Horse education : a treatise on the origin, characteristics, and training of horses

Front matter

■CATION.

VRY OF C(

Shelf J

Contents

Chapter. Page.

I. Origin of the Horse 17

II. Education of the Horse 21

Index To Remedies

Alterative and Tonic, - - 197

Appetite Diseased, - - - - 188

Bandages, Use of - - - - 196

Balling with Snow, - - - 203

Bleeding, to Stop - - - - - 181

Bloodletting, - - - - - 182

Bog Spavin, - 201

Brittle and Contracted Hoofs, - - - 180

Bruises, Injured Hoofs or Heels, - 201

Bruises or Cuts, - - - - - 181

Chapped Heels, - - - 197

Colic, Flatulent - - - - 191

Collar Galls, - - - - - 188

Condition Powder for a Horse, - - 198

Condition Powders for Hogs, - - 204

Cooling Lotion, - - - - - 182

Cords, Soreness of - - - 197

Corning Beef, Best Mode - 203

Cuts, Bruises, Galls, Stiff Joints, - - - 181

Diarrhea in Colts, 200

Disinfectant, a Good -' - 203

Distemper, - - 186

Eye of the Horse, Scum on the - - 190

Founder, - - 186

Flies, to Protect Horse from - - 200

Galls, by Saddle or Harness, - - 180 Grease Heels, _____ jg^

Hair on Horse, to Make Grow, - 181

Harness or Saddle Galls, - - - 197

Healing Mixture, - - 180

Healing where Proud Flesh is, - - 180

Index To Remedies. 9

Hide Bound Horse, - - - - 196

Hoof Ointment, -- 203

Hoof, Brittle and Contracted - - - 180

Inflammation of the Bowels, - 195

Laundry Soap, to make - 204

Lead Horse from Burning Barn, to - - 199

Legs, Swelled, Inflamed or Cold, - - 196

Mange, - 187

Mouth, Sore - - - - - 181

Oil of Gladness, - - - - 199

Ointment Like Sloan's, - - - - 190

Pneumonia, - - - - - i Q 8

Pulse of the Horse, How to Take the - - 202

Scratches, Four Remedies for - - 194, 195

Sore Shoulders, - - - - 181

Spavin, - - ^3

Sprains, - - 180

Spring-Halt, - - - - 181

Stoppage of water, - - . - 188

Steaming a Horse, - 202

Sunstroke, - 188

Sweeney, - ^5

Swelled Legs. Various Causes, - - 196

Thrush in Feet of Horse, - - - 201

Thorough-pin, - - - - - 201

Warts on the Horse, - - - - 200

White Star in the Face, to make - - 190

Wind Galls and Soft Lumps, - - - 201

Wounds by Barbed Wire, or by Cuts, . 200

Worms, . !88

Index To Engravings

Author's Portrait. Frontispilce.

Illustrations. Fronting Page.

No i Haltering the Colt 28

No 2 Teaching a Colt to Lead 29

No 3 To Prevent Halter Breaking 30

No 4 Bitting the Colt '. 35

No 5 Surcingle and Foot Straps 37

No 6 Controlling him with Surcingle 38

No. 7 Driving in the Poles 42

No. 8 To Prevent Tail-Switching 50

No. 9 The Fence-Jumper 52

No. 10 Training a Colt for Riding 55

No. 11 Straightening Crooked Tail 60

No. 12 The Eclipse Halter 62

No. 13 Rysdyk's Hambletonian and his Owner 152

No. 15 The Mt. Vernon Mule 170

No. 16 The Pointer 222

No. 17 The Dairy Cow 230

Testimonials

Ungovernable — Whirl Rouud and Run the Wrong Way.

Somonauk, III., Aug. 20, 1888. • I had a stallion in the year 1872, called Somonauk, that was four years old. He had a habit of turning round and starting after any team that he might meet' in the road. In this habit he seemed ungovernable. After being in Mr. Murray's care a short time he was returned perfectly docile snd manageable.

H. WRIGHT.

A Stubborn Kicker and Tail-Switcher — Unmanageable.

Sandwich, III., Aug. 20, 1888.

In 1887 I undertook to break a fine mare colt when she was three years old. She proved a stubborn kicker and tail-switcher, so as to be unmanageable by me. After Mr. T. J. Murray had her in tiaining about three weeks she was returned to me a quiet, docile worker, without any bad habits, and so she continues in any kind of work on the farm.

C. P. COY.

He Would go Where he Pleased.

Sandwich, III., Aug. 10, 188S.

Early in 1888 I traded for a three-year-old colt that I supposed was broken, but he was unmanageable in the harness. He would go where he pleased. After he had been in Mr. T. J. Murray's hands about one week he was brought back, fit for the cart or the buggy or any other kind of work. He has never since betrayed any kind of bad habit.

AVERY CONE.

A Hard Kicker in the Harness.

About one year ago I had a three-year-old mare colt of so bad a disposition, and so apt to kick, that for the breaking I took her to Mr. T. J, Murray. From the first she was a hard kicker in the harness and a tail-switcher. After about a month he brought her back as quiet and tractable a farm horse as any in this country. I was so well pleased that I freely paid double the price asked for the training.

ALFRED DARNELL,

12 TESTIMONIALS.

Spirited — Unmanageable — Made Perfectly Gentle.

Sandwich, III., Aug. 20, 1888.

I had, in 1883, a spirited mare five years old that had been hitched up once or twice, but she was so wild as to make it very doubtful whether she could be made manageable at all. After she had been in the hands of Mr. T. J. Murray, of this place, she came back perfectly gentle, so that ever since a lady can drive her anywhere. With this one, and with others, I know that Mr. Murray has had great success.

E. A. MANCHESTER.

Could Never be Made to Work.

Sandwich, III., Aug. 10, 1888.

In the year of 1883 Mr. T. J. Murray trained for me a very unpromising three-year-old filly. She was of a mare that could never be made to work, and this was the only one of her progeny that ever submitted to the harness. Mr. Murray returned her to me perfectly docile and tractable, and I sold her soon after for $175, to be used for a buggy horse for family driving. She has always since been a trustworthy worker, double or single. " STEPHEN ROGERS.

A Bad Balker— Useless Unless Cured — Fixed in the Bad Habit.

Sandwich, III., Aug. 8, 1888.

This is to certify that I took to Mr. T. J. Murray a fine black colt, somewhat broken but only to be made, at it seemed, incurably balky. He was well known as a very bad balker and he was utterly worthless unless cured. He was firmly fixed in the bad habit. Mr. Murray kept him about six weeks, after which he worked right along and has never given trouble since. Soon after I got him back I sold him to Mr. Edward Thompson, of Sandwich, for a family horse for $ 185. He was afterwards sold to Mr. Henry A. Adams, of the Sandwich Manufacturing Company, and used as a fine family horse. GEORGE MASON.

Col. Winchester's Eight Colts.

Sandwich, III., Aug. io, t888.

I have been acquainted with Mr. T. J. Murray's method with colts and vicious horses for twenty-five years, and I was so certain that he would find an animal that was more than a match for him that I have kept an eye on his work. I have put in his training, at various times, eight colts of mine, because I saw that he was the master of his business. Several of them were trotters, and were nervous and hard to manage. Mr. Murray made a complete success with them all.

H. F. WINCHESTER.

TESTIMONIALS.

Runaway Mustang Mules — Become Well Mannered.

Sandwich, III., Sept. 20, 1S88.

I am now driving a pair of mustang mules that were shipped here from Texas. At first they had to be tied and firmly held while being harnessed or hitched to the wagon, and when let go they would shoot away at full speed for three or five miles before they could be reined up. They were driven by several good drivers but they always had their own way. Finally I put them in Mr. Murray's hands, and after he had done the harnessing and driving in his own way, for about two weeks, they became good, quiet, tractable, well-mannered mules.

P. S. FAIRBANKS.

A High Tempered Colt — Trained, and Sold for $1100.

Kingston, N. Y., July 30, 1888.

To Whom it may Concern: In 1883-4, Mr. T. J. Murray, of Sandwich, Illinois, broke and trained for me two high tempered colts. He was very successful with them and they became quiet, steady horses. After about four weeks handling I sold one of them for a family horse, and the other has since been sold for eleven hundred dollars, for a road horse. I cheerfully and very highly commend Mr. Murray's methods of handling horses.

EDWARD T. STELLE.

Formerly of Ckicrgo, now of Kingston, New York.

Unmanageable Stallion— Kicked Furiously in Harness— Escaped from Keeper— a Biting, Kicking Terror.

Sandwich, III., Aug. 14, 1888.

I had a stallion, in the year 1878, that had been raised by my son, that was always unmanageable until he was trained by Mr. T. J. Murray of this place. When he was two years old my boys could do nothing with him. They could not even take him out of the stable. When he was first put in harness he kicked furiously and broke a man's leg When he was three years old he was put in charge of an experienced keeper from whom he escaped and was retaken with difficulty. When Mr. Murray took him he would bite and kick and he was the terror of all who knew him. Mr. Murray had him in hand about three weeks, after which he was perfectly controllable, and he never afterwards gave his keepers any trouble.

ENOCH DARNELL.

1 4 TESTIMONIALS.

Sandwich, III., Sept. 20, 1888.

Mr. T. J. Murray and myself have been neighbors from our boyhood; for many years he has driven his colts in training past my house, and I know his methods well. As the best man for the business, I have put under his management, at various times, six colts, all fine bred, and valuable animals. One was nervous and high tempered, and one was a bad kicker. All of them came out alike; good, quiet, tractable drivers.

H. HENN1S.

Every Coltish Vice — Wild, Nervous and a Natural Kicker.

Chicago, Aug. 2, 1888.

To Whom it may Concern: •

In 1882 Mr. T. J. Murray, of Sandwich, Illinois, trained a colt for me that had almost every coltish vice, which he inherited. He was wild, nervous and a natural kicker and exceedingly headstrong. He had never been hitched to any vehicle when Mr. Murray took him. He was returned to me, after three months, a good, quiet, safe driver. I drove him single and double about the city and boulevards for a long time with my family.

I consider Mr. Murray an excellent man to break vicious colts and horses and make them quiet and gentle. He is careful and even tempered.

IRUS COY.

OPINIONS OF THE BOOK

Earlville, III., Nov. iS, 1889.

I have read Mr. Thos. J. Murray s Book on the horse with much interest, and am pleased to say that it is clear, to the point, and full of valuable information to any man who owns a horse.

CHAS. M. SMITH.

Kingston, N. Y., Nov. 2, 1889.

Having read the book of T. J. Murray, I cheerfully endorse it as a most valuable work, one that every farmer and horse trainer should read and carefully and patiently practice in handling their colts. There would be fewer unruly, unsafe horses if all were broken as he directs.

EDWARD T. STEELE.

Platteville, III., Nov. 14, 1889.

I cannot commend Mr. Murray's book to highly. It meets the wants of all who have anything to do with breeding or training horses. To any one, old or young, especially to every farmer, it is indispensable as a safe and correct guide. W. S. WEESE.

Mr. Murray's book meets the wants of the farmer and horse-fancier and the trainer of trotters. If the horse is at work on the farm, practicing on the track, or if he is on the sick list, this book is just what his owner needs. The first edition was admirable but it gives way to an enlarged and still more valuable work. JOHN PATTERSON.

Aberdeen, Dakota, Nov. 16, 1889.

I have read Mr. Murray's first edition of his book on horse training with the greatest interest. I know of nothing so instructive on that subject to the practical breeder and trainer of horses. I look for the second edition, with its enlargement and its wider range of topics, as being indispensable to all who own or handle horses.

L. C. CULVER.

Highland Stock Farm.

Dubuque, Iowa, Aug. 9, 1881 We like your book well. It contains many things of interest and profit to any owner or breeder of trotters or other good horses.

H. L. & T. D. STOUT.

Pender, Nebraska, Nov. 20, 1889.

It takes lots of patience, perseverence and common sense to be a successful horse trainer, and Mr. Murray is chuck full of these, and so is his book. I have read it with the greatest interest, and so should every man that owns a horse. It would put fresh money in his pocket every year. EDGAR II. SEAMAN.

Sandwich, III., Jan. 10, 1889.

I have just read Mr. Murray's Horse Trainer with the greatest interest. After some years of raising and training fine horses myself, I hardly expected to learn much, but the book had the charm of a romance, and at the same time it is practical and fujl of valuable information. No breeder of horses, or even owner, can afford to do without it.

E. P. JAYCOX.

Sale and Livery Stable. ' \ Sandwich, III., Jan. 12, 1889. \ The Horse Trainer by T. J. Murray of this place is admirable as a practical hand book for all who handle horses. The new edition, with new plates and one-half more material, will be everything desirable for the breeder, trainer or owner of horses.

J. J. ELLSWORTH, Liveryman.

Sandwich, III., Jan. 10, 1889.

For near thirty years I have known Mr. Thos. J. Murray's intelligent management of horses. His experience and success in training horses qualify him well as a teacher of his art. The second edition of his book is just what is needed by every farmer and horse-owner in the country. I. M. ARNOLD.

Office of Sandwich Manufacturing Co. Sandwich, III., Dec. 10, 1889.

Mr. Murray's Horse Trainer is full of the most valuable information to every owner of a horse. The new edition, with fine plates and one-half more of pages, will mrke a book indispensable to all trainers and all owners of good horses. H. A. ADAMS.

Chapter I. The Origin Of The Horse

The horse has a respectable standing in the scanty records of pre-historic times. A horse with three toes, and a hoof on each toe, walked about in the hardening clay of the Chalk period, ages and ages ago. The present single-hoofed animal cannot be traced, with any certainty, to the three-toed horse whose fossilized feet are found both in Europe and America. As far as any records in the rocks are yet known, the horse of three separate toes, with a hoof on each one, went suddenly out of existence. The next record reveals a fossil horse that lived in the time of the mastodon, the exact horse of our own times. Our horse has but one hoof, and yet, as if he worked under a royalty from his three-hoofed and extinct ancestor, he has under the skin, just below the ankle joint, a little incipient toe. Who will tell us whether this budding toe is a record of what our horse once possessed or a prediction that he will some day sprout additional toes ? One thing is certain, there are skeletons of a fossil horse that seems to be *he direct ancestor of our present horse.

Julius Caesar found in Britain a horse among the natives that was so inferior to the noble animals ridden by his cavalry that the native breed was at once improved by crossing. The Romans also carried their fine horses into Spain, where the mixed blood, under the fine climate, gained rather than lost. When William of Normandy entered England, in 1066, his splendid horse was of Spanish blood. The Moors also carried into Spain the showy Barbs, and this upon the old Roman stock made the best civil and military horse of Europe. The Turkish horse is directly related to the Arabian. The Germans and French have selected the best bloods of all the old countries, and for military work they are second only to the English. England surpasses Arabia in the quickness, speed and endurance of her horses. The Persian horse is a son of Arabia, with finer form, but he is less fleet. This horse came to England in the time of Elizabeth. James I., and Charles I. and II., all patrons of the turf, imported horses from Arabia, Turkey and Morocco. From so many fountains have come the beauty and power of the British horse.

It is a little remarkable, that while the later geological formations of both the Americas abound with the fossil bones of the true modern horse, yet there did not exist on this continent a living horse when America was discovered, in 1492. The mustang of Mexico, the wild horse of South America and that of Australia, can all be traced to European introduction.

There are also found in Europe bones and rude but graphic outlines, carved on antlers and on stones, which depict a smaller horse than ours, of heavy build,

THE ORIGIN OF THE HORSE. 19

with large head and shaggy mane and tail, much resembling the wild horse of southern Russia. It is not likely that the present horse of Europe has come from a native European ancestry. It is more likely that Asia, which was the cradle of the human race, preserved the horse in his beauty and usefulness from the earliest times. The war horse described by Job, who wrote before the days of Abraham, was quite the equal of Rienzi, the charger ridden by Sheridan at Winchester. The light of civilization, which never was withdrawn from all parts of the earth at the same time, has always revealed the horse as we know him, toiling in the service of man. He probably entered Europe through Greece. He has been a powerful factor in every form of advanced civilization in all times, in both peace and war. It is due to climate and intelligent selection that in the varieties of horse there are such marked peculiarities as make the differences between the Shetland pony, the modern trotter, and the London dray-horse.

The handsomest horse in the world is the Arabian. No other is so nearly perfect. There is no fine family of horses now living but that is tinged with Arabian blood. The Arabian horse at home is scantily fed and is unstabled, except as he shares the same roof with the family, but his royal blood contributes beauty or speed to every race track of Europe and America. It is now nearly three hundred years since the improvement of the horse became almost a craze in Europe, especially in England. Nobility and royalty became rivals on the turf and in the importation of foreign blood. Three centuries ago, Barbs,

Persians and Arabs were candidates for the world's favor. They all left the contest defeated but their coveted honors crowned their descendants of mixed blood. Two hundred years ago there were the Darley Arabian and the Childers ; one hundred years ago the Messenger; and nearly half a century ago was Rysdyk's Hambletonian. Each of these renowned horses formed an era in the history of the horse kind, and now their descendants can be found in every civilized land, surpassing their famous ancestry in both form and speed.

Chapter II. The Education Of The Horse

In some countries, to this day, the people do not believe in educating boys. Instinct and painful experience they think will give them all the learning that boys need. In like manner many people who educate their children do not believe in the education of colts. If the colt is taught anything at all it is at the rough hands of the hired man. The horse is not allowed any credit for horse intelligence, for judgment, or sensitiveness, or gratitude ; and it is an accident if he is not made balky, vicious or a regular runaway; or else lazy, stupid and uneven in temper and gait.

Not every boy will repay the expense of a fine education ; it may only serve to put a label on his incompetency. He may belong to a race of giant minds among whom a dunce is as rare as a cyclone, but you cannot cipher up his good points with a tape measure. His speed and endurance, his strength and docility cannot be gauged till after expensive and toilsome years on the race courses of life. But the colt does not finish his first year till it is legible all over him, to any one who can read the colt language, exactly in what kind of work for man he can excel and to what school he had better be sent. Some fine colts are equal to only the common school of the plow-horse; others will do credit to the academy for horses and will shine as the general utility horse — useful, gay and dashing, anywhere. The horse college turns out the trained and intelligent graduate that can do more sharp things than his governor can ; he will understand a tone or look, or whatever his master says to him ; he can play tricks on his groom and escape work when he wants to rest. The university horse begins with fine blood. His form and style are not made, but born ; his lineage links him to such kings of his kind as were carried by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. He would pass on five points of examination : he is of purest blood, of large and lustrous eye, of thin and sensitive nostrils, of faultless form and unconquerable spirit; and of a capability of learning that has been sharpened by ages of refining cultivation. There is no mistaking him. He prances before the imperial carriage, or bears the commander-in-chief among bursting shells and whizzing balls; or he is degraded to draw a beer wagon ; but his bearing is so noble, his inherited gentility so. evident, as to say, " My education was worthy of my birth and I deserve honor of all who know a well-bred horse when they see him."

The art of the horse trainer seeks to make the most of the raw material offered him. No one can say that the limit of the unprovability of the horse has been reached. The education of a horse in the cavalry line of service is not at all undertaken as an object, but the horse comes to know his duty and to know the meaning of military music, so that without a rider he will form in line, or make a charge. Professor Bartholomew's twenty-one performing horses obey five hundred different commands, comprising two thousand different words. The colt is not often left at

THE EDUCATION OF THE HORSE. 23

school long enough to be educated to the top of his capability. Much depends upon the way his owner puts him through his paces for the next year or two after leaving school.

Chapter III. A Word To Owners Of Colts

Keep on good terms with your colt ; he will feed better; he will have a better character. Do not make him live at the end of a long lash, nor as far away as you can throw a club. Let him increase the number of his human friends as rapidly as possible and attach himself to them so that he will leave his animal associates to go to them. Do not send a colt to school or to work when he is under the weather. How would it do to take a man out of the hospital and put him on the road ? A little care and quiet rest may save a horse's life and also a veterinarian's bill. Do not wait for him to talk ; you can learn that he is sick as easily as_he can that you are out of temper.

Many a colt is timid by inheritance. It is not a fault, but a misfortune, and it should not be whipped out but treated out. It is not in his will but in his over-delicate nerves. You will lose time by becoming angry with him. Anger teaches nothing good to anybody. Suppress your angry tones and cruel strokes. Do not send his hot blood from his heart to his head to deluge his sensitive brain, driving him to frenzy, or blinding him with fear. First make him understand what you want him to do. Kind words and caressing touches will improve both his mind and temper. You will never fail in this way unless you delay the beginning too long.

A WORD TO OWNERS OF COLTS. 2$

When he tells you that he is afraid of the harness, or of a covered carriage, or an upturned load of hay, depend upon it this is not an affectation; it is a serious business with him. Flogging will not remove it. We propose to show you a way to convince him that he is mistaken as to the danger. Unless his mind can be changed from his aversions he will always be an uncertain, if not a dangerous horse. His old fear, uncorrected, may seize him any time. Convince him that he was wrong and then you have him.

A colt is always more valuable for not needing to be broken. When he is old enough to set up in business for himself he ought to know the horse alphabet well. The halter, the bit, the harness, the words that mean "Come," "Go on," "Stop," "Back," and the feeling of pleasure under the owner's hand, should all be familiar to him from colt-hood up. One whose education is begun so early will be sure to develop a good character. He will never be balky or scary ; nor will he be a biter, or kicker, a runaway nor a fence-jumper.

Most of what we call vices in the horse-character originate in his instinct of self-defense, or self-preservation. When he uses his teeth or his heels, or becomes unmanageable from fright, he is resorting to the only means he knows of for defending himself. As soon as he learns that no harm will come to- him while his master is obeyed, and that his efforts to take care of himself only injure him, he will reform. The highest art of the trainer is to preserve all the original spirit of the noble animal and to convince him that his owner is his best friend. He will then be a much better and more valuable horse than that other one that was subdued into a broken-spirited horse after he had become a strong, full-grown colt.

Be gentle with the colt that is not wicked but nervous. Perhaps hard treatment has made him suspicious and timid. Some colts are frightened and will kick even when you give them a dry straw bedding. It means that in the process they have sometime been hurt with the pitchfork. Do not think him wicked for he is only nervous, and is on the alert to defend himself. Use the pole described in chapter iv until he understands that no touches about his body, legs or head, will at all hurt him. Take the pole instead of vour hands, because the trainer may be hurt by being too near, before the colt has learned his lesson. If he is afraid of the harness, or of handling in any way, the pole will the most certainly and most speedily quiet his nerves, and teach him he is in no danger.

Training a colt is done more easily at the age of two years, than it is ever done afterward. At that age the colt has not learned many bad habits; he is not headstrong; he is tractable; will more readily give up. Even if the owner does not need the work of the two-year-old, it is better to give him his lessons and once in a while give him exercise in the harness for the next year or two, and he will be a better horse for it as long as he lives. No need then of surcingle and ropes, or of pulling him to his knees. If the owner raises but two or three colts a year they can be kept as tame and gentle as old horses, from colt-hood up.

Chapter IV. How To Halter And Lead A Colt

It is an easy matter to halter and lead a colt that has been properly taken care of all his life. He will give no trouble in haltering and leading. He will never be wild nor unmanageable, and all the otherwise preliminary work of quieting him will be already done. He will be the better horse all his life for having been properly brought up. In the work of subjecting him to the bit and harness, the owner of the gentle and docile animal can pass by all that is said here of the wild native. If his owner has always given him proper care, no need to call in the neighbors nor the professional horse trainer. One of the boys can do all the harnessing and first driving himself. The colt will readily yield to every step of the process of training. But if he has always run out, without care, as most colts do, the violence with which he must be brought to terms may be attended with danger to him, arid it certainly will demand a good deal of careful work. If he is wild as a deer he may meet with some misfortune, as a fall or a choking, that may severelv injure him.