Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-05-13
EDUCATING A HORSE.
This Is the Way a Kentuckian Accom-
plishes the Work.

This Is the Way a Kentuckian Accom-
plishes the Work.
The report Of the death of a farmer
in runaway, wherein the horses were
frightened by a white cat that ran
across the road in front of them, was
the subject of editorial comment in
your paper. Let me say, first, that few
persons realize or have even fair con-
ception of the real labor, care, energy
and study necessary to turn horses out
in anything like finished form. 1t is a
well understood rule in my establish
ment that horses are not broken-I do
not like the word-but taught, trained
or schooled. Besides mounting and bit
ting they are made familiar with three
things met on every hand-the whip,
the umbrella and dog. Daily / pass up
and down the aisles between two rows
of horses in single stalls cracking a
whip as loudly as it can be snapped,
without word being spoken-not to
make them "show up" but to let them
learn the noise and understand that
they are not to be hurt 1t is often in
teresting, for some snort, others twist
about, others climb into their troughs,
yet the whip cracking goes on. After
few lessons they pay no atten-
ton to it, or at least manifest no fear
or nervousness. Rainy days / walk up
and down the aisle with raised UNI
brella, then invert it and leave it on the
floor opened and go out, and not word is
spoken. Hear them snort and climb the
walls! But there that umbrella stands
until each horse determines it is moth
ing, and on that point no more trouble
is met
My collie dog is here, there, every
where when the horses are being exer-
cised, sometimes in his gambols running
at them head on or as often dashing up
behind. On the public highways every
one has had the experience of dog
rushing out suddenly, frequently with
disastrous results, and here is where
the dog comes in under my system The
open umbrella is met on every side on
rainy days. Under my teaching it is a
familiar object.
Harness horses, however much they
may have been driven, when they come
into my establishment are put through
the following drill: Into my school
room, 100 by 40 feet, they go harnessed
with an open bride, a surcingle or body
girth with ring upon each side and a
pair of driving lines, and long whip
with good snapper. Thus rugged the
horse is taught to stop and start by COM
mand, to back and to stand while the
whip is passed over his body, between
his legs and cracked all about him. All
of this means work and plenty of it,
but it is remunerative many times over.
That horses can reason I gravely
doubt, yet just how to define that sense
by which they comprehend is equally
an unsatisfactory thought. Smell and
hearing are intensely acute. and that it
is by these senses, together with the one
of sight separate from reason, that
they understand things is the idea to
which ! strongly incline Saddle horses
aged in experience. mounted always
from the left side, have been known to
become badly frightened if mounted
from the off side. Capacity to reason
seems wanting there, does it not? Har-
ness horses driven for years with blind
ers, seemingly perfectly gentle, have
been known to become SO alarmed as to
run away and smash things if the bril-
die was removed by accident or purpose
when harnessed to buggy with the
top up. My umbrella practice would go
far to prevent such accidents Driving
with an open bride to a trap without a
top, suddenly hoist parasol or an um-
brella, and the chances are many that
the horse will show fright. Hence my
umbrella practice. That such training
is necessary before a horse can properly
be called finished is shown clearly
enough by the report some time ago of
a runaway occasioned by the opening of
an umbrella behind pair of horses and
resulting in the death of two or three
persons. Charles l. Railey in Breed
er's Gazette.