M. Horace Hayes

“ Of all forms of vice, those caused by stubbornness are the most difficult to eradicate; for the animal which sets its will in deliberate opposition to ours, fights us with the weapons—those of reason—by which, alone, we are, usually, superior to it. A horse that objects, from nervousness, or from mere impatience of control, to have its hind quarters handled, will quickly submit; as will, also, in the vast majority of cases, a “refuser,” or jibber in saddle ”

“ I see no possible benefit, except the very questionable one of giving the animal an exaggerated opinion of his own powers of resistance, in taking a month to accomplish what may be quite as efficiently done in an hour; as, for instance, making a fractious horse steady to mount, or quiet to shoe behind, or a sulky refuser to jump kindly. We must surely admit that the repetition of an effect, and not the time occupied in its production, is the cause of the permanency of its influence. ”

“ Although we may, to a certain extent, use the last-mentioned influence with quiet horses, and, especially in mouthing, we should remember that it is our last resource, when all others fail, in reducing a rebellious animal to submission. If, however, the horse which we have taken in hand, happen to reason sufficiently well to enable him to “see through” our artifices, our labour will, of course, be in vain. ”

“ Man-eaters, like the historic Cruiser, the taming of whom made Rarey famous, being actuated, almost entirely, by instinctive hostility, yield far more readily to authority, than the sulky animal that, having found out a method{18} by which he can thwart the wishes of his would-be master, craftily adheres to it, with a fair show of reason on his side. I may mention that the assertion made by many “horse-tamers,” that they can cure any horse of any kind of vice, is manifestly absurd. ”

“ When a horse begins to groan, and to considerably moderate the violence of his struggles, we may feel confident that “the sulk” has been taken out of him, more or less, and that he is fit to be allowed to get on to his feet again. If an error happens to be made with respect to the amount of the effect produced, it should be on the side of leniency, rather than on that of severity; for the operation can be always repeated, and more time given on the next occasion, without running any risk of unduly cowing the animal. ”

“ One great advantage, among many others, of teaching a horse to jump in the way I have detailed, is, that, by circling and turning the animal in front of the fences, we can cure him of all impetuosity caused by their proximity, and, at the same time, make him willing to jump, with thorough light-heartedness, the moment he receives the indication from the rein to go straight, and clear the obstacle. ”

“ Mental qualities of the Horse.—The possibility of our being able to obtain an easy mastery over the horse, who is greatly our superior in strength and activity, and quite our equal in pluck, rests on the fact that instinct, rather than reason, guides his actions. To investigate this, we may try the experiment, when standing to the side and a little to the rear of a kicker, of touching him about the hocks or quarters with a conveniently long stick, when, if he “lets out” straight behind him, we may conclude that this is a purely reflex or instinctive action on his part. ”

“ The feeling of self-preservation is so strongly implanted in the mind of every animal, and the retentiveness of the horse’s memory is so great, that, if once the idea of his being our physical superior gets into his head, he will, naturally, be inclined to resist our commands. Hence, it is a maxim among all good breakers, that, if possible,{11} a horse should never be allowed to know his own power. As a corollary to this, I may state that if we have a dispute as to discipline with a horse, we should not part company before making him yield ”

“ A horse may, also, by stretching his head out, get the mouth-piece off the bars, and on to the corners of the mouth. It is needless to say that such actions on his part, are done with the object of “saving” the mouth. As they are opposed to the possession of proper control over the horse, the breaker should teach him to abandon, if he has learnt, these tricks, and to acquire the habit of bending his neck to the rein, and slackening his speed, as his sole defence against the pressure of the mouth-piece. ”

“ The breaker’s task, therefore, as regards the carriage of the horse’s head and neck, will simply be to teach him to carry them in a perfectly natural way.
How the mouth-piece should act.—If an impetuous, hard-pulling horse gets his head up and tries to “break away” with a good rider, the man will ease the reins, “drop his hands,” and wait till the animal lowers its head, before he takes a pull: a rule that is followed by all our best horsemen. When the animal finds its head released, he will quickly bring it “down.” ”

“ As a man on foot has as thorough command over a horse, as the animal has over its rider—supposing that both know how to exercise their respective powers—the breaker should, naturally, commence his mouthing lessons on foot, and should, as a rule, refrain from giving the horse the advantage of having him in the saddle, until the habit of obedience to rein, leg, and, if need be, to voice, is fully confirmed. ”

“ JIBBING IN SADDLE. Speaking generally, we may consider jibbing to be the determined manifestation of stubbornness in the horse.
Acting on the sound principle that we should apply no more coercion to the animal than is absolutely necessary, we should at first try the effect of driving the jibber, on foot, with the long reins (see page 172) . After it has consented to go quietly without anyone on its back, we may put an assistant in the saddle without giving him the reins, and continue driving the animal until it moves freely in every direction. ”

“ However well a horse may have been broken of a bad habit, he will be far more likely to acquire it again under bad management, than he would have been, had he been originally free from it; for no course of discipline, although it may keep the animal under thorough control, can efface out of his mind the memory of the practice of a former habit. ”

“ If necessary, the horse may now be taught to obey{249} the reins when held in one hand, and may be practised in the use of the curb.
When the horse has learnt to go smoothly, his mouth should be interfered with as little as possible. I am entirely against the practice of keeping the animal in a constant state of attention to signals from the reins; as it makes him rely on his rider, rather than on his own cleverness, to extricate him out of difficulties, and renders him uncertain, and lacking in self-confidence. ”

“ In such a case, I would advocate the advisability of exacting obedience, in the first instance, by some readily feasible method, as advocated on page 11; so as to impress the animal with the idea of our supreme power over him, and to banish from his mind any thought of resisting our will, even on a point concerning which he would always prove victorious, had he sufficient intelligence to see through our artifice. Our power over the horse, when we are on his back, being necessarily limited in extent, it follows that, with all our teaching, we may, at times, be unable to control our mounts. ”

“ An expert breaker can always manage to pull round a horse that rushes at him, while the animal is being driven on foot. Even when the horse backs and kicks, as well as attempts to savage, the driver can easily keep him in control, by pulling him round, alternately, with each rein. One has, naturally, to be quicker when a horse rushes at one than when he backs. ”

“ As it is impracticable to be constantly repeating any “taming” method, such as Rareyfying, or tying a horse by his head and tail, we must disregard such practices as means for the maintenance of a permanent state of discipline—however useful they may be for enforcing authority in the first instance—and must trust to the influence of the rein, which is ever constant on the mouth, when riding or driving, to{31} keep the horse mindful of his duty when in action. The use of the leg should, of course, not be neglected in riding. ”

“ When a horse pulls hard, he will, almost invariably, try to advance his chin further than the standing martingale—at a proper length, let it be understood—will allow him to do. Hence, this amount of restraint will always be a direct saving to the arms; while it will be taken off the mouth, and the controlling indication afforded, the moment the animal brings his head back into its natural position. ”

“ In this experiment, it is evident{112} that the horse fears the word, and not the twitch; for, no matter how often the rope is put on, he will not resent its application more than he did on the first occasion. The oftener, on the contrary, the ordinary twitch is employed, the shyer will the animal become of having his muzzle touched. The chief advantages of the rope-twitch over the common one, are: that it can be easier procured and applied; it does not inflict so much pain, which, with it, is momentary, and not continuous, as with the other; it is more effective ”

“ For instance, with a horse that will not allow his hind legs to be touched, the breaker may reasonably content himself with making him quiet to handle about these parts, without insisting on his standing submissively to be shod behind—an operation that may be attempted on the following day. We should also make use of our knowledge of the limited scope of a horse’s reasoning powers, to change the subject of contention, if we fear that there is any chance of our being worsted in a pitched battle with the animal ”

“ To make, by repetition, these acts of obedience and “cleverness” thus taught, into confirmed habits; so that the horse, who is, essentially, an animal of habit, may become a permanently useful servant.
As an illustration, I may say that we should conduct the education of a colt or filly, according to the principles we should adopt with a recently-caught young savage whom we desired to make a useful servant. While shewing him that we had complete control over him, we should prove to him that he{40} had nothing to fear from us, and, in doing so, would gain his confidence and affection. ”

“ Personal influence in breaking.—For obtaining quick results, the breaker should have the horse entirely to himself; so that no disturbing influence may distract the animal’s attention. The great objection to the practice of personal influence, as a breaking agent, is that, although the animal may be perfectly obedient to the man who has had the exclusive handling of him, he may be refractory with other people, and may, even, jealously resent any interference from an outsider. ”

“ In the great majority of cases, the horse will quickly learn to regard the falling down as a punishment for his unsteadiness, which he cannot resist; and will accordingly give in, and stand quietly. After he does so, we may gradually slacken out the traces of the strait-jacket, until we can remove this apparatus altogether. We may tie up the leg, or employ the rope-twitch, as may be advisable. For safety sake, in single harness, we should use a kicking-strap. ”

“ Breaking by kindness alone.—While fully admiring the kindness of heart of those enthusiasts who regard a horse as a friend to be won by affection, I must say that the better plan for making him a useful member of society, is to treat him as a servant who has to be taught his work, and from whom implicit obedience has to be{37} demanded. Until he does his work honestly and well, the less petting he gets the better ”

“ The old plan of teaching a horse to jump by leading him over fences with a cavesson and one{193} or two leading-reins, is an abomination that no horseman should perpetrate; for its tendency is to make the animal jump in the very way he ought not to do, namely, with the weight on the fore-hand, and not on the hind-quarters. Besides this, horses are very apt to resist any forward pull on either cavesson or head-stall. ”

“ In a circular enclosure, the animal will be able, by turning round, to defeat the intentions of his would-be captor, much more easily than he could do in a rectangular one. In a roped-in arena, the horse can get his head away from the halter, easier than he could do when close to a wall. There is no fear of a{86} horse, however vicious he may be, of “charging home” on the operator, if the man keeps the pole across the animal’s face, ready, if need be, to give him a tap or two on the muzzle. The larger the enclosure, the less will a horse attempt to “savage” any one approaching him. ”

“ If he refuses to turn when the rein is on the pad, a cut or two with{174} the whip will soon teach him to come round quickly. When he is perfect in circling and turning at the trot, we should teach him to rein back, taking care to ease the reins and allow him to “collect” himself, after each step he takes to the rear. When turning, stopping, restraining, or reining back the horse, our pull on the reins—to use Mr. John Hubert Moore’s expression—should resemble that which we would employ in drawing a cork out of a bottle, it being free from any snatch or jerk. ”