, 1907-07-11
BREAKING HORSES WITH KIND,
NESS,

There is an article in the July Cen.
fury that ought to be read by every
horseman in the west. 1t is n marvel
nns record OF the achievements Of a
western man who believes that the
best, the most economical and the only
humane way to break a horse is
through gentle, kind methods. The
Century writer's account is of one
Daniel bennington, who has Travelled
from ranch to ranch all over the west
and northwest and the greater part of
the southwestern cattle country, get
ting up classes among the ranchmen
and cowboys and teaching them how
to break. train n educate their
horses. At first his reception was not
cordial n his coming was met with
jeers, His methods have been such,
however, as to appeal to every man
who had an ounce of the milk of hui
man kindness in his system, and the
~big-hearted cowboys of the plains and
mountains have adopted to a large ex-
tent the methods practiced by Uncle
Dan"
The only charm l USE" says Uncle
Dan, lis the Golden Rule, Treat a
horse as you would like to be treated
if you were a horse yourself. There
is never any neel for anyCL.e &c beat
or abuse a horse
The writer gives the following as
the old method of breaking a horse:
THE old method, and sad to say the
method that is still used on many
ranches for subduing the unbroken
horse. had been to round up a herd of
the wild creatures that had been run
a corral, cut out, or drive apart from
the herd, the horse to be broken, and
run him into a large corral, where he
was then roped and thrown. If the
furious and terrified creature. showed
fight-which he always would If he
had any spirit-he was often choked
almost into insensibility, blindfolded,
his feet hobbled, a hackamore put on
his head, a bit forced into his mouth,
and a saddle strapped on his back and
cinched so tight that it almost cut him
in two. Then h e>hobbles were remov
ed from his feet, the blind from his
eyes, a cowboy sprang into the saddle
and the fun began.
The bronco got to his feet stiff.
stunned and sore from his fall, in a
strange place hat he had never seen
before, with a hard, cold, torturing
thing in his mouth that cut his tongue
and tore his lips and gums, and with
a burden on his back that he could
not understand. 1t is no wonder that
he began to rear and kick and buck;
that the sole thought in his mind was
to rid himself of these new and painful
sensations; and that he struck out
with fore-feet, pitched, reared, lay
down, and threw himself over back
ward, hoping to shake off the thing
that was terrifying him. The more
the horse fought and struggled, the
more the cowboys laughed n shouted,
cheering on the boy upon his back,
who beat him over the head with his
quirt, prodded him with the rowels of
his long Spanish purs until the blood
ran from his quivering TANKS, and
goaded him round and round the cor.
raj, until, dropping with terror and
exhaustion, the poo creature gave up
the unequal contest and was broken
or, if he happened to be a horse of bet
ter blood and more spirit, kept up the
fight until he killed or injured him.
self or his rider-often both-or until,
after a useless struggle, he was turned
out on the range again as a hopeless
outlaw"
Uncle Dan bennington believes this
method to be all wrong-foolish, wick,
ed and inhuman. He believes that a
little more time spent in gentling and
training the animal at the outset pays
a ~hundredfold in the after life of the
horse. He does not use force at all,
but proceeds to tame, to encourage, to
educate, and the writer says, quoting
from Uncle Dams" own words, "if
o only hold on to your temper and
are kind and patient with the horse,