OBSERVATIONS UPON HORSES IN GENERAL: AND WHAT LED ME TO THE DISCOVERY OF
BREAKING THEM IN A SHORT TIME.
The first experiments I made upon wild horses, in order to break them in
a shorter time than that usually employed to that end, consisted in the
application of different kinds of smells, such as opium, the oil of
cummin, assafœtida, that callous substance called the spur which
grows upon the inside of a horse’s fore-legs, the sweat from a man’s
arm-pit, mare’s milk, &c., &c. Opium has but little effect upon a horse,
even if he smells it a considerable time. But of all these substances,
no one tends so much to intoxicate, and even sicken, not only a horse
but a man, as that taken from the horse when smelled of for any length
of time. Any one who may doubt the veracity of what I here assert, can
be easily convinced by experience, if he will. In the next place, the
sweat from the arm-pit has a tendency to render a horse sleepy, if
smelled for an hour or two. Some horses, thus rendered sleepy, can be
handled; but on most horses it has no effect, or very little. Now, as I
was determined to publish this secret some day or other, in its true
light, I never revealed any other till now, but that accompanied with
some one of these substances, with certain directions how to apply them.
These directions contained enough of the true secret to tame a horse, so
as to astonish the most penetrating. Now and then, a horse would remain
gentle that had been thus tamed; but five out of ten would become wild
again. Whenever I broke one myself, he always remained gentle. Drinnen
sincerely thought that some of these substances were necessary to gentle
a horse. I solemnly declare, before God and man, that I do not believe
that a horse can be tamed, even for a short time, by the application of
any of these substances, without applying to him more or less of the
true secret; and furthermore: I declare, that all and every one of them
are entirely useless, and of no effect. God is my witness, that if ever
this secret was known before, I never learnt it from any man; I
discovered it myself, and brought it, as I believe, to its greatest
perfection.
A horse is gentled, by my secret, in from two to sixteen hours. The time
I have most commonly employed, has been from four to six. After my
[Illustration: HALTER AND BRIDLE FOR COLTS.]
first experiments, I reflected upon the nature of horses in general,
many of which, when confined, appeared to fear nothing: notwithstanding
this, the result of my reflections was, that fear, much more than any
thing else, was the cause of their resistance; of the resistance even of
the fiercest; for, although these latter would run at a man, as well as
at any other thing, when confined, yet, if they were let loose, and
turned out into a field, they would leave him and scamper away. Being
once convinced that fear was the only cause of the obstinacy seen in
horses taken to be gentled by force, it now remained to discover by what
means that fear might be taken away. To take away fear, is, to inspire
confidence; or, inspiring confidence, is taking away fear. I believe
there is no person, who does not experience a more agreeable sensation,
when another person combs his hair, than when he combs it himself. To be
vulgar, who is there, that has not found a pleasure in having another
rub his legs or arms, hands or feet, if he felt a pain in them, much
more than if he rubbed them himself. We all know what pleasure it gives
a parrot to have one scratch or rub him upon the head. Now, of the five
senses, the sense of feeling possesses something more, as to its
influence of materiality, than the other four. It has a similar effect
upon animals as upon men. Whereas, the sense of hearing, and that of
seeing, have, in many respects, a very different influence upon the
human species to what they have upon animals. Animals, in general, are
almost or quite insensible to that pleasure, which the human species
enjoy, in contemplating beautiful or magnificent objects, though they
frequently express great fear at others. They experience the same
sensation of fear at sudden or disagreeable sounds, whilst they appear
almost insensible to soft and melodious ones. The sense of feeling, in
horses, seems to be as exquisite as in men; and in some cases, more so.
A horse feels a lively pain at the stroke of a whip, or the prick of a
pin. He feels a pleasure in being curried, rubbed and handled. It is
well known, that an object that frightens a horse, at first sight, will
become familiar to him in a short time--even in a few minutes. The same
may be said of those sounds which frighten him at first: such as the
explosion of a gun or cannon; to all of which he soon becomes familiar,
provided they are not accompanied with any thing that operates upon the
sense of feeling; but he will never become familiar to the crack of a
whip, so as not to be afraid of it, if he has been accustomed to
experience its effects, when vigorously applied to his back. To
conclude: Take away FEAR--Inspire CONFIDENCE--FAMILIARIZE.