PACTS FOR FARMERS. HORSE -BREAKING AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 265, 22 January 1874, Page 2

PACTS FOR FARMERS. HORSE -BREAKING AT HOME AND ABROAD.

In iorcign countries when the colt is first broken, s bit of a severity greater ti.an that in common use is put into his mouth. The rough-rider gets upon his back, and something like the following scene occurs. The young horse, feeling a strange weight upon him, probably begins by leaping up with all feet from the ground, at the same time cvi vmg his back, — a proceeding known as " buck-jumping ; " finding that this does not dislodge his rider, he lowers his head and kicks violently, hoping to send hit rider over lus head. Ihe hitter, instantly draws Ins bridle tight, and throws the hordes head to high that Licking is impossible to him, — for to be abteto kick, a horse has to hold his head low. Baffl dagan, ho rears, and the man instantly loosens the reins and applies the spurs iharply. The horse drops to lus fore-feet, and as a last resource to es«ape from his tormentor, runs away. He is pulled up by the action of the powerful bit, which holds his jaws like a vice so long as he tries to resist it ; but he does not try for long, for such a bit ai is used is, in truth, irresistible. Then, completely at his wit's end, the poor beast stand* tiembhng, quite rowed, and breuking out in ft profuse perspiration. Thereupon the rider coaxes him and pats him, and (to use an eijireiiire word I once heard from the late Mr Rarer, of horse-taming celebrity) ''gentles" him. T,he horse may be supposed to argue that there uno contending against a power and an intelligence which lie has leirned to perceive 10 superior to his own. lie his discovered that further contention 19 useless ; whatever att mpt at resiitence or aggression ho b«« made ka? boen c'lecked and mavered, and lie submits. Ihe horse is broken Now, this I-, the whole principle and science of horse-breaking ; a tery obvious principle and a very easy sciunce. It consists onl} 111 letting the horse feel that ho w completely and immediately mastered. To do tint without fuss, and without frightening, hurting, or exasperating the horse, is scientific hors.e-bre»k-uig Let us now examine the procesi of hoise-bre^kin^ ai performed in England, and see how these various conditions are fulfilled The rough-rider, armed with a stout .»«h sapling and a heavy pair uf spurs, mounts ihe unbroken colt, who it bitted with the ordinary Enghuh double bridle. The col kicks, and hia bit is jeiked violently, and he is ■purred and violently struck wich the itick. He plunges, •md is again corrected. He reais; and here comes into actio.i the well-known artifice of the Enyl sb horse-breaker, — a feat which it takes a marvellously quick hand and perfect nerve to a,cjcomphsh uitho'it danger. W hen tiiM L..rse ia standing high in the air, he is pulled over by the rider and tails backward, the nJer slipping to one aide to avoid ba<ng crushed* The risk to the noise in gteat, the risk Jo the ruler immense ; and it may be doubted whether, after all, the habit of rearing is ever cured by this heroic method. Should the colt run away— and almost every previously untrained horse attempts to do so — the shoi tu<iimugs of rhe English system are conspicuous. Unless the horse's mouth is uniminjly tender, the English bi* is incapable of holding bun ; Iho man puts out his strength, the hors>e exerts his, and often the beat of the struggle and gallops long and fir. Whether he is eventually mastered or not, the horse has perceived that the uder's superiority is not incontestable, and he acquit es in future a habit ot resisting whenever he is frightened or initated, and often merely from high spirit he gets into a habit of bolting. His mouth in the meantime has become callow ; in other womb, he comes to be haid-uiouthed ; for the final victory of the English breaker is rarely obtained without an immense amount of jagging ami jerking- and pulling of the bit. The horse is essentially a creature of habit ; he associates being ndden with fighting against the bit m his mouth. If he could have been petiuariftd at first and at once that resistance was useless, he would have given in, and acquired, a habit of submission. — New Quarterly Magazine.