Put him in a pen, and go on progressively, till you can handle all his
feet as you would a dog’s. It must be recollected, that when I speak of
putting a horse in a pen, I suppose them to be of the most refractory
kind imaginable; otherwise, I can handle a bad horse’s feet, in a very
few minutes, by beginning at his forehead, and so on.
TO TEACH A HORSE, SO THAT HE WILL NOT LET A PERSON DRESSED IN A CERTAIN
MANNER COME NIGH HIM.
If you would not wish to have a person, for example, wearing a white
hat, come nigh your horse, put on a white hat, go into the stable where
your horse is, and take a whip in your hand: go up to him, and give him
a few good lashes with it. Retire and change your hat for one of another
color: leave your whip, come in again without it; stroke your horse, pat
him, talk to him and feed him. Go out again, and put on your white hat:
come in and whip him soundly. Then retire, put on another hat, and come
in and handle him gently. Repeat the same for a few days, and your horse
would as lief see the devil as a man with a white hat, and will not let
such a one come near him; and thus it will happen with any other
clothing.
I will relate a little anecdote, which took place in Mexico, a few years
before I left there. One of my friends had a horse extremely gentle, and
of such an easy, agreeable gait, that he took the greatest care of him,
and held him at a great price. A well-fed, big and lusty friar was a
friend to our neighbor: one who liked the good things of this world, as
well as he liked to ride out to the small towns, bordering upon the city
of Mexico, and take a dinner with the bonny lasses and countrymen,
inhabiting those villages. He used to ask my friend to loan him his
horse, to take these excursions just around the capital; and, as his
requests were granted with so good a grace, he in a short time went so
far as to ask the loan of this favorite animal, to go to Cuernavaca, a
distance of eighteen leagues, or fifty miles. As this happened pretty
often, our friend complained to me one day, at the indiscretion of the
friar. I asked him if he could procure me a friar’s dress, for a few
days, and leave his horse with me, for the same time. He did so. I
dressed myself in the friar’s dress, and went in where the horse was. I
took a good whip in my hand, and made him do penance for no other sin
but that of too much gentleness. In going out I took off the friar’s
dress, and went in again in my own dress, and handled him gently. I
repeated the operation a few days, at the end of which, I took the horse
back to his master, and told him he might lend him to the friar whenever
he pleased. A day or two after, he came to my store. Your remedy, said
he, has had a marvellous effect. Our monk has just left my house,
perfectly persuaded that my horse is possessed with the devil. For,
when the holy personage came up to take him by the bridle to get on him,
he was so frightened, and wheeled round so quick, and flew away from him
with so much terror, that one would have said he took him for the
destroying angel. The friar crossed himself many times, hurried away
with all haste to his convent, to sprinkle himself abundantly with holy
water, and never asked my friend for his horse again.
TO TEACH YOUR HORSE, SO THAT HE WILL LET NO ONE BUT YOURSELF COME NEAR
HIM.
Whilst your horse is eating, let another person come in to him with a
stick sharpened at the end. Let him prick his nose with it, to irritate
him; but slightly, drawing back at the same time. Let him repeat the
same an instant afterwards, and every time the horse begins to eat
again. Come to him yourself, and caress him and talk to him. Go out
again, and cause another person to come in with the sharpened stick; but
not the same one that came in at first. Let him fret him in the same
manner as the other did. Call him out and go in yourself; handle the
horse gently, and talk to him. Call in a third, and a fourth, and
perform the same; always retiring suddenly from the horse, as if they
were afraid of him, every time he leers at them, or endeavors to bite
them. These lessons, repeated a few days, will inspire your horse with
so much mistrust against every person but yourself, and a certain
confidence in his own strength, that he will not suffer any one but
yourself to come near him.
TO PREVENT A HORSE FROM PULLING UPON HIS BRIDLE-REINS, IN ORDER TO BREAK
THEM.
Put a halter, (of that kind which Spaniards call a jaquima, used to ride
young horses: it goes over their ears, comes down and crosses their
nose, and has a throat-latch to it,) upon your horse, so strong that it
cannot be easily broken, and tie it to a tree so small that it will bend
a little, if the horse pulls with all his strength. Scare him. Run up
before him. Give him even a light stroke or two with the whip: speaking
to him to be quiet, whenever he pulls upon the rope. In a short time, he
will see that it is impossible for him to break it; and, by exercising
him twice a day for half an hour, each day in about a week, he will no
longer pull upon the halter, when you scare him, and consequently will
stand still afterwards, when hitched by the bridle.