Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1883-03-31
BREAKING A COLT.
The LaughabIe Indian Way by which
Young Horses are Subdued.

L. N. Cam relates that a gentleman
who had tried the Spanish, Rarey ant
other methods to subdue wild colt
finally tried the Indian way. He made
a complete dummy" man, whose long
dangling arms, and queer misshaper
body, with its stuffed hat instead of
head, caused the little children much
amusement, mingled with astonish
ment, when he gravely informed then
that "that was the man that was going
to break our colt for us" In vain they
piled him with questions. He would
answer none of them, and they await,
ed further proceedings with the great.
est curiosity.
Next morning the colt was brought
out in good order. 1t seemed to have
entirely recovered from the excitement
of the day b2fore,ald enjoyed the curry.
ing and pltting the boys gave it, taking
an apple from the hand of one, and =
lump of sugar and q piece of bread
from another. Meanwhile he had his
dummy" all ready, and with the as.
sistance Of one of the lads. standing
on the other side of the animal, lifted
it lightly on the colts back; and be.
fore letting it feel the weight of the
dummy" they had the girth, extend
ing from each leg of the pants, secure
ly fastened beneath.
All then stood aside, whilst the boy
at the colts heal slipped off the bride
and got out of its way. Feeling now,
for the first time, the burden on its
back, and anticipating repetition OF
the previous performance, the colt
dashed off into the lot, rearing and
plunging, and going through series
OF equine gymnastics wonderful to be-
hold, whilst the old dummy" held
securely in its position by the girth
around the horse, pitched forwards or
backwards as the case might be, with
its long arms flung wildly in the air;
now coming down on the horses heal,
now on its launches, then giving
frantic lurch to the right or left, with
head downwarls and arms dangling
between the colt's legs, or recovering
itself wildly, as the terrified animal
reared on its launches to perform
Mazeppa act, as it threw itself over
the horses tail and hung on by its
heels, that would have made the for
tune Of any equestrian in the land.
All leaned over the bars, and laughed
till the tears ran down their cheeks, as
they watched the performance of this
"free show" for their benefit, happy
that they knew the colt could not harm
himself Or anybody else, AMI free from
care concerning the safety of the
dummy, whose ludicrous proceedings
all could enjoy-to their hearts content.
The maneuvers of the colt to rid
itself of its utterly reckless rider were
wonderful to behold. Finding that
rearing, prancing, kicking and plung-
ing did not accomplish its object, it
rubbed itself against the fence, and
finally lay down and rolled over several
times, but all to no purpose. Dummy
still held on with the tenacity of Sin I
bad's Old Man of the Sea- AT last,
however, the loosened girth slipped
and dummy dismounted from
his late proud perch, was left dragging
and dangling along between the colts
heels, who made one last desperate eff
fort to free himself from it, but, as
before, the attempt was a vain one,
for the dummy still held on with the
of fate. t
Pereeiving, finally, that no harm was
done to him, the colt cooled down, and
at last commenced eating the grass as
contentedly as if the object of his late
terror were not trailing on the ground
beneath him; for by this time that colt
had been completely broken. That
night, when he was released from his
burden, he was as quiet as lamb.
Next morning the boys mounted and
rode him where they would, without
the slightest resistance on his part;
and never, from that day to this, has
he shown any opposition to the will OF
''the powers that be"