Gentle Reader: The work you are going to peruse is not a voluminous one, neither did I take any pains whatever as to the elegance of the style. I wrote to make myself understood by the unlearned as well as the learned. The price of the work may seem high, on account of the small number of pages it contains: but it must be recollected that it encloses the revelation of a secret that has filled thousands of the wise and unwise with astonishment. I have received, as a gratification, more than two thousand dollars, from several Mexican gentleman, for breaking a single horse, in this manner, in their presence. I shall always feel grateful for the kind and generous reception I every where met with, when travelling through their country. From Louisiana to Mexico—from the Californias to Guatemala—and all over the Mexican states, when I have been travelling, I never asked for lodging without its being immediately granted—I never asked for a meal of victuals and was refused: the proprietor of a private house would feel himself injured, if you should offer him money for receiving you. You may except from this rule some poor Indian, who sometimes will admit of your offer, when you insist on his receiving some trifle; but a wealthy farmer, or one a little at his ease, would spurn the idea of selling his hospitality. I speak of none of their qualities but that of hospitality, which by the by, is a great one, and very much recommended by St. Paul. It is true, I lost nearly twenty thousand dollars, which were deposited in a store, by a revolution: but, in what country is a man’s property safe in revolutionary times?

Several Mexican gentleman solicited me to publish this secret in their country, but I constantly refused to do it; for I always intended doing it in my own native country—not doubting but that I should meet with encouragement from my own countrymen. I was always jealous of having the honor of being the first that ever made it known to the world. It is probable that the famous Irish “whisperer,” Sullivan, who died in 1810, possessed the same secret, or some other very much like it, as it appears from the astonishing things related of him, concerning what he did upon horses. The reader will, however, observe, that Sullivan lived in a country where horses were raised as they are in England and in the Northern states: that is, among men and familiar to man. But the horses which I have generally had to deal with, (though I have had every kind,) had been running wild, in the plains and woods, for four, five, six and even ten years, and which, during that time, had never had a rope on them. And besides, the horses of New Spain have always been noted for being remarkably fiery and unmanageable. I have gentled a horse in Texas, which, before that day had, in all probability, never seen a man—a stud of eight or nine years of age, as wild as a deer when taken an hour before. I began the operation, and in one hour made him follow me without pulling him by the halter, and little boys got upon him bare-backed, and saddled and rode him about: in a word, he was a gentle horse. Those horses are called in Spanish Mestenos, (pronounced Mestaneyos and not Mustangs.) What makes me think that Sullivan, as well as he that did the same in England a hundred years ago, made use of the same means as I do, is, that when I was now and then breaking a horse, (which generally took me three or four hours, although, as I said above, I have done it even in half an hour, though rarely,) and afterwards went into a town, the people flocked about to see me, saying to their friends, “This is the man that breaks a horse in half an hour.” Now the same has been published of Sullivan: most probably they mentioned the shortest space of time he had done it in, for it is likewise said of him, that sometimes he shut himself up with the horse all night.

Sometimes I have met with an extremely wild horse, which seemed to be gentled, as by enchantment, in a few minutes. I have gentled one of this description in ten minutes, so as to lead him, make him follow me everywhere I pleased, and ride him with as great safety as if he had been gentled twenty years before. But this is not a general rule.

The reader is here presented, in the explanation of this secret, with a specimen of the wonderful powers of the tact upon animals, and at the same time, with a moral lesson of patience and gentleness—virtues as necessary to get along through life among men, as they are when used in taming horses; and the exception to the general rule—I mean those that are to be treated with rigor—is not, perhaps, less rare. I am fully persuaded, that almost every class of people will reap some benefit or pleasure from the perusal of these pages. The naturalist sees in it a lesson of Nature itself. The moralist admires in it the display of gentleness, patience and perseverance; and every man who rides a horse may some day or other find some advantage in consulting it.

I have endeavored to render this little work as useful as possible, on three accounts. Firstly, on account of the profits arising from the sale of a useful work; secondly, for the credit one gets as the author of something good; and lastly, on account of the satisfaction every generous mind must feel in becoming useful to his fellow creatures. I have been most generously encouraged by the inhabitants of Attakapas, where I had resided so many years. As soon as I began my subscription they almost universally became subscribers. In the town of St Martinsville, only three or four individuals refused to subscribe. In Opelousas I met with a kind reception from most of the people to whom I presented the list for subscription. At Fausse River, Pointe Coupe, Plaquemine, and down to New Orleans, they almost universally subscribed. I shall always feel grateful for their kind reception. Encouragement is the deepest and dearest debt that a writer can incur.

I never declared myself to be the discoverer of this secret till the year 1824, when I arrived in the Mexican states. I had my reasons for so doing. Never did a people express more surprise and astonishment at any extraordinary event, than the Mexicans did at my first performance on my arrival among them; and more especially on account of my being a foreigner; for it is well known that the Mexicans, rich and poor, high and low, pride themselves upon being the best horsemen in the world. And I think there is no foreigner that ever travelled among them, and observed them as I have, but will readily agree in ranking them among the first as to agility, skill and elegance, when mounted upon their beautiful Andalusian steeds. If the Mexican ladies are admired by all foreigners for their natural, easy, unaffected, genteel carriage—surpassing, if possible, in that respect, the elegant Louisiana ladies—so does the Mexican, when mounted on a fine Xaral steed, equal, if not surpass, any other rider in the world. For this very reason, I was every where received with the greatest cordiality and applause, for no people knew how to appreciate better than they a discovery of so surprising a nature.

I wish the reader to observe, that in explaining the operation of the secret of gentling a horse, I have always supposed the horse to be one that required the whole secret, in order to be gentled, though a man meets with many that do not require one-third of what I there lay down: but it is better to do too much than too little in this case, so I shall say no more about it here. Vale, ya es tarde, buenas noches tenga usted senor caballero.

THE AUTHOR.