On horse-breaking

METHOD OF HALTERING A COLT.

The first step towards the breaking-in of a horse is placing a halter upon his head.

There are many methods of doing this in vogue, most of which are by brute force; for instance, a farmer has a colt he wishes to halter, so he gets his men together, and drives the colt into a yard or stable; a man then hangs on to the timid animal by one of his ears and his nose, another man seizes his tail, whilst three or four more men push against either side of the poor frightened beast; then ensues a struggle: the colt, frightened out of his senses and not knowing what is required of him, fights the half-dozen men clinging to him; he rears, kicks, bites, and strikes with his fore feet. The men on seeing this, and the farmer standing near, say he is a savage brute, and must be reduced by savage means. The colt is then beaten with a broom or pitchfork-handle, his tail is twisted, and every means of inflicting excruciating pain is resorted to, which instead of subduing the animal has the reverse effect; the colt, being driven to madness, struggles and fights until he vanquishes his foes. There is then a consultation between the farmer and his men, and at last this ferocious beast is haltered by stratagem, but throughout all his life he is either vicious or extremely nervous and shy, for he will never forget his first introduction to mankind, and the rough usage he then underwent.

I well remember a scene enacted during the above process, and think I cannot do better than recount it here.

The colt to be haltered was driven into an empty stable, and got into one of the stalls; the men then all pressed forward to keep him there, and the above method of haltering was gone through, but the colt being a game one, kicked a hole through the partition, and knocked some of the men down. After the men had recovered themselves they began again, but with this difference, that two of them got the colt’s tail through the hole in the partition, and hung on to it with might and main, they being in security on the opposite side of the partition to that on which the colt was. Thinking it was not my business to interfere with the owner’s orders, I stood by and watched this process for an hour and a half, till at last the men being exhausted, and the colt as game as ever, the owner asked my opinion as to how the animal could be haltered, on which I told him that if he would withdraw his men I would halter him myself, which I accordingly did in about a quarter of an hour.

To proceed with the subject of this chapter: the colt or filly (throughout this treatise I shall assume that every animal to be broken-in is a colt, for if I spoke of colts and fillies I should only confuse myself as well as my readers) to be haltered should be driven into a yard, stable, or loose box as quietly as possible—the best way being to lead an old horse, and endeavour to entice the young one to follow, having one or two men to walk quietly behind to keep him up, for he might otherwise lag behind and then gallop off by himself in an opposite direction. If the men follow up quietly, and at a certain distance (for they must not be too close, or the animal will take fright and gallop away) the colt will, as a rule, follow his leader. The most important point is perfect quietness on the part of the men engaged in this business; they should, however, speak in low soothing tones to the colt, and do anything they may happen to think of to allay the fears of the young animal. The men should keep their arms still; in fact, the best thing they can do is to put their hands in their trouser pockets, and keep them there. They must on no account yell and shout, but do all they can to prevent the colt thinking they are following him; in short, they should dissemble as far as possible, and try to imagine themselves out for a quiet stroll, and that the movements of the colt before them have nothing in the world to do with them. By this means a colt can be driven to the place selected to halter him in with little or no trouble; but let there be any fuss or unusual noise, and the animal will then, through his instinct, guess that something is going to happen to him, and will show you a clean pair of heels.

I will now suppose the colt has been driven into a stable with the old horse, and will also go so far as to suppose that there is a loose box in the stable. Not more than two men should be in the stable now, one of them to hold the old horse, and watch his opportunity of leading him out, and the other to insinuate himself by degrees between the colt and the old horse, and stop the colt rushing out when he finds the horse is leaving him. My reason for now removing the old horse is, that whether in haltering a colt, or during any other process of breaking-in, you should always dispense with anything that is calculated to draw the colt’s gaze from yourself, for you require his undivided attention. A child cannot learn his alphabet and play with the animals in his Noah’s ark at the same time; much less, therefore, can a colt, being unable to understand what you say to him, learn by your voice, manner, and caresses, what you wish of him, when there is another horse or man near him, whose least movement will attract his attention, if not alarm him, being as he is in a perfectly new position—namely, in close contact with a man, who as yet he is unable to perceive will hurt him or not, but his instinct points to the former.

After the removal of the old horse, and the stable door being closed, one man only should be in the stable with the colt, who will endeavour to get him into the loose box, the door of which should have been previously opened. There should be no noise or bustle outside the stable to distract the colt. The man in the stable must keep quiet, and allow the colt to smell about and inspect everything, taking advantage from time to time of any of his movements to manœuvre him into the box. The great thing is time; take plenty of time, do not hurry, but watch your opportunities of improving your position. This may be compared to a General commanding an army in action; he stands quietly watching the battle, and gives orders to his men to take up such situations as from time to time he sees will lead to the success of his army.

By degrees the colt gets nearer his loose box, and out of sheer curiosity walks in to inspect it. Now is your time; walk up quickly but quietly and close the door. If you make much noise and fuss about it, the colt will become alarmed and rush out, and then, through your own fault, you will have to go through the whole performance again.

You had better now leave the colt alone for half an hour or so, that he may become accustomed to his new quarters, after which you may endeavour to halter him. Select a halter with a long ‘shank’ (I prefer one about eight feet in length, if it is much longer it will be an encumbrance), and tie a knot in it so as to prevent the nose-band pinching the jaws when the colt pulls at the rope on finding he is fast. Enter the loose box and close the door, hang the halter up out of the way of the colt, for it is better to approach him first without it. Avoid all unnecessary movements of the arms, as they will frighten the colt; when you take a step, do it slowly and quietly; if you only take one step in a minute, it will repay you; be deliberate, quiet, and gentle in every movement. The colt will now be watching you, not being able to understand what is going to happen. Speak to him soothingly, and approach gently and slowly. Watch him, do not stare in his eyes with a ferocious look, as some people do, under the impression that by so doing they can subdue the wildest animal. I have been told it will tame a lion or tiger, but I know it will not subdue a horse, for I have tried it. Do not fix your eye on any one spot on his body, but keep moving them from his eyes to his ears, from his tail to his legs, in fact keep them running all over his body, for a man who knows a horse will understand by any one or combined movements of the above parts what sort of temper the colt is in, and also in what form he may expect an attack. For instance, if the colt shake his tail impatiently, and move one of his hind legs, you may look out for a kicker; if he arch his neck, lay his ears back, and take short snaps with his mouth, you must take care he does not bite you; if he paw viciously with his fore-feet, he probably will strike you if he can. I do not lay these rules down as facts which are invincible, but that they generally show in which direction the temper of the colt will be manifested, and thus the breaker-in can avoid being bitten, kicked, or struck if he keep his eyes open. As a rule, however, the man should imagine that every colt has each and every one of these tricks, and thus be prepared for any or all that may present themselves.

I cannot lay down any rule as to what point on the body the hand should first touch; the best place undoubtedly is the shoulder, but you must use your own judgment after having watched the animal as to what part of his body is most accessible. Some colts will allow you to touch their heads directly, whilst others—and I think they are the most numerous—present their tails to you. Anyhow, in whichever part they seem most inclined to allow your first caresses, you must make it your rule to, by degrees, manipulate towards the head; which, after you have once been permitted to handle freely, you may consider the battle as won: for are not the senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, and sensation (I have no doubt that the sense of taste has also something to do with the matter) fully developed in the head? Thus, I make a point of advising my readers always to make an effort to handle the head, as by a more intimate and scrutinising inspection of your hand and body the colt is better enabled to arrive at a fair understanding with you.

Now that the colt has allowed you to handle him to a certain extent, and has found you are not going to hurt him, you may leave his side (quietly and slowly as when you approached him) and get the halter you previously hung up; but avoid all hurry, jerking of the arms, &c. Hold the halter in the left hand with the ‘shank’ coiled up, the end of which you must grasp with the right hand. Approach the colt gently as before, speaking soothingly to him; place your right hand on any part of his body which is easiest got at, and work your way gently up to the neck; spend some time here handling him with your right hand containing the ‘shank’ end (I am here supposing the man to be on the near side of the animal, where he ought always to endeavour to be). Having reached the mane, pay the rope out slowly between your fingers, so that it will fall on the off side of the neck; when about eighteen inches to a couple of feet have been worked out through your fingers, you will see the end of the rope hanging down under the neck on the off side. You must now keep handling the neck downwards until your hand is close to the rope’s end, when you must catch it quietly and tie it on the near side so as to form a noose round the animal’s neck. You can do all this easily with your one hand as it is all finger work, but if you have your left hand to help you there would in all probability be a good deal of elbow movement which would frighten the colt, make him move, and most likely all your manipulation would have to be gone through again.