up to his place for a few
minutes at first and there is not one colt in fifty that will pull on his
halter.
THE KIND OF BIT AND HOW TO ACCUSTOM A HORSE TO IT.
You should use a large, smooth, snaffle bit, so as not to hurt his mouth,
with a bar to each side, to prevent the bit from pulling through either
way. This you should attach to the head-stall of your bridle and put it on
your colt without any reins to it, and let him run loose in a large stable
or shed, some time, until he becomes a little used to the bit, and will
bear it without trying to get it out of his mouth. It would be well, if
convenient, to repeat this several times before you do anything more with
the colt; as soon as he will bear the bit, attach a single rein to it,
without any martingale. You should also have a halter on your colt, or a
bridle made after the fashion of a halter, with a strap to it, so that you
can hold or lead him about without pulling on the bit much. He is now
ready for the saddle.
HOW TO SADDLE A COLT.
Any one man, who has this theory, can put a saddle on the wildest colt
that ever grew, without any help, and without scaring him. The first thing
will be to tie each stirrup strap into a loose knot to make them short,
and prevent the stirrups from flying about and hitting him. Then double up
the skirts and take the saddle under your right arm, so as not to frighten
him with it as you approach. When you get to him, rub him gently a few
times with your hand, and then raise the saddle very slowly until he can
see it, and smell, and feel it with his nose. Then let the skirts loose,
and rub it very gently against his neck the way the hair lays, letting him
hear the rattle of the skirts as he feels them against him; each time
getting a little farther backward, and finally slip it over his shoulders
on his back. Shake it a little with your hand, and in less than five
minutes you can rattle it about over his back as much as you please, and
pull it off and throw it on again, without his paying much attention to
it.
As soon as you have accustomed him to the saddle, fasten the girth. Be
careful how you do this. It often frightens a Colt when he feels the girth
binding him, and making the saddle fit tight on his back. You should bring
up the girth very gently, and not draw it too tight at first, just enough
to hold the saddle on. Move him a little, and then girth it as tight as
you choose, and he will not mind it.
You should see that the pad of your saddle is all right before you put it
on, and that there is nothing to make it hurt him, or feel unpleasant to
his back. It should not have any loose straps on the back part of it to
flap about and scare him. After you have saddled him in this way, take a
switch in your right hand to tap him up with, and walk about in the stable
a few times with your right arm over the saddle, taking hold of the reins
on each side of his neck, with your right and left hands. Thus marching
him about in the stable until you learn him the use of the bridle, and can
turn him about in any direction, and stop him by a gentle pull of the
rein. Always caress him, and loose the reins a little every time you stop
him.
You should always be alone, and have your colt in some tight stable or
shed, the first time you ride him; the loft should be high so that you can
sit on his back without endangering your head. You can learn him more in
two hours time in a stable of this kind, than you could in two weeks in
the common way of breaking colts, out in an open place. It you follow my
course of treatment, you need not run any risk, or have any trouble in
riding the worst kind of a horse. You take him a step at a time, until you
get up a mutual confidence and trust between yourself and horse. First
learn him to lead and stand hitched, next acquaint him with the saddle,
and the use of the bit; and then all that remains, is to get on him
without scaring him, and you can ride him as well as any horse.
HOW TO MOUNT THE COLT.
First gentle him well on both sides, about the saddle, and all over,
until he will stand still without holding, and is not afraid to see you
any where about him.
As soon as you have him thus gentled, get a small block, about one foot or
eighteen inches in height, and set it down by the side of him, about where
you want to stand to mount him; step up on this, raising yourself very
gently; horses notice every change of position very closely, and if you
were to step up suddenly on the block, it would be very apt to scare him;
but by raising yourself gradually on it, he will see you, without being
frightened, in a position very near the same as when you are on his back.
As soon as he will bear this without alarm, untie the stirrup strap next
to you, and put your left foot into the stirrup, and stand square over it,
holding your knee against the horse, and your toe out, so as to touch him
under the shoulder with the toe of your boot. Place your right hand on the
front of the saddle and on the opposite side of you. Taking hold of a
portion of the mane and the reins as they hang loosely over his neck with
your left hand; then gradually bear your weight on the stirrup, and on
your right hand, until the horse feels your whole weight on the saddle;
repeat this several times, each time raising yourself a little higher from
the block, until he will allow you to raise your leg over his croop, and
place yourself in the saddle.
There are three great advantages in having a block to mount from. First, a
sudden change of position is very apt to frighten a young horse that has
never been handled; he will allow you to walk up to him, and stand by his
side without scaring at you, because you have gentled him to that
position, but if you get down on your hands and knees and crawl towards
him, he will be very much frightened, and upon the same principle, he
would frighten at your new position if you had the power to hold yourself
over his back without touching him. Then the first great advantage of the
block is to gradually gentle him to that new position in which he will see
you when you ride him.
Secondly, by the process of leaning your weight in the stirrups, and on
your hand, you can gradually accustom him to your weight, so as not to
frighten him by having him feel it all at once. And in the third place the
block elevates you so that you will not have to make a spring in order to
get on to the horse's back, but from it you can gradually raise yourself
into the saddle. When you take these precautions, there is no horse so
wild, but what you can mount him without making him jump. I have tried it
on the worst horses that could be found, and have never failed in any
case. When mounting, your horse should always stand without being held. A
horse is never well broke when he has to be held with a tight rein while
mounting; and a colt is never so safe to mount, as when you see that
assurance of confidence, and absence of fear, which causes him to stand
without holding.
HOW TO RIDE THE COLT.
When you want him to start do not touch him on the side with your heel or
do anything to frighten him and make him jump. But speak to him kindly,
and if he does not start pull him a little to the left until he starts,
and then let him walk off slowly with the reins loose. Walk him around in
the stable a few times until he gets used to the bit, and you can turn him
about in every direction and stop him as you please. It would be well to
get on and off a good many times until he gets perfectly used to it before
you take him out of the stable.
After you have trained him in this way, which should not take you more
than one or two hours, you can ride him any where you choose without ever
having him jump or make any effort to throw you.
When you first take him out of the stable be very gentle with him, as he
will feel a little more at liberty to jump or run, and be a little easier
frightened than he was while in the stable. But after handling him so much
in the stable he will be pretty well broke, and you will be able to manage
him without trouble or danger.
When you first mount him take a little the shortest hold on the left rein,
so that if any thing frightens him you can prevent him jumping by pulling
his head around to you. This operation of pulling a horse's head around
against his side will prevent any horse from jumping ahead, rearing up, or
running away. If he is stubborn and will not go you can make him move by
pulling his head around to one side, when whipping would have no effect.
And turning him around a few times will make him dizzy, and then by
letting him have his head straight, and giving him a little touch with the
whip, he will go along without any trouble.
Never use martingales on a colt when you first ride him; every movement of
the hand should go right to the bit in the direction in which it is
applied to the reins, without a martingale to change the direct of the
force applied. You can guide the colt much better without them, and learn
him the use of the bit in much less time. Besides, martingales would
prevent you from pulling his head around if he should try to jump.
After your colt has been rode until he is gentle and well accustomed to
the bit, you may find it an advantage if he carries his head too high, or
his nose too far out, to put martingales on him.
You should be careful not to ride your colt so far at first as to heat,
worry or tire him. Get off as soon as you see he is a little fatigued;
gentle him and let him rest, this will make him kind to you and prevent
him from getting stubborn or mad.
THE PROPER WAY TO BIT A COLT.
Farmers often put bitting harness on a colt the first thing they do to
him, buckling up the bitting as tight as they can draw it to make him
carry his head high, and then turn him out in a lot to run a half day at a
time. This is one of the worst punishments that they could inflict on the
colt, and very injurious to a young horse that has been used to running in
pasture with his head down. I have seen colts so injured in this way that
they never got over it.
A horse should be well accustomed to the bit before you put on the bitting
harness, and when you first bit him you should only rein his head up to
that point where he naturally holds it, let that be high or low; he will
soon learn that he cannot lower his head, and that raising it a little
will loosen the bit in his mouth. This will give him the idea of raising
his head to loosen the bit, and then you can draw the bitting a little
tighter every time you put it on, and he will still raise his head to
loosen it; by this means you will gradually get his head and neck in the
position you want him to carry it, and give him a nice and graceful
carriage without hurting him, making him mad, or causing his mouth to get
sore.
If you put the bitting on very tight the first time, he cannot raise his
head enough to loosen it, but will bear on it all the time, and paw, sweat
and throw himself. Many horses have been killed by falling backward with
the bitting on, their heads being drawn up, strike the ground with the
whole weight of the body. Horses that have their heads drawn up tightly
should not have the bitting on more than fifteen or twenty minutes at a
time.
HOW TO DRIVE A HORSE THAT IS VERY WILD, AND HAS ANY VICIOUS HABIT
Take up one fore foot and bend his knee till his hoof is bottom upwards,
and merely touching his body, then slip a loop over his knee, and up until
it comes above the pasture joint to keep it up, being careful to draw the
loop together between the hoof and pasture joint with a second strap of
some kind, to prevent the loop from slipping down and coming off. This
will leave the horse standing on three legs; you can now handle him as you
wish, for it is utterly impossible for him to kick in this position.
There is something in this operation of taking up one foot that conquers a
horse quicker and better than any thing else you can do to him. There is
no process in the world equal to it to break a kicking horse, for several
reasons. First, there is a principle of this kind in the nature of the
horse; that by conquering one member you conquer to a great extent the
whole horse.
You have perhaps seen men operate upon this principle by sewing a horse's
ears together to prevent him from kicking. I once saw a plan given in a
newspaper to make a bad horse stand to be shod, which was to fasten down
one ear. There were no reasons given why you should do so; but I tried it
several times, and thought it had a good effect--though I would not
recommend its use, especially stitching his ears together. The only
benefit arising from this process is, that by disarranging his ears we
draw his attention to them, and he is not so apt to resist the shoeing. By
tying up one foot we operate on the same principle to a much better
effect. When you first fasten up a horse's foot he will sometimes get very
mad, and strike with his knee, and try every possible way to get it down;
but he cannot do that, and will soon give it up.
This will conquer him better than anything you could do, and without any
possible danger of hurting himself or you either, for you can tie up his
foot and sit down and look at him until he gives up. When you find that he
is conquered, go to him, let down his foot, rub his leg with your hand,
caress him and let him rest a little, then put it up again. Repeat this a
few times, always putting up the same foot, and he will soon learn to
travel on three legs so that you can drive him some distance. As soon as
he gets a little used to this way of traveling, put on your harness and
hitch him to a sulky. If he is the worst kicking horse that ever raised a
foot you need not be fearful of his doing any damage while he has one foot
up, for he cannot kick, neither can he run fast enough to do any harm. And
if he is the wildest horse that ever had harness on, and has run away
every time he has been hitched, you can now hitch him in a sulky and drive
him as you please. And if he wants to run you can let him have the lines,
and the whip too, with perfect safety, for he cannot go but a slow gait on
three legs, and will soon be tired and willing to stop; only hold him
enough to guide him in the right direction, and he will soon be tired and
willing to stop at the word. Thus you will effectually cure him at once of
any further notion of running off. Kicking horses have always been the
dread of every body; you always hear men say, when they speak about a bad
horse, "I don't care what he does, so he don't kick." This new method is
an effectual cure for this worst of all habits. There are plenty of ways
by which you can hitch a kicking horse and force him to go, though he
kicks all the time; but this don't have any good effect towards breaking
him, for we know that horses kick because they are afraid of what is
behind them, and when they kick against it and it hurts them they will
only kick the harder, and this will hurt them still more and make them
remember the scrape much longer, and make it still more difficult to
persuade them to have any confidence in any thing dragging behind them
ever after.
But by this new method you can hitch them to a rattling sulky, plow,
wagon, or anything else in its worst shape. They may be frightened at
first, but cannot kick or do any thing to hurt themselves, and will soon
find that you do not intend to hurt them, and then they will not care any
thing more about it. You can then let down the leg and drive along gently
without any farther trouble. By this new process a bad kicking horse can
be learned to go gentle in harness in a few hours' time.
ON BALKING.
Horses know nothing about balking, only as they are brought into it by
improper management, and when a horse balks in harness it is generally
from some mismanagement, excitement, confusion, or from not knowing how to
pull, but seldom from any unwillingness to perform all that he
understands. High spirited, free going horses are the most subject to
balking, and only so because drivers do not properly understand how to
manage this kind. A free horse in a team may be so anxious to go that when
he hears the word he will start with a jump, which will not move the load,
but give him such a severe jerk on the shoulders that he will fly back and
stop the other horse; the teamster will continue his driving without any
cessation, and by the time he has the slow horse started again he will
find that the free horse has made another jump, and again flew back, and
now he has them both badly balked, and so confused that neither of them
knows what is the matter, or how to start the load. Next will come the
slashing and cracking of the whip, and hallooing of the driver, till
something is broken or he is through with his course of treatment. But
what a mistake the driver commits by whipping his horse for this act.
Reason and common sense should teach him that the horse was willing and
anxious to go, but did not know how to start the load. And should he whip
him for that? If so, he should whip him again for not knowing how to talk.
A man that wants to act with any rationality or reason should not fly into
a passion, but should always think before he strikes. It takes a steady
pressure against the collar to move a load, and you cannot expect him to
act with a steady, determined purpose while you are whipping him. There is
hardly one balking horse in five hundred that will pull true from
whipping; it is only adding fuel to fire, and will make them more liable
to balk another time. You always see horses that have been balked a few
times, turn their heads and look back, as soon as they are a little
frustrated. This is because they have been whipped and are afraid of what
is behind them. This is an invariable rule with balked horses, just as
much as it is for them to look around at their sides when they have the
bots; in either case they are deserving of the same sympathy and the same
kind, rational treatment.
When your horse balks, or is a little excited, if he wants to start
quickly, or looks around and don't want to go, there is something wrong,
and needs kind he treatment immediately. Caress him kindly, and if he
don't understand at once what you want him to do he will not be so much
excited as to jump and break things, and do everything wrong through fear.
As long as you are calm and can keep down the excitement of the horse,
there are ten chances to have him understand you, where there would not be
one under harsh treatment, and then the little _flare up_ would not carry
with it any unfavorable recollections, and he would soon forget all about
it, and learn to pull true. Almost every wrong act the horse commits is
from mismanagement, fear or excitement; one harsh word will so excite a
nervous horse as to increase his pulse ten beats in a minute.
When we remember that we are dealing with dumb brutes, and reflect how
difficult it must be for them to understand our motions, signs and
language, we should never get out of patience with them because they don't
understand us, or wonder at their doing things wrong. With all our
intellect, if we were placed in the horse's situation, it would be
difficult for us to understand the driving of some foreigner, of foreign
ways and foreign language. We should always recollect that our ways and
language are just as foreign and unknown to the horse as any language in
the world is to us, and should try to practice what we could understand,
were we the horse, endeavoring by some simple means to work on his
understanding rather than on the different parts of his body. All balked
horses can be started true and steady in a few minutes time; they are all
willing to pull as soon as they know how, and I never yet found a balked
horse that I could not teach him to start his load in fifteen, and often
less than three minutes time.
Almost any team, when first balked, will start kindly, if you let them
stand five or ten minutes, as though there was nothing wrong, and then
speak to them with a steady voice, and turn them a little to the right or
left, so as to get them both in motion before they feel the pinch of the
load. But if you want to start a team that you are not driving yourself,
that has been balked, fooled and whipped for some time, go to them and
hang the lines on their hames, or fasten them to the wagon, so that they
will be perfectly loose; make the driver and spectators (if there is any)
stand off some distance to one side, so as not to attract the attention of
the horses; unloose their checkreins, so that they can get their heads
down, if they choose; let them stand a few minutes in this condition,
until you can see that they are a little composed. While they are standing
you should be about their heads, gentling them; it will make them a little
more kind, and the spectators will think that you are doing something that
they do not understand, and will not learn the secret. When you have them
ready to start, stand before them, and as you seldom have but one balky
horse in a team, get as near in front of him as you can, and if he is too
fast for the other horse, let his nose come against your breast; this will
keep him steady, for he will go slow rather than run on you; turn them
gently to the right, without letting them pull on the traces, as far as
the tongue will let them go; stop them with a kind word, gentle them a
little, and then turn them back to the left, by the same process. You will
have them under your control by this time, and as you turn them again to
the right, steady them in the collar, and you can take them where you
please.
There is a quicker process that will generally start a balky horse, but
not so sure. Stand him a little ahead, so that his shoulders will be
against the collar, and then take up one of his fore feet in your hand,
and let the driver start them, and when the weight comes against his
shoulders, he will try to step; then let him have his foot, and he will go
right along. If you want to break a horse from balking that has long been
in that habit, you ought to set apart a half day for that purpose. Put him
by the side of some steady horse; have check lines on them; tie up all the
traces and straps, so that there will be nothing to excite them; do not
rein them up, but let them have their heads loose. Walk them about
together for some time as slowly and lazily as possible; stop often, and
go up to your balky horse and gentle him. Do not take any whip about him,
or do any thing to excite him, but keep him just as quiet as you can. He
will soon learn to start off at the word, and stop whenever you tell him.
As soon as he performs right, hitch him in an empty wagon; have it stand
in a favorable position for starting. It would be well to shorten the stay
chain behind the steady horse, so that if it is necessary he can take the
weight of the wagon the first time you start them. Do not drive but a few
rods at first; watch your balky horse closely, and if you see that he is
getting balky, stop him before he stops of his own accord, caress him a
little, and start again. As soon as they go well, drive them over a small
hill a few times, and then over a large one, occasionally adding a little
load. This process will make any horse true to pull.
TO BREAK A HORSE TO HARNESS.
Take him in a tight stable, as you did to ride him; take the harness and
go through the same process that you did with the saddle, until you get
him familiar with them, so that you can put them on him and rattle them
about without his caring for them. As soon as he will bear this, put on
the lines, caress him as you draw them over him, and drive him about in
the stable till he will bear them over his hips. The _lines_ are a great
aggravation to some colts, and often frighten them as much as if you were
to raise a whip over them. As soon as he is familiar with the harness and
line, take him out and put him by the side of a gentle horse, and go
through the same process that you did with the balking horse. Always use a
bridle without blinds when you are breaking a horse to harness.