The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-07

when they were first promulgated
First-The horse is so constituted by
nature that he will not offer resistance to
any demand made upon him which he
fully comprehends if made in way con-
slstent with the laws of his nature.
Second-That he has no consciousness
of his strength beyond his experience and
can be handled according to our will with
out force.
Third-That we can, IN compliance with
The law OF his nature by which he ex-
amines all things new 10 him. take any
obJeci, however frightful, around, over or
on him, that does not infllct pain, without
causing him fear.
The first two of these rules are generally
grained. 1t is usually claimed that Rarey
never demonstrated the truth of the third
without first having subdued the animal
by means of his peculiar training process.
1hls may be true. but speaking from my
own experience / may say that | have
never yet in my existence, or with any
morse l ever handled, met any object on
the road from which l was obliged to turn.
One of the strOu gest impulses of the
equine nature is curiosity. / have seen
lively, high-struDg, nervous young FLY
come running for dear life toward gun
that had just been fired TO zee what the
new object could be. Take any strange
object INTO stable and every horse that is
free will at once come to investigate it.
EN
The dog. a rule, has less curiosity, or is
less oDservant than either of these more
highly organized animals.
do not mean that have never met any
object at which the animal | was driving
was not terrified, but have never failed to
overcome that terror, whether it was for
bird or bush, or locomotive engine. | re-
member once. driving from one town to
another, when every man | met advised
me To turn back, as traction engine was
coming down the road pulling a building.
l was driving very nervous little mare,
full Of life, not very long broken, and
L resolved to go ahead and see what she
would do. As | expected. there was
circus at first. and Dolly waltZed all over
the road. BY talking and urging,
presently got her by the engine, and turn
lug her, succeeded IN coaXing her to travel
at walk. alongside the moving house.
when the engine stopped for moment
urged her forward and let her smell of it,
and when she started again SHE was able
to walk beside il, although for half mile
or more she snorted violently and was evil
IDENTIFY not ct all pleased with her travel
ing c0mpaDion. After that, however,
never had her manifest the slightest fear
Of any sort Of an engine, but friend of
mine, 10 whom | afterward lent her for a
seasons work brought her back TO me be-
cause be said she was so skittish and wild
ne was afraid 10 let the other members of
his family TO handle her.
A young horse. who when he manifests
fear at any OBJ iect is taken uD to it and al
lowed TO smell of and touch il, will soon
come to realize the harmlessneSs of the
things he has TO encounter and will give
them very little thought He will not.
however, recover from any great and sud-
den fright. so far as the object that has
produced it is concerned, and any attem pt
to punish him out OF his terror is futile
prnpltV knew hDTcn
once that had been badly frightened and
injured by tramping through a wooden
floor in his stall. After that he could "nly
with great difficulty be got upon wooden
floor, and he died of fright several years
after while being compelled to cross a
bridge.
While horses can be accustomed to any,
thing if nationally treated. the greatest
caution should be exercised in bringing
them to any new object. Otherwise 1t is
possible TO do them irreparable injury.
1t is good plan. where practicable. to
allow the little colt 10 follow its mother
about her work. 10 become accustomed
to the sights III the road and learn to use
its legs 10 steady travel. When the mother
is being harnessed Is a good time to use
the colt to the feel of the harness feathers
about the body, and before he is year old
he should be quite we'll accustomed to hav-
ing the harness on himself. He should
not, however, be made to pull or carry
weight at any such tender age. The colt
that Is used too early grows prematurely
to look and act old. We have of late years
seen and heard a good deal about phenom-
email yearliDg trntters and PAGERS, but it is
a noteworthy fact that they have not
TRAINED on" as The saying is, ana that the
craze for speedy babies seems 10 have died
out. At a year or fourteen months old.
however. the training of the colt should be
seriously taken in hand, and by the time
he is two years old he should be able TO
back or pull as readily as an old horse.
Taken thus early he has no chance really
TO put his strength against that of the
man; the habit of obedience becomes
fixed, he learns TO recognize the superior
intellect and never fluids out that he is the
stronger animal of the two.
All this is allowing that the animal is
fniriy intelligent and not inherently
vicious. There is, now and again, a colt
f0aled that through cerebral malformation
really is vicious. and it should be an In
dictable offense to permit such an animal
TO grow up. An acquaintance of mine
bought beautiful pony several years ago
for his children's use. They had had it
several months, when 1t one day attacked
the gentleman and nearly killed him. II
was month before he was able to leave
his bed and institute an invest CATION into
that pOny's record. Then he learned that
it had already killed three men and
maiueu hnOtneT, as IL naQ Gone him, Tor
life. Knowing all this, he nastened to sell
the brute, just as previous INSCRIPTIONS
victims had done before him.
There are horses enough and to spare in
this country to-day. In some quarters
they are drug in the market and yet
met go on raising. breaking and selling
animals that they know will never be safe
drivers. / know breeder in this State
whose stock is famous for running away.
1t is in the blood just as taste for opium.
or liquor, or passion for gambling, is in
some human strains, and yet this man
goes on, year after year. allowing this I'M
reliable stock to multiply, breaking his
colts and putting them on the market to
break human necks. There is another
whose colts have n otOriously bad tempers,
inherited from their sire, and which rem
ders them wholly unfit for the uses of
civilization. but lie continues TO raise and
breed them. and once complained to me
that the farmers of the nelghbOrhoOd were
so short-slghied as 10 persist in giving
good horse the gO-by and sending mares to
another ranch III distant section rather
than patr0niZe home industry. One
neighbor. who did not at all approve of
the stallion, did buy splendid-looking
fonr-year-old son of his for farm work
because he got him at a bargain, but after
the ill-tempered brute had broken the ribs
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