The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1908-10-03

HANDLING THE SHYING HORSE
Many a high-strung young horse i:
made much less valuable and not in
/ frequently spoiled for road work by
careless and ignorant treatment In
the hands of persons who neither
know nor care what vices the horse
! contracts, SO long as they can have
the satisfaction of venting spite OF
the animal when he SHES or shows
signs of fear at objects that fill him
with alarm The following sugges'
tons given by writer in Farmers
Almanac. while referring chiefly to
acquainting horse with street cars,
will be found of value in accustom-
ing him to automobiles, steam thresh-
ers, road rollers, etc. A few hours
spent in thus educating the colt Or
horse to lose fear of what terrifies
him is time well spent and may pre-
vent loss of life or serious injury
later, and in the case of first-class
road animals will frequently add a
half or more to their selling value.
The writer referred to says:
The chief difficulty was to accus-
tom them to the trolley cars which
came along the roads at any speed
up to thirty miles an hour.
My plan was TO ride quietly to
the terminus and wait, at q respect
ful. distance, the advent Of ear.
When it was stationary spent the
ten minutes OF its stay in riding
round it in circles of gradually dimin.
ishdng size. but never trying to force
the horse nearer than he could be
coaxed to approach. Generally, Sin
less than an hour, the horse would
go right up to the car and accept
caresses from the conductor.
The next step was to follow the
starting car, which, luckily, went
slowly for the first mile, trotting be-
hind and alongside, till the horse
took no notice of it whatever. After
that 1t was merely matter of meet
ing cars at points where they moved
slowly till gradually the horse grew
accustomed to face them at any speed.
In teaching a horse to be fearless
of any strange, and therefore, to him,
alarming object, there are three rules
of conduct to which there IS no ex-
ception: Never speak sharply. New
er use your whip and never urge
him forward with a tight rein. A
frightened or nervous. horse is psyche
logically the equivalent of a fright
ened child. Would any one in his
senses expect to cure his child's tim
idity by scolding him OF whipping
him, or by yanking him suddenly by
the arm?
It is impossible to condemn too
strongly the pulling of a horses
mouth, and laying the. whip smartly
across his back, which is the prac-
tice usually seen and popularity adj
vocated ito distract his attention."
when horse shows symptoms OF
alarm at an approaching object, such
as motor-car; a greater mistake or
one more productive of future trou.
BILE for the driver, was never made.
eASlCht StlLtOu INV d
horse can think of only one thing
at a time, and that, therefore, the
whip will divert his attention from
the object of his fears is neither log
1cal nor tenable in practice.
put yourself in his place." is
good motto when dealing with horses.
A sudden curtailment of his usual
freedom of movement, by Tightening
the reins, when a nervous horse us
looking suspiciously at some strange
approaching object, naturally Increases
his alarm; while use of the whip en-
genders fear of the object, which it
will take no end of time and trouble
to eradicate.
The fact that the approach of the
alarming object was quickly follow
ed by punishment naturally produces
an association of the two in the
equine mind, and a logical objection |
to face that object again.
FARM NOTES