T353 WILLIAM S. TEVIS, Jr. GIFT OF Author THE HORSE J 1 . THE HORSE WILLIAM S. TEVIS, Jr. Privately Printed SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA December, 1922 x ',**,• * «• * C « * « ..1 Copyright 1922 By William S. Tevis, Jr. f To MY FRIEND Whose interest and help made possible this little book 5 3 i f » 5 D CONTENTS Page Introduction 9 J CHAPTER I. -*-* IV -J How to approach a horse — Bridling — Saddling — Mounting — Dismounting — An episode near Lake Tahoe 11 V CHAPTER II. X* Balance — How to keep it — Experience with bucking horses — Correct length of stirrup — Grip — How it counteracts inertia — European cavalry 'man's experiment — Seat — What it means in the saddle — "The End ofx the Trail." 19 CHAPTER III. How the rider controls his horse — Bits, and how they work — The Martingale — Spurs — Whips — Balance — How to start and stop a horse — How to make a horse slide — Backing a horse — Changing direction — Changing leads at a gallop — Teaching the horse to trot and to walk — Riding without reins 26 CHAPTER IV. Reining a horse — Use of different bits — How his mouth is made — The natural gaits — The walk, the trot and the canter — Natural gaits more useful than acquired gaits — Popularity of five-gaited horses for show purposes — Jumping and swimming 34 CHAPTER V. Riding up and down hill or on a pavement — The right and wrong ways of doing so — Xenophon's comments about ancient hill riders — Opening a gate when on horseback -Talking to horses — Efficacy of a well-spoken word— The art of falling off — How best to escape injury — A midnight runaway and a drop in the darkness 42 CHAPTER VI. Racing and race horses — Early training — Reasons for the light bit and the short stirrup — Use and misuse of the whip in racing — Horse show ethics — Looks are every- thing— Satisfy the judge — Importance of etiquette — Polo ponies — They just happen and are not bred — Difficulty of finding them — Amenities of the polo pony trade — What constitutes a perfect polo pony 50 CHAPTER VII. Page Habits of the horse, natural and acquired — Getting up and Lying down — Balking — A useful method of treating it — Rolling — How to prevent it — Pawing — Rearing — Striking — Kicking — Biting — Cinch Binding — Shying — How to make a shying horse go past the object of his terror — Stumbling — Falling — Prancing — Plunging — Crow-hopping — Bucking, buck jumpers and how to ride them — Some general remarks about equine idio- syncrasies 56 CHAPTER VIII. Running away — A dangerous habit and difficult to cure — Story of an incorrigible runaway and his fate 69 CHAPTER IX. Breaking a colt to the saddle — A short method of taming and training — How the colt is taught to tolerate hand- ling— How he is saddled and cinched the first time — How he is ridden 75 CHAPTER X. Buying a saddle horse — Age shown by the teeth — How to detect poor vision and other defects — Splints, ringbone, spavin — Sore backs, what they indicate — Shoulder lameness and navicular disease — Laminitis or founder — Testing a horse for wind — How to recognize a wind- sucker or crib-biter 86 CHAPTER XI. Teaching children to ride — Cannot begin too young — An old plug better than a pony — Experience the best riding master — Psychology of the horse — He has not the power of deduction — Trick horses — How they are made to appear to have reasoning faculties — They only obey commands 92 > . > l» • > :.. I • > INTRODUCTION The horse in its prehistoric species was indigenous to the five great continents. In America the rock formations, antedating the glacial period, give us an approximate idea of the animal in its early stages of development. With the glacial period, the species became extinct in America. Not until the sixteenth century did the horse again make its appearance on the Western Continent, and then only in its domes- ticated form, with the advent of the Conquistadors and gold-seekers from the Old World. Indian massacres and other disasters to various mounted expeditions sent out by the invaders re- sulted in many of the horses brought across the seas by the Europeans coming into the possession of the Indians. Others, escaping the pursuit of the sometimes victorious aborigine, ran wild and mul- tiplied in the fertile valleys of Mexico and in that portion of America which is now the southwestern part of the United States. At the present time, several States in the western part of America gave forage to the untamed horses that have flourished in those localities since their ancestors sought refuge there in the turbulent pio- neer days. Science encroaching upon nature has reduced to a mechanical basis nearly all lines of human en- deavor, but the horse can never be entirely replaced by a machine. The horse can carry a man over many places where it would be impossible for a machine to go, and in many places where machines can be operated the horse is used for economy. The horse, being a living thing, embodies a kind of perpetual motion, of which no mechanical pro- duction is susceptible. 9 t • c < (. < , , ' ' , ' < c e. < 11 c < , ( r ( • t r ( f ( ( ') T— Splints, ringbone, spavin — Sore backs, what they indicate — Shoulder lameness and navicular disease — Laminitis or founder — Testing a horse for wind — How to recognize a wind-sucker or crib-biter. Examination. — Beginning at the horse's head it is well to look in the animal's mouth to obtain a general idea of his age. An ap- proximation in this respect can be made from the condition of his teeth. The ordinary horse has two sets of incisor teeth, each set contain- ing three sets of two teeth. The two middle front teeth, of the respective jaws, are called the middle incisors. The two teeth which are on either side of these are the intermediate incisors. The two teeth which in turn are on either side of the two intermediate teeth are called the corner incisors. Age Index. — The animal that is two years of age has a full set of colt incisor teeth. They are of the same number and general appear- ance as horse teeth, only they are smaller, whiter and shorter. At three years of age, the two middle incisors are horse teeth, while the intermediate and corner ones are still colt teeth. At four, the middle and intermediate incisors are horse teeth, while only the corner ones are colt teeth. At five, the horse has a full mouth of horse teeth. Each of these has 86 THE-:- HORSE at the exposed ends an indenture known as a cup. At six, these cups disappear from the middle incisors, the use of the teeth wearing the ends smooth. The intermediate and corner incisors still possess the cups at this age. At seven, the cups disappear from the intermedi- ate as well as the middle incisor teeth, and at eight the cups have. also disappeared from the corner ones, so that the animal has what is known as a smooth mouth. From this time on as the horse gets older, his teeth look longer, but in reality this is not entirely the case since wear and growth con- tinue to counteract each other as in colthood, but the fact that with age the gums recede also tends to make the teeth of an old horse look longer. The older a horse gets the more the width of his teeth from outside to inside diminishes. In a young horse, when his jaws are closed, the incisor teeth of the upper jaw and lower jaw are inclined to be in the same perpendicular plane. When the horse gets old, however, these teeth tend to make an acute angle with each other; the apex of the angle being where the upper and lower teeth join each other. The older the horse is, the more acute the angle. Very old horses gen- erally have yellow teeth, triangular shaped, while the teeth of a young horse are more oval in appearance. 87 THE-:- HORSE Defects.- — The horse's eyes should be clear. If it is thought the animal has defective sight, moving the hand toward the eye quickly and taking it away again without touching the horse's head will aid in determining this fact. A quick glance at the horse's neck will tell whether it is free from defect such as fistula; fistula being a kind of localized open sore with a very deep root. On observing the animal's forelegs medium large and straight bones are desirable; however, that part from the ankle to the hoof, which is the pastern, should be sloping enough to minimize any danger of knuckling over. Ordinary splints do no real harm, only at incipiency they usually make the animal lame. Splints practically never come on a horse's hind legs. Side-bones and ring-bones which come upon the coronet, that fore part of the horse's foot immediately above the hoof, always end in causing lameness, and are practically incurable. Their presence can be detected by bony en- largements at the side and above the horse's hoof in the case of a side-bone, and at the side above and in front of the horse's hoof in the case of a ring-bone. Bone spavin is the usual cause of lameness on a horse's hind legs. This is a bony enlarge- ment immediately below and on the inside of the horse's hock, and can be seen best by 88 T H E -:- H Q R S E standing in front of the horse and looking between its front legs. This is an unsound- ness that can rarely be cured. The hoofs of the hind legs are less subject to ring-bones and side-bones than those of the forelegs. Sore backs constitute an undesirable factor in a horse to be used for saddle purposes, especially if the horse is sore above the withers or over the kidneys. An old kidney sore can rarely be cured, and always makes the horse weak in that part of his back. Girth sores are not of a very serious character. Most horses that are fat when taken out of pasture and ridden will acquire girth sores by the slipping forward of the saddle, but the horse when conditioned properly and hardened will readily overcome this soreness, if care is taken in cinching and keeping the saddle in its proper place directly behind the withers on the horse's back. Shoulder lameness and navicular disease are the bugbears of most horsemen. They are difficult to diagnose. If a horse is lame and no physical malformation manifests itself, the suspected leg can be raised and moved back and forth, and if the horse flinches it is prob- ably shoulder lameness. Shoulder lameness usually lasts a long time, but generally dis- appears with rest. If a horse is lame on both forelegs at the same time he is said to be "sore in front." Navicular disease, on the 89 THE-:- HORSE other hand, is a trauma of the navicular bone, which is an ossicle, or small bone, in the center of the foot. A horse afflicted with this disease usually points his toe when standing at rest. A horse having navicular, will go quite lame when cold, but if the disease is only in its incipiency, he will often warm out of the lame- ness with exercise. Navicular is absolutely incurable. Laminitis (founder) is a very common ail- ment of the horse. It is a kind of membrane congestion, often due to overwork after over- feeding, or to excessive drinking when the animal is hot. Soreness in front and rings on the hoofs are an indication of this disease. It always constitutes an unsoundness. Before purchasing a horse, he should be made to exercise so that his wind can be examined; a horse with defective wind being, in almost all cases, very unsatisfactory for any kind of work. If a horse, after violent exer- cise, breathes hard, with an audible sound from the lungs, it has defective wind. Also a horse whose sides heave, relaxing and con- tracting to an unusual degree after a certain amount of exercise, has probably defective wind. I use defective to denote an impairment of the horse for that work which may be required of him. On the other hand, if the animal, when exercised, merely gives a snorting sound 90 T H E -:- H O R S E from his nostrils, or a certain sound from his larynx, which is not due to paralytic roaring, and shows none of the other symptoms that have been mentioned, he has probably nothing more than a localized peculiarity which does him no real harm in regard to work. Wind-sucking, or crib-biting, as it is some- times called, is more a habit of the horse than a defect of respiration. It is a very undesir- able habit, since the horse by indulging it inflates his inside, and thus renders himself less capable of performing the duties that may be required of him. The habit is sometimes contagious by imitation. When a horse cribs, he usually catches on to some wooden projec- tion with his teeth and takes in air with a sucking sound. If the horse's teeth are peculiarly worn down in front, or the part of the stall where he has been standing shows tooth wear, it is reasonable to suppose that he is a wind-sucker. 91 H E -:- H O R S E * CHAPTER XI. Teaching children to ride — Cannot begin too young — An old plug better than a pony — Experience the best riding mas- ter— Psychology of the horse — He has not the power of deduc- tion— Trick horses — How they are made to appear to have reasoning faculties — They only obey commands. Teaching Children to Ride. — I started to ride at four years old and I believe this age not too young to commence riding with a lead rope. For a child I consider an old, thoroughly gentle horse better than any kind of pony, because his movements are apt to be slower, and he usually has more sense. A common mistake made in regard to letting small chil- dren ride, is the thought that merely because a pony happens to be very tiny he can do no serious harm to the child, and what in a big horse would be considered viciousness in a little pony is looked upon as a kind of cute playfulness. It is a fact that young children are injured far more frequently by little ponies than by horses. I think the ideal way for a child to begin riding is to place him upon an old plug bare- back. Lead the animal around slowly until the child gets used to the motion and feel of the back. He will get a natural seat far more quickly bare-back than if at first he is per- mitted to ride in a saddle. After the child becomes thoroughly familiar with the feel of the horse as he is led around slowly, a saddle 92 THE-:- HORSE may be used, and the child allowed to ride holding the reins and guiding it himself. Of course, this is presupposing that the horse in question is such a plug that nothing can in- duce it to run off and that its natural tendency will be to stand still unless forcibly urged. Variety of experience will make the child into a good rider more rapidly than books or constant instruction can possibly do. When the child becomes fairly used to riding, a good exercise is the use of the saddle without stir- rups. In order to make rapid progress in riding a child should always be made to overdo a little. For example, he should be urged to ride a little faster without holding on to the saddle than he feels he is able to do. He should be encouraged to relax on the back of a horse, and see how far he can overbalance to the sides without falling off. He should be made to ride the horse at a good trot, which at first will be very uncomfortable. The next day he should be urged to ride this way for a little longer time, and by degrees he will gain confidence and be aware of improvement, which is an important factor in the mind of a child that is learning to ride. Psychology. — It is said of the horse that, considering his size, he has the smallest brain of all the animals. It is probably as well that an animal used as a beast of burden should not 93 THE-:- HORSE be too intelligent, because if he were, it would be difficult to make him obey the whim of his rider. The horse has desires. If his desires conflict with the wants of man he is useless for the purposes of man. How to make his desires coincide with those of his rider is the real problem in the training of a horse. Animals, according to some authorities, have the power of reasoning. I think, how- ever, and believe it is the consensus of opinion, that, in the specific sense of the term, they have no such power. In the animal, keenness of sense takes the place of strength of intellect. The horse's mind is susceptible of a process, which in a very broad sense might be called reasoning. It is, in fact, an induction by analogy. His mental force is guided by a kind of channel pertaining to idea association, and in this attribute his mind and that of a human being coincide. A horse often has a marvelous memory and extraordinary power of observation. He has perception without apperception, perception being a state which has no power of thought review, and consequently cannot create a new psychological force. What follows is an example of how the horse thinks. A horse has been taken for a very long ride. Perhaps he has been quiet and displayed little enthusi- asm to increase his pace or to change his 94 THE-:- HORSE direction. He now is turned into a lane not far from and leading to his stable. At that moment he shows that he wishes to accelerate his pace and, with ears cocked forward, and prancing, gives evidence of a strong desire to move ahead. We here have the indications of a thought on the part of the animal. What is the cause of this thought? Analysis brings us to the following conclusion: Through idea associa- tion, made aware of the presence of the stable, which is again associated with food, rest, free- dom from equipment and so forth, the horse is stimulated and encouraged to go ahead, because now to his mind there is a definite and desirable object in view. In like manner, a very thirsty horse hurries to water. He has not the power to draw the conclusion from the premises — first, that he wants water; secondly, that hurrying in the right direction brings one to what is wanted more quickly — that hurrying in this way will bring him more quickly to water. The fore- going case is clearly deductive reasoning, em- bodying the higher intellectual force of which the human mind alone is capable. It is true that the horse arrives at the same result that deductive reasoning would bring, but he does it in this way. He is instinctively drawn to water by physical want. He remembers that hurrying to water has actually brought him 95 THE-;- HORSE water sooner than on the occasions when his thirst was not so great and he moved slowly in the direction of the trough. He has the psycho-physiological desire for water, and he arrives at a kind of analogical induction, re- membering all the times he has hurried in order that he could drink and was able to satisfy his thirst, that hurrying to drink means immediate drinking. This, then, is the real reason for his hurrying forward, and is based upon comparison and analogy. Horses shown at circuses, supposed to be able to do mathematical problems and dis- tinguish colors pertaining to persons in the audience, are animals that have extraordi- narily keen perception. But the counting or distinguishing a color, or any other remark- able feat a horse is supposed to perform by virtue of his reasoning faculties, is accom- plished entirely by trick methods, and a super- finely cultivated sense. The horse will paw a certain number of times, or pick up a color, because his trainer has made some almost im- perceptible movement with whip, hand or body, and not because he has in any way understood from the man's discourse what he is wanted to do. Trick animals of this sort are usually in- structed according to system, and the animal is made to do a number of things always in the same order. He finally forms a habit and, 96 THE-:- HORSE like a gramophone needle will, when started off, continue in the same groove. His trainer then will often take occasion to talk at the proper intervals between the horse's perform- ances, purporting to instruct the horse what to do, but in reality merely anticipating his movements by words. Of course, the horse has an eye for color and an ear for sound, and he can be made to obey commands. For instance, a command is given. The horse disobeys and punishment ensues. In time he finds that if such a com- mand is given and he acts a certain way punishment will not follow, then associating these two things in his mind, the command having been given, he will act in that certain way so that punishment will not ensue. To distinguish colors, the problem is to make the horse by some physical manifesta- tion indicate his understanding of the differ- ence of color. Since this cannot be done, the next best thing, which is in fact what most trainers do, is to make the horse give the appearance of indicating color by an appeal (usually imperceptible to the audience) to his sensorium in contradistinction to his mind. Instinct in itself is a large subject. It is an important factor in the mind of an animal, while intuition which involves cognizance of a previously registered conclusion belongs to man alone. THE END 97 Press of The Recorder Printing and Publishing Co. San Francisco THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $I.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. AUG 10 1943 JUL 19 1945 M*y sj % i , £3t -> D . V LD 21-100m-7,'39(402s) YB 12296 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY .t.