The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses | Page 6

what you are
going to do, and how you are going to do it. And, if you are
experienced in the art of taming wild horses, you ought to be able to
tell within a few minutes the length of time it would take you to halter
the colt, and learn him to lead.
THE KIND OF HALTER.
Always use a leather halter, and be sure to have it made so that it will
not draw tight around his nose if he pulls on it. It should be of the right
size to fit his head easily and nicely; so that the nose band will not be
too tight or too low. Never put a rope halter on an unbroken colt under

any circumstances whatever. They have caused more horses to hurt or
kill themselves, than would pay for twice the cost of all the leather
halters that have ever been needed for the purpose of haltering colts. It
is almost impossible to break a colt that is very wild with a rope halter,
without having him pull, rear and throw himself, and thus endanger his
life; and I will tell you why. It is just as natural for a horse to try to get
his head out of anything that hurts it, or feels unpleasant, as it would be
for you to try to get your hand out of a fire. The cords of the rope are
hard and cutting; this makes him raise his head and draw on it, and as
soon as he pulls, the slip noose (the way rope halters are always made)
tightens, and pinches his nose, and then he will struggle for life, until,
perchance, he throws himself; and who would have his horse throw
himself, and run the risk of breaking his neck, rather than pay the price
of a leather halter. But this is not the worst. A horse that has once
pulled on his halter, can never be as well broke as one that has never
pulled at all.
REMARKS ON THE HORSE.
But before we attempt to do anything more with the colt, I will give
you some of the characteristics of his nature, that you may better
understand his motions. Every one that has ever paid any attention to
the horse, has noticed his natural inclination to smell of everything
which to him looks new and frightful. This is their strange mode of
examining everything. And, when they are frightened at anything,
though they look at it sharply, they seem to have no confidence in this
optical examination alone, but must touch it with the nose before they
are entirely satisfied; and, as soon as this is done, all is right.
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ROBE.
If you want to satisfy yourself of this characteristic of the horse, and
learn something of importance concerning the peculiarities of his nature,
etc., turn him into the barn-yard, or a large stable will do, and then
gather up something that you know will frighten him; a red blanket,
buffalo robe, or something of that kind. Hold it up so that he can see it;
he will stick up his head and snort. Then throw it down somewhere in
the center of the lot or barn, and walk off to one side. Watch his

motions, and study his nature. If he is frightened at the object, he will
not rest until he has touched it with his nose. You will see him begin to
walk around the robe and snort, all the time getting a little closer, as if
drawn up by some magic spell, until he finally gets within reach of it.
He will then very cautiously stretch out his neck as far as he can reach,
merely touching it with his nose, as though he thought it was ready to
fly at him. But after he has repeated these touches a few times, for the
first (though he has been looking at it all the time) he seems to have an
idea what it is. But now he has found, by the sense of feeling, that it is
nothing that will do him any harm, and he is ready to play with it. And
if you watch him closely, you will see him take hold of it with his teeth,
and raise it up and pull at it. And in a few minutes you can see that he
has not that same wild look about his eye, but stands like a horse biting
at some familiar stump.
Yet the horse is never well satisfied when he is about anything that has
frightened him, as when he is standing with his nose to it. And, in nine
cases out of ten, you will see some of that same wild look about him
again, as he