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.