The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-07-10
Equine Superstitions,

Horses are almost as superstitious as
men, but, unlike men, they can be
reasoned with and made broad minded,
liberal, free-thinking philosophers. The
horse is the noblest animal that walks
the earth. He has most Of the good
traits of the human race, with some of
the bad ones. Take, for instance, those
horses raised on the big ranches in Cali
fornia, where 1 got my first training.
There are lot of parallel valleys, each
of which may be the property of sep
arate ranchero, but the horses have
access from among them all. Thus
horses of different brands get mixed,
and once a year all the rancheros
club together and have gigantic
roundup. Several thousand animals of
dozen different brands may be rounded
into one herd. The cowboys ride
round and round them continuously to
prevent any breaking away, and thus
the whole herd is kept in constant mo-
ton. When creature tries to break
out he is pursued and whipped back,
till he realizes that his only escape from
punishment is in remaining with the
herd. All this time cowboys are riding
about in the herd, cutting out the diff
ferent brands. Every maverick is roped
and branded with the mark of the older
horse it is following. The branding is
cruel work and the horses never forget
it. They seldom, if ever, see a man
afoot but they associate the idea of the
pain with that of mounted man, and
brood over it till it grows stronger and
stronger. The sight of a horseman is
to them frightful, and they are desper-
ate in their attempts to escape from his
presence. The older they grow the
stronger is their dread of mounted men,
and it is inherited by the colts till it has
all the features of superstition. Still,
it can be educated out of them.
Then again, there may be individual
superstition. Say, for instance, a
horse falls off the cliff and is badly
bruised. He may be fearless at any
other pass, but he will carefully avoid
this particular place where he was in
| jured. One horse may fear one thing
and another another. Unframed ranch
horses may have different superstitions
from those of the real wild animals that
have never been disturbed by man.
Among these is a pronounced fear of
rattlesnakes and certain wild animals.
When a youth 1 was cowboy, and one
of the best rough riders of the West.
Like other cowboys, 1 delighted in a
bucking bronco, but l soon learned that
the widest horse can be tanned in an
hour 80 that he will follow his rider
about and let himself be ridden without
struggle. have tanned hundreds OF
horses fresh from the prairies, and
never failed to make complete con.
quest in short time. l treat horses as
intelligent beings, and after manner
ask them if they can do things. Often
they refuse, and again they say, as plain
as if they used words: Why, yes, ]
can do that" and they do it.
In selecting horses for exhibition ]
! ignore the usual rule, which is that an
intelligent horse is broad between the
eyes, with small nose, broad between
the ears, with small ears. Horses are
like men. You can't tell by the shape
of mans head whether he is phil
osopher or fool. You will find heads
in congress as awkwardly shaped as in
lunatic asylum, and in the latter place
will be seen faces a, apparently intelli.
gent as the wisest in congress. train
my horses in classes. take dozen
anu ASK each 10 10 CeTLalu tuluR
Some will stare blindly, while others
will step up briskly and say, Yes, ]
can do that" Then 1 ask them to dc
something else, and then those who
were quickest at first will halt, while
those who made no response before are
anxious to do the thing. Thus learn
the class each is especially fitted fol
and develop them along their special
lines. In this way they are just like
men. Now, have tried numerous
ways to make a living outside of horses,
but always fail and drift back to my
hobby. Horses are like men in the
amount of courage they can muster up.
If / want horse to do extra long
jumps select creature that is finely
built and has all the physical qualities,
but perhaps he is a coward and is afraid
to leap. Some little half-developed
creature possessed with daredevil
spirit may Guido him in every respect.
Professor Bartholomew, in Exchange.