It is a prevailing opinion among horsemen generally, that the sense of
smell is the governing sense of the horse. And Faucher, as well as others,
have, with that view, got up receipts of strong smelling oils, etc., to
tame the horse, sometimes using the chesnut of his leg, which they dry,
grind into powder and blow into his nostrils. Sometimes using the oil of
rhodium, organnnum, etc.; that are noted for their strong smell. And
sometimes they scent the hands with the sweat from under the arm, or blow
their breath into his nostrils, etc., etc. All of which, as far as the
scent goes have no effect whatever in gentling the horse, or conveying any
idea to his mind; though the works that accompany these efforts--handling
him, touching him about the nose and head, and patting him, as they direct
you should, after administering the articles, may have a very great
effect, which they mistake to be the effect of the ingredients used. And
Faucher, in his work entitled, "The Arabian art of taming Horses," page
17, tells us how to accustom a horse to a robe, by administering certain
articles to his nose; and goes on to say, that these articles must first
be applied to the horse's nose before you attempt to break him, in order
to operate successfully.
Now, reader, can you, or any one else, give one single reason how scent
can convey any idea to the horse's mind of what we want him to do? If not,
then of course strong scents of any kind are of no account in taming the
unbroken horse. For every thing that we get him to do of his own accord,
without force, must be accomplished by some means of conveying our ideas
to his mind. I say to my horse "go 'long" and he goes; "ho!" and he stops:
because these two words, of which he has learned the meaning by the tap
of the whip, and the pull of the rein that first accompanied them, convey
the two ideas to his mind of go and stop.
Faucher, or no one else, can ever learn the horse a single thing by the
means of a scent alone.
How long do you suppose a horse would have to stand and smell of a bottle
of oil before he would learn to bend his knee and make a bow at your
bidding, "go yonder and bring your hat," or "come here and lay down?" Thus
you see the absurdity of trying to break or tame the horse by the means of
receipts for articles to smell of, or medicine to give him, of any kind
whatever.
The only science that has ever existed in the world, relative to the
breaking of horses, that has been of any account, is that true method
which takes them in their native state, and improves their intelligence.