Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1909-06-29

person c0ndemnlng the automobile
and saying all kinds of unpleasant
things about people who own or use
them simply because an occasional
horse gets frightened at them.
And the question is repeatedly be
ing asked: How do you break your
horses to the automobile? The traie.
ing of horses is matter Of gre;
necessity; they are trained for var.
Gus purposes, but mostly for our
pleasure and convenience.
While it may seem difficult to lay
out a set of iron clad rules to follow
for breaking the horse to the auto
mobile. or to control a frightened
horse, still it is not hard to educate a
horse to the machine, the same as
any other part of his education.
In the first place, few of the driv-
ers of horses are city broke" so to
speak, and generally the driver gets
frightened first. He rapidly trans
fnits his fear TO the horse and you
may rest assured that if you are ex
cited your horse will SOON find it out,
so it is matter Of utmost; impor-
lance that the driver keep a level
head. Let your horse have conf
dence in you;for he only knows what
you teach him. la this connection
let me state that horse never learns
anything except by experience.
He does not fear any thing that he
understands to be harmless, but he
has a great deal Of curiosity There
fore. if he scares at the machine let
him stop ana investigate ard ex-
anime it by methods Of his own.
Then permit him co approach eau
tiously and slowly and examine the
nature of the object in his own way.
Allow him to understand fully that
it is harmless. Do not abuse him
for being afraid of the machine.
Give him an introduction and let
him get acquainted and familarize
himself with it.
There is a singular fact connected
with training horses thac the casual
observer has not noticed. If you ac-
custom him to passing any particular
object on one certain side he will not
fear it when passing on that side, but
may fear the same object when pass
ed on the other side. Therefore he
should be broken on both sides" so
to speak.
In the beginning of your training
you should show your horse just
what you wish him to do, and then
by Kindness compel him to obey you
Horses. it is true, are as varied in
their disposition and intelligence as
men almost, and sometimes when a
horse which has been a long time
without a master, is your pupil, it !
seems sometimes more than kindness
may be required to subdue him.
Observation and experience teach
that the horse is possessed Of as
much or more acutnenss of the senses
than man and that his nature is gov
erned by fixed laws.
Knowing that our success is con-
trolling and managing him will de-
pend upon the amount of prudence
and intelligence we exercise in con-
formity to the requirements of his
nature and the advantages we take
of his igno ance to impress him with
a sense of our power and supremacy
The horse is stronger than man,
and if he learns to resist and is sue
cessful in resisting he will continue
to do so. He will acquire bad habits
only as far as he discovers we are
unable to compel submission.
The secret of managing and train
ing horses lies in mans mental and
intellectual superiority.
The superiority enables US to de-
wise and use means to overcome the
strength Of the horse, and it is only
by the reason of the mind that we
can effectually keep him in ignor
ance of his strength.
Impose upon him a feeling of mans
power and superiority and cause
him to yield willingly and ready obe-
dience to our command. We must
conform to his nature so as not to
excite resistance and mMst by discon.
cert and control him that he will be
impressed with mans greatest force