Part 3

To return, again, to the horse, which we left already familiarized to man. Supposing him, as I said in the beginning, to belong to that class which only fears man, or has little fear of any thing else: the horse is gentle, in doing which you may have employed two or three hours; but he has no knowledge of being led by the halter. Put the halter on him, and handle him in the forehead, and pull him gently round towards the left, forming a circle. Let him follow you several times round in this way, till he will go as fast as you wish him to go. Then change the position, and turn to the right in the same manner, talking to him, telling him to come along, &c. When he is familiar with forming a circle, make him leave it; and, by degrees, he will follow you in a straight direction. In all this operation stop him every now and then, and handle his head and all his body, &c. When he is following you, stop him short, always speaking to him, as likewise when you start him: “Come on”--“follow me”--“come along.” In a short time, he will follow you without your pulling him by the halter. The first impression is so great upon horses, that a horse broken in this manner will always follow well ever after. Now take a whip, crack it at him, and drive him from you, but without whipping him. Then go up to him, and handle him and caress him, taking his head in your arms, putting your arms around his neck, &c. Finally: Take away the fear he had of you at first. The next operation is to saddle him, which is done almost immediately, if he belongs to the second class of horses, which fear very little else than man; and as he will make no resistance at being saddled, he will make none at being ridden, and so your horse is broken.

I shall now explain the difference to be observed in gentling the third class; that is: those horses which appear to fear every thing. The operation is to be carried on, as above directed, till you come to that part where you are to saddle him. If you should undertake to put the saddle on a horse of this latter description, he would fly from you as quickly as a deer, although you might handle him with the greatest ease. How shall we then proceed? Take away the fear he has of different objects, by making him acquainted with them, and convincing him, as it were, by gentle means, that those objects he so much dreads will not hurt him. Familiarize him with them. In order to succeed in this, every thing must be done by gradation. Firstly: Take a handkerchief and move it gently before him; at the same time, you handle his forehead; make him smell it; toss it up a little in your hand before him, till he is not frightened at it. Then throw it upon his head, and over his ears: then, by degrees, upon his neck, and so continue on; for if you should throw it immediately from his head to his back, or on his sides, he would jump and kick with all his might. Throw it upon his back, and upon his sides; let it fall off on one side, and then on the other. Let it fall before him and behind him, so that it will fall upon his heels. Make him walk with it upon his back. Let it fall whilst he is walking, till he gets completely familiar with it. After this, take some one or two yards of heavy stuff, such as cotton bagging or the like, throw it down at a distance two or three times; then make him smell it. Throw it up before him till he no longer flinches at it; then over his head, always talking to him, from time to time, and handling him every now and then. Then throw it upon his back, whilst you hold it in your hand, till you see that you can throw it upon his back, and let it hang down upon each side, without frightening him. Let him walk round with it: then make him trot with it, till it falls off. Pick it up and throw it upon him as he stands, and let it fall off on both sides of him, under his belly. Let it fall off from behind, over his heels. Repeat this last operation a great many times, and lift up his tail and pull it smartly. Tie something light to it, that will hang down over his hams; but not so low as to touch the ground. Make him follow you, in this manner. Afterwards, tie a large piece of mat or something similar to it, so that it will touch and drag upon the ground. Touch him and handle him in the forehead, making him advance slowly at first, then faster, till you make him run with it, and go around in every direction, till he becomes perfectly familiar with the object tied to his tail. Drive the horse away from you. Then call him back again. Untie the mat from his tail, and tie it to his neck, letting it hang down on one side, and making him run in the same manner as before. Take it off. Take a rattling, dry deer skin or ox-ide, and throw it down at some distance before the horse. Raise it up and throw it down several times, till the horse pays no attention to it when it falls, or when you let it fall and rattle it. Let it fall close before him, and make him smell of it. Then throw it upon his neck. Let him first walk and then run with it, till it falls off. Then continue with it, as you did with the mat, till you tie it to his tail, and let him walk and run with it, without showing the least signs of fear, which he will do in a very few minutes. Next comes the girt. To familiarize him to it, you will take, firstly, a common rope, and throw it over his back, and make him walk with it. Stop him, and double the rope. Let the middle of it hang upon the right side, low enough for you to take it in your hand where it is doubled, and draw it towards you. Slip the two ends of the rope through the doubled part, and haul it gently and by degrees, as if you were girting the horse. Loosen and tighten it many times; at last, fasten it, not very tight. Make him walk and run in this manner. Loosen and tighten it again, till you have him girted up with the rope in this manner. Walk and run him in this way. Stop him. Throw another rope around his body, just before his hind legs, so as to encompass his flanks. At first, let it rub him gently, and by drawing first one end and then the other. This is very important, especially if the horse be naturally of a fearful, timid nature. The effect it has upon him, ever after, is truly astonishing. I speak after more than twenty years’ experience, having done every thing as above directed. Take a heavy Spanish saddle, with wooden stirrups, if you have such a one. Throw it down before him, rattle it well, and make him smell of it. It must be observed, that in all these manœuvres, you must now and then handle the horse, by taking up his feet, speaking to him, patting him all over on both sides pretty vigorously; going away from him, then running suddenly up to him, &c.

To return to the saddle. Throw it up towards his back; and if he makes no resistance, as it is probable he will not, throw it upon his back and girt it lightly. Handle him in every part. Strike first lightly, then very hard upon the saddle: walk him and run him with it. Stop him, and girt up tight. Pull upon the stirrups, on both sides. Make a noise upon the saddle, by striking it hard with your hand. Handle his tail, by raising it and letting it fall, and striking upon it; then put a small cord under it, in form of a crupper, and tie the ends to the hinder part of the saddle. Walk and run him, &c. Pull the cord that serves as a crupper, till he gets familiar with it. Unsaddle: saddle up again immediately. Put on the crupper: girt up tight. Exercise the horse, by leading him, and making him run. Stop him all at once. Put your hand on his forehead. Say to him, “Come along:” at the same time advance, and pull him gently by the rope. In a short time, you may let the rope fall, and he will stop at the word “Stop,” and will follow you, at the words, “Come along,” without your pulling him by the rope. Now ungirt the saddle, and let it fall down upon the left side. Put it loose upon the horse again, and let it fall several times upon the right side and over his heels. Then take it and throw it over his head, upon his back; saddle him roughly, striking and making a noise upon the saddle. Pull the stirrups strongly, and lead him about. Load him with any baggage that comes in your way, and make him walk and run with it. Mount half way upon him, bearing hard with your left foot upon the stirrup: then upon the other side. If the horse shows no signs of fear at any of these operations, you may get upon him with all safety, and ride him through the most populous city in America, without his being frightened at any of the objects he meets in it. But I generally make it a rule, to accustom the horse to sound, before I take him out: in order to do which, I take something that is similar to a drum, or an empty barrel, and beat upon it till he becomes perfectly indifferent to it. Then I show him a pistol or a gun, and flash it before him. Then I load it very lightly, and fire it off before him, close to his head, making him smell it before I fire. I flash it off two or three times before-hand. I load it again, and by repeating this exercise two or three times, you may fire off the gun while placed upon his neck, without frightening him in the least.

I have already observed, that the first impressions are the strongest and most lasting. It is a great deal easier to learn, than to unlearn. Therefore, it is extremely necessary, that the horse should be exercised in every thing that tends to render him docile and useful, when you thus break him, and you will have very little to fear from him afterwards. After you have thus gentled your horse, so as to be able to ride him, it will be necessary for you to come up to him with one or two other persons: let them touch him, and let him smell at them: otherwise, he would be afraid of other people: but, by coming up to him with other

persons, he will let any one handle him and manage him, as easily as the one who broke him. The greater part of wild horses thus gentled, will go off with facility: others will be a little awkward at first. It is, perhaps, the best way, (though I have generally ridden them out alone,) and especially if they show any awkwardness in going at first, to ride them out in company with another horse. It will do no hurt to any. Horses broken in this way, become almost immediately bridle-wise, and need but very little exercise, to obey the bridle with uncommon facility. The reason is plain: they are no longer afraid, and consequently have no inclination to resist.

Having thus shown how one must proceed, to break the second and third class of horses, I now retrocede to the first class, which appear to fear nothing. When this first kind of horses are let loose, after having been dragged by force into a pen or stable, it is very dangerous for any one to go in where they are; for, if you step back or try to get out of their way, when they run at you, they will be sure to bite, kick or stamp you under their feet. But if you stop, stand perfectly still, hold out your left hand, and look at the horse, he will stand still, likewise, before he arrives at where you are. This may appear very strange; but so it is, and I have experienced it very often. He will never come nigher than about five or six feet to you; and if he is in a yard, he will rarely come nigher than ten or twelve. Such a horse should never be put into too small a place. Here we must make use of a precaution, which is not necessary in the two other kinds of horses: and give me leave to say, that I am fully persuaded, that no horse of this description was ever gentled in a few hours by any one but myself, and by the secret which I had discovered. The precaution I speak of, is: to let no one come into the stable or yard with you, for it would be dangerous. His attention must be fixed upon you, and your hand alone. I once came near being killed, by a horse of this description, before I had discovered this part of the secret. Therefore, it is of the greatest importance, to put the horse where he can see no moving object, at the time you approach him. The case I mentioned was this: I was about to draw nigh the horse, after having entered the stable where he was, and after he had stood still some time, when, on a sudden, a hen flew down from a scaffold exactly over the stable where the horse stood, and where I was to perform the operation. The horse gave a jump at me, and struck his foot so nigh me, that he grazed my shoulder; then turned round almost as quick as lightning, and let fly a pair of heels, which knocked off my hat, but knocked a useful lesson into my head. From that day forward, I have never received the slightest hurt, or even run any risk, in breaking some of the fiercest and most ferocious horses of New Spain. But to come to the point. Hold out your left hand, keeping it high enough to touch him upon the forehead: keep this position for at least one whole hour, lowering your hand now and then, unless the horse should advance, after ten or fifteen minutes, a step or two towards you; in which case, let your hand be ready to meet his forehead, rather higher up than in the other two kinds of horses; and, if he should appear uneasy, repeat the strokes very fast between his eyes, fetching your hand partly over them now and then. Your position, at first, ought to be exactly before him. Then, by degrees, fall off towards the left side. Never flinch, or show any signs of fear, when you are gentling this kind of horses. You must remain a great deal longer about their heads, than in others. They will often flinch, and frequently show signs of resistance, whenever you advance an inch from the place you have already handled; so that it requires some judgment, and more patience, to know how to manage them. But, by going on, after you have once touched them, as you would do with the other two classes, though a great deal slower, you will never fail of making them as gentle as a lamb. I never employed more than ten hours but with one, which belonged to the Governor of San Louis Potosi, Don Jose Ildefonso Leon. This animal kept me between fifteen and sixteen hours, in gentling him; at the end of which time, men, women and children could ride him and handle him with as much ease as they could any old, gentle cart-horse, and ride him bare-backed through the streets of the city, as many did--five or six being mounted upon him at once. For he was a stud of ten years of age, of great strength, of the Arabian race, and very high spirited; and the governor himself, who possessed several thousands of wild horses--and was the best horseman and herdsman in America, always had thought, for the last four years, that it was not in the art of man to break him. He was offered a thousand dollars for him the same day I finished breaking him, by an English gentleman, by the name of Humstead, who was travelling through the country: a great price, in a country where you can get a good horse for thirty or forty dollars. I would always advise a man, that goes to break a horse, to have a watch with him; for the time will always appear long to him, when he undertakes a horse of this description. It is very uncommon to meet with a horse you cannot come up to, so as to touch him in the forehead with your left hand, in less than a half a quarter of an hour. Now, any person who may in the least doubt of his own capacity to perform the operation, according to the rules laid down here, can always have a halter, or what the Spaniards call a jaguima, (which is generally used in riding young horses, before the bridle is put on them,) put upon the wild horse, before he is let loose, with a long rope tied to it, dragging upon the ground. When he goes in to the horse thus haltered, he will take care to take the rope up gently in one hand, whilst he holds out the other; taking care that the rope may keep clear of all his feet, and lie before him, gathering it up as he approaches. Another precaution may likewise be used, by persons naturally afraid of horses, which is: to have a barrier placed between them and the horse, and the end of the rope on the side they stand, which they may take hold of, and proceed as above directed. The barrier, if made use of, must be open enough for the horse to have a full view of the person who is going to break him. It is always a considerable inconvenience; but, it has this advantage: it places the most timid out of the reach of all the harm he might fear from horses of this description, till he can handle their head, which is already a great point; but, as one can handle but a small part of the horse, in this manner, it is necessary to go in to him afterwards, when he is thus a little familiarized to you; for there is no danger, after you once handle his head, if you proceed according to the above directions; that is, always advancing by degrees. Whenever you can handle the horse in every part, you must handle him much more vigorously than at first, though without hurting him. Those horses which appear to fear nothing, but kick at every thing with a kind of spite, and run at men when confined in a close place, are not always the longest in becoming perfectly gentle. Though a man may sometimes be an hour before he can touch them, yet they frequently become reconciled to him, as soon as he can handle their head, and it is not infrequent to see them very easy to be saddled and ridden, and more especially if they have never been handled; because a horse that has once been taken, in order to be broken the common way, and has resisted with success; that is to say, has flung his rider and run away--or one that has been beaten, whipped, or badly used in any way, is a great deal worse than one that has never been touched; for it is more difficult to unlearn than to learn. It is necessary always to bear in mind, what I have said concerning first impressions.

To conclude: To which soever of the three classes horses belong, deal with them as with the third class; that is, those that fear every thing, with this difference: the first class, or those that appear to fear nothing, must not be approached so suddenly as the others. Take notice: Whenever a horse that you begin to handle, hangs down his head, or appears sleepy and careless, (and this will happen in some in less than an hour,) your business is half over. I have broken an extremely wild horse, so as to saddle him, bridle him, and make him follow me without pulling him by the halter, and so that men, women and children have ridden him, without the least danger, in the streets of one of the most populous towns of the United Mexican states: and this I have done in less than two hours from the time I went into the place where the horse was. I always carried a watch with me, when I broke a horse. I have now and then gentled one, so as to ride him with perfect safety, in less than one hour. However, these are rare cases. I never had but two that kept me ten hours, and one nearly fifteen hours and a half. I began him at two o’clock, and worked upon him till seven; and the next day I began at five, and finished him a little after one o’clock. This was the Governor of San Louis Potosi’s, and one of the highest spirited horses I ever saw. I have generally employed from four to six hours, and some times eight, in rendering a horse completely gentle and useful, and on which a man or woman might undertake a journey of a thousand miles, the very next day after being broken, without any kind of fear of his becoming refractory on the road.

To come now to the most important part of the secret. I observed, in the beginning of my discourse upon the experiments I had made, that I was surprised to find one of the horses I had gentled the day before, almost as wild as ever, and one of the others had remained perfectly gentle. I saw there was something lacking. I therefore broke another; and, after having finished, I tied him in a stable. I went to him at night, and made a little negro boy handle him a quarter of an hour: gave him half a spoonful of fine salt, and not more than about half as much as he would eat. Early in the morning, I went to him again, handled him in the forehead and all over, and took up his feet, &c., &c., for a quarter of an hour: took him to water; fetched him back; gave him another spoonful of fine salt, and plenty to eat afterwards. I rode him a couple of miles, and then let him loose. The next day, I caught him in the yard, amongst the other horses, without throwing the rope, and he remained gentle ever after. The first day you break a horse, it is always good to ride him two or three miles; if further, it will do him no hurt. The first time you ride him out, it will be well enough to accompany him with another horse, though this is not absolutely necessary; for many horses, especially high spirited ones, will often go as well as if they had been gentled for a long time; some others appear a little awkward at first, but in half an hour they will go well alone. At any rate, they will not be afraid of any object they meet.

I have here given the whole secret of taming, in a few hours, the most refractory wild horse.

Whilst residing in the city of Mexico, I wrote a grammar, in Greek, Latin, French and English, which I intend to publish, in order to simplify, in some measure, the study of the former. In it I begin by making the student acquainted with the most common names--such as fall under his immediate view. The names of birds, fish, plants, trees, the human body and its parts, &c., &c. In the declination of all these, will be found general rules; but all, or almost all of these rules, are subject to some one or more exceptions--as is the case with all general rules. Thence, perhaps, came our proverb: There is no rule without exception. Now, as gentling a horse, and writing a grammar, are two very different occupations, yet they have some things which are common to both: one of which is, this same exception to the general rule. I have given a detail of the method I use in breaking the three different kinds of horses: that is, horses in general; these general rules, however, are liable to some few exceptions. I have had horses that did not appear to belong to any one of the three kinds mentioned. I look upon them as exceptions. Among these, are horses that toss up their heads the very minute you touch them, and will not let you put your hand upon them. The first of these I met with gave me so much trouble, that I thought it would be impossible to break him. I tried to touch him upon the forehead, as the true standard, but could not. I therefore declared him to be an anomaly, and determined to decline him in some other way. I therefore endeavored to touch him upon the neck, which I succeeded in doing in less than five minutes. I proceeded on in handling him, as I did other horses. After having lifted up his feet, and handled him every where except about his head, I succeeded in gentling that part. He always remained gentle, and not in the least skittish about that part. To succeed in handling his head, I was obliged to begin at that part of the neck nighest to the ears, and continue on to them, and then to the upper part of his forehead, between his eyes; and so descend to his nose, in the same progressive manner as I ascend in other horses. I had tried every possible means to begin at that part, but found it utterly out of my power.