HANDLING THE YOUNG HORSE

Before the horse can be taught obedience to the bit and spur it must go through a preliminary course of handling, by which the man obtains mastery over the animal. This work is usually called "breaking-in," and it is a matter of regret that it is almost always conducted in an unnecessarily harsh and rough manner, with the result that many horses are made vicious, or are in other ways spoiled, through the ignorance and cruelty of those who have charge of their early education.

A lively colt is shy, suspicious, and curious, easily amused, and as easily bored; by recognizing these characteristics and conducting his work with reference to them, the trainer will find success easy and agreeable. After the man has gained the confidence of the animal, he will find that the young horse takes great interest in lessons that are varied and not too long continued, and there need be no resistances aroused on the part of the pupil. Except in the very rare cases of animals that are naturally vicious, and such are insane, the training of a horse may be carried on without friction. The faults and vices in a horse usually arise from the efforts of the nervous animal to avoid injudicious restraints before it has been taught by easy steps to yield instinctively to the demands of its trainer. Later misconduct is almost always due to want of firmness and decisive action on the part of the rider. The horse is incapable of that real affection for man such as the dog evinces toward the worst of masters; it is of low intelligence, the boldest of them being subject to panics, but there are few which lack a low craft that enables them to take advantage of every slip or mistake the man may make. A sufficient amount of work and careful treatment will keep a sane horse steady, but when at all fresh most horses are untrustworthy if the man's control be lost. I do not find it necessary to punish my horses; the whip, spur, and reins are employed to convey demands; a harsh word answers every requirement for correction, and the animal cannot resent it as it may the blows of the whip or the stroke of the spur. The photographs of a number of these animals in my various works in almost every possible movement prove how exact is the obedience they render under this course of treatment. When some old favorite refuses to walk into a coal-pit, or voluntarily turns up some well-known road, the fond owner is too apt to confuse instinct or habit with brilliant mental operations, and place too much faith in its good inclinations; but the fact is that in handling this animal we must neglect its will and obtain control over its movement by cultivating the instinctive muscular actions which follow the application of the hand and heel. I have a great admiration for the horse, for its beauty, for its usefulness, for its many excellent qualities, but I do not permit this sentiment to blind me to its shortcomings. Some horses are so good that they inspire an affection which they cannot reciprocate. Since I began this book I lost Silvana, a well-bred English mare which I had owned for eighteen years. She was a very beautiful animal, of high spirit, exact in all the movements of the manÈge, and of so kind a disposition that she was never guilty of mutinous or disorderly conduct.

Regardless of the treatment it has received previously, the young horse should be "broken to ride," when strong enough to bear the weight of a rider, by some method similar to that which follows.

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But first I wish to say a word about casting the horse, by what is usually called "The Rarey System." Many people believe that to throw the horse is a sure cure for every vice and spirit of resistance. The fact is that a horse is confused, surprised, and humiliated at finding itself helpless, and casting does give the man temporary control which is often a most important matter, and may be the beginning of the establishment of discipline; but mastering the horse permanently cannot be accomplished in a moment, and unless it be necessary to employ the straps in the handling of a violent animal I should advise against it. Vices, faults, and tricks may be remedied only by careful training. I teach many of my horses to lie down, but, as I shall explain later, I do not employ any straps or apparatus.

The first step in breaking-in is to give some lessons on the cavesson. This is a head-collar with a metal nose-band, upon the front and each side of which are stout rings. To the front ring a leather longe line fifteen feet long will be fastened, and from the side rings straps will be buckled to the girth or surcingle at such lengths as will prevent the horse extending its nose so that the face is much beyond the perpendicular. The horse thus fitted should be led to some retired spot where there is level ground enough for a circle of about forty feet. At first the man, walking at the shoulder of the horse, should lead it on the circumference of the circle, to the right and to the left, taking a short hold of the longe line and being careful that the animal does not get so far ahead of him as to have a straight pull forward which may drag him from his feet. From time to time the man will bring the horse to a halt, and require it to stand quite still, making much of it by caresses and kind words, picking up the feet and stroking it gently with the whiphandle all over its body and legs, so that it will not be alarmed at his future motions, and then continuing the progress on the circle. Gradually the length of the hold on the longe line will be increased, until the horse goes about the man at the full length of the strap. In these exercises, also, the horse should frequently be brought to a stop, always on the circumference of the circle, and it should be worked equally to either hand. The lessons should be given twice every day, at first for about fifteen minutes each, and increasing the time until a lesson shall be of three-quarters of an hour's duration. Colored rugs, wheelbarrows, open umbrellas, paper, and other similar objects at which a horse might shy should be placed near the path until the horse is so accustomed to them that it will take no notice. Under no circumstances should the horse be punished, and the man should exercise great care that he does nothing to make the animal fear him. When the horse will go quietly about the man in the walk and in the very slow trot (it should never be permitted to go rapidly), the surcingle may be replaced by the saddle, lightly girthed and the stirrups looped up, the side-lines of the cavesson being removed. Then, at the end of each lesson on the cavesson, that instrument should be replaced by a light snaffle-bridle. The man, facing the head of the horse, should take a snaffle-rein in each hand and make gentle vibrations toward its chest, so that he will give the bit a light feeling on the bars of the mouth. Occasionally he will elevate the head of the horse by extending his arms upward to their full length, then gently bring the head of the horse to a natural height, or to that height which he judges will be the best in which the trained horse should carry it, drawing the reins toward the animal's chest until its face is perpendicular, and no farther, and playing with the bit in light vibrations until the horse takes up the play and gives a supple jaw. He will also bend the head of the horse to the right and to the left, the face vertical, and bring it back to the proper position by the reins, not accepting any voluntary movement from the horse, and endeavoring to obtain always an elastic resistance from its mouth. The head of the horse will also be depressed by the snaffle-reins, until it nearly touches the ground, and then be lifted to the natural height. All of these movements are of high importance, and all of them tend to develop the muscles of the neck and chest; but the elevation of the head and its return to the right height, face vertical, jaw supple, but not flaccid, produces the best results in bitting and should be more frequently practised than the others. If, in these lessons, the horse draws back, it must be made to come to the man; no good results can be obtained from a retreating animal.

Upon some occasion, after the longeing and bitting lesson has been given, when there is no high wind to irritate the horse and the animal seems to be composed, the man should have "a leg up" and quietly drop into the saddle, having first taken a lock of mane in his left hand and with the right, in which the reins should be, grasping the pommel, thumb under the throat of the pommel. He should then let the horse walk off for a few steps, having a very slight tension upon the reins, and quietly dismount. If, as is very unlikely, for the horse will be taken by surprise, though not frightened, the animal makes a jump or a plunge, the rider must maintain his seat, keep up the head of the horse, and dismount when the animal has become quiet. The horse will not rear at this stage; that is an accomplishment it learns from bad hands, and it is probable that it will be perfectly quiet. Each day the riding lesson will be lengthened, and the rider will gradually obtain some control over its movements by the reins and accustom it to bear the pressure of his legs against its sides. The longeing will now be employed to give such exercise as is needed to keep the animal from being too fresh; and when the riding lessons give sufficient work, the longe may be dispensed with, to be resumed if the horse falls into bad habits. But the bitting exercises, previously described, should be occasionally reverted to as long as the horse is used under the saddle.

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But one more thing is necessary before the horse is ready for the higher training which will be described later, and this desideratum is to confirm the horse in the habit of facing the bit, that is, to go forward against a light tension upon the reins; for without this the rider will have little or no government over its movements, as the bit must have some resistance, slight though it should be, upon which to enforce his demands. Whenever a rider finds that his hand has nothing to work against, that the horse has loosened its hold on the bit and refuses to face it, he may be almost certain that he has an old offender to manage and that mischief is meant, and will follow unless he can force the horse up into the bridle.

The horse may best be taught to face the bit in a slow but brisk trot. The animal must not be started off too abruptly, but the forward movement should begin in a walk; and this is a rule that should always be followed, even though it be for a few steps, unless some good reason for doing otherwise exists. The impulse for the trot and its continuance may be induced by a pressure of the rider's legs against the sides of the horse, or by light taps of the whip delivered just back of the girths.

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In a measured, regular trot the horse should be ridden in straight lines, and in circles, first of large, and afterward of decreased, diameters, the pace being maintained by demanding impulses from the hind quarters, the hand taking a light but steady tension upon the reins. No effort will be made to induce the horse to pull against the hand, but the man should endeavor to get just that resistance by which he may direct the animal. It does not really matter if the jaw of the horse does get a little rigid; that can be softened by the bitting exercises and by future lessons, but the horse must go into the bridle. In turning to either hand the inside rein will direct the movement, the outer rein measuring and controlling the effect of the other; the outside leg of the rider will make an increased pressure as the turn is being made to keep the croup of the horse on the path taken by the forehand. On approaching the turn the horse will be slightly collected between hand and heel, and as soon as the horse enters upon the new direction it will be put straight and the aids will act as before. To bring it to a halt, the legs of the rider will close against the sides of the horse; he will then lean back slightly and raise his hand until the horse comes to a walk, and in the same manner he will bring it to a stop. The hand will then release the tension upon the reins and the legs be withdrawn from the sides of the horse. To go forward, the rider will first close his legs against the sides of the horse and meet the impulses so procured by such a tension upon the reins as will induce the horse to go forward in a walk. So, to demand the trot, the increased impulses will first be demanded from the croup, to be met and measured by the hand. It is an invariable rule, at this stage and in every stage, that in going forward, backward, or to either side, the rider's legs will act before the hand to procure the desired impulses.