Palo'mine (Hawkes)/Chapter 3
AFTER the tragic death of Kentucky Babe, Palo'mine or little Pal as his young master sometimes called him, was denied his natural sustenance. So he was finally put upon another brood mare who had a small colt of her own and this gave him part of his rations. For the rest Halsey fed him cows' milk out of a bottle. This milk was sweetened so as to get him to take it. At first he was very scornful of the bottle and would shake his head whenever it was proffered him. But hunger finally brought him to terms and he was very glad of the bottle when his young master offered it to him. For the first two months Palo'mine was kept in a box stall, but he was finally moved into a paddock near the house. His young master was all eagerness to begin training him, but old Rastus and the Colonel laughed and told him he must let the colt alone for the present and allow him to grow. But Halsey was permitted under the supervision of old Rastus to halter-break him, or rather to finish that lesson which Rastus had begun.
The very first thing that a colt is taught and this lesson is often taught him when he is only two or three weeks old, is not to pull upon a halter. He has to learn that certain things are fixed; that they are immovable and when he is hitched to them, it is useless and foolish to pull.
So Halsey under old Rastus' direction would slyly slip a rope over Palo'mine's head when he was not watching. Then when he found he was caught, the little colt would jump about and pull first this way and then that, and finally he would settle down and set his four feet and pull like a mule. Halsey was at first afraid that he would hurt himself, for he would pull until he threw himself, then he would lie quiet on the ground. But old Rastus only laughed at the boy's fears.
"Land sakes, boy, why dat colt wouldn't hurt hisself if he wuz hitched to a church steeple." "Whah it is good for him to pull." "You see he is nacherally jes full of tantrums and debbiltry, de sooner he pulls some ob dem out of hisself de better." "So you jes let him pull." "He won't break nuffin." "Don't you worry, chile."
After three or four lessons Palo'mine ceased pulling when the rope was thrown over his head. At which old Rastus laughed gleefully.
"What ah tell you, boy?" "Don' you see dat colt he done learned his lesson." "He done found out that he is not strong enough to pull down de universe." "Why dat colt he done learn quick." "He got horse sense." "He sure has."
Halsey also taught Palo'mine to come when he whistled for him. He did this by feeding him pieces of apple and carrot and also lumps of sugar when he was old enough for such horse delicacies. Sometimes when Halsey was working about the place, Palo'mine was allowed to nibble the sweet grass on the lawn and trot about with his young master. He would follow Halsey like "Mary's little Lamb." When he was nearly a year old Halsey was allowed to exercise him on a halter. He would put his arm over the colt's neck and with a little switch in his hand, teach the colt to trot by his side. In this way he taught him the walking, trotting and cantering gaits before he was a year old. These are the three natural gaits of a horse. When horse men speak of a five-gaited horse, they add to these three natural gaits, the single step, which is a modified racking gait, where the horse uses both his hocks and his stifles, instead of travelling stiff-legged as in the simple pace. Also a fancy gait called the "Spanish walk." In this gait the horse throws up his forefeet with each step and this gives him a sort of dandified appearance. This gait is only for show purposes.
When Palo'mine was a year old Halsey entered him at the state fair at Lexington, and to his great delight the colt took first prize in the yearling class. This was one of many blue ribbons that Palo'mine was destined to receive.
When the colt was two years old Halsey was allowed, under the supervision of old Rastus, who was a very clever trainer, to begin training him. He first had to submit to bit and bridle. Halsey talked to him all the time while he was putting on the bridle and explained as well as he could that it would not hurt him. He also reinforced his arguments with several lumps of sugar, so that the bridle was mastered during the first morning.
Palo'mine was then taught to mind the rein. This took time and patience. Patience, a trainer must always have in handling dumb animals. He never can afford to get angry, or lose his temper. So training animals is a very good discipline for humans.
After Palo'mine had mastered the bridle and Rastus had talked long and persistently about making him soft-bitted, by not jerking on the rein, the saddle was taken up, first when it was put upon Palo'mine's back he thrashed about and reared, for he was very high-lifed and had never felt any such thing upon his back before. So he reared and plunged about trying to shake the saddle off. But here as in the case of the halter and the bridle, he had to learn submission. He had to know that this thing could not be shaken off and that it was put there for a purpose.
Then Halsey added a twenty-five pound burden to the saddle, then fifty and finally a hundred pounds. After that he got upon Palo'mine's back himself. This quite astonished the colt and he reared and bucked, but he soon found that his master could stick as well as the saddle could, and he ceased trying to dislodge him. Thus with patience, and perseverance, and by not trying to push his education too fast, Palo'mine was taught the elements of a saddle horse by the time he was two years old. Of course he was not perfected. He was just broken in, but this was a start and Halsey was very proud of his showing.
It must not be imagined that the friendship between the boy and the colt suffered any because of this training. If a trainer is kind and patient, the animal will love the master even more because he is subservient to his will. But in Halsey's case he not only gave the horse patient treatment, but the full and overflowing love of his boyish heart. He was naturally a great horse lover and since this little horse had been his own from the very first, his love for him grew with each passing week. And because he loved the colt and was so gentle and considerate he could do almost anything with him. So he began teaching him tricks, which also featured at the state fair later. And Halsey and Palo'mine became great pals.
In addition to the usual accomplishments of the saddle horse, Halsey taught Palo'mine many things which are not usually known to the saddle horse. He did not know why he was doing it at the time. He did it because he liked to work with his pal. But in after years when his need was very great all these little accomplishments were to stand him in good stead. First he taught Palo'mine to stand. He could spring from his back and throw the rein over his head, and know he would stand, for five minutes or for an hour if his master did not return. Then he practiced mounting and dismounting while the horse was in motion. First he tried this at a walk, then at a trot and finally at a slow canter.
He not only taught the horse to drive perfectly on the rein, but he could also guide him by the pressure of his knees on the steed's side.
Of course school took much of the boy's time. But it was a pretty sure guess that if he was not in school he was either riding or teaching Palo'mine.
When the horse was three years old, Halsey began breaking him to the harness. Hitherto he had been only the boy's saddle horse and very much of a pet. Now he was to know what real work was. As a general thing it is not wise to use a saddle horse for the phaeton, but in this case it seemed to do no harm, for Palo'mine was as different in the harness as he was in the saddle, as black is from white. It was not the intention to use him much in the harness, but Halsey's aunt, Miss Bliss, wanted to be driven to town occasionally and the Colonel said it would do no harm to teach Palo'mine the harness.
He discovered that the harness was quite different from the saddle. The breeching made him want to kick. It tickled and chafed his flanks in a very unpleasant manner. But Halsey talked to him when he first put on the harness and patted and smoothed the horse's flanks with his hands, and told him in horse language that it was all right. For by this time the boy had partly mastered horse language. In time he was to be an adept, but now he merely understood the rudiments of the horse vocabulary. For instance when Palo'mine whinnied joyously as Halsey came into the stable in the morning, he knew that meant "Good Morning." When he nickered coaxingly at feed time Halsey knew it meant, "I am hungry, master." "Isn't it almost time for my oats?" When he rubbed his nose against the boy's face, that meant, "I love you, master," and when he went feeling in the boy's pocket, he was asking for a lump of sugar. When he lay back his ears, which he rarely did, that meant, "I don't like it." "I would bite, only that is what bad horses do, and I am never bad." When he shook his halter chain in his teeth and trotted up and down in his stall, as well as he could in that limited space that meant, "Come master, let's go for a canter."
So it will be seen that a horse has quite a vocabulary. There are many other words and signs and these are only the "A. B. C. of horse language."
When Palo'mine had mastered the harness he was hitched into a light two-wheeled gig and driven slowly about the place. He found it very hard to go slow enough. From the gig he went by slow degrees to the phaeton and at last to the family carriage which was an old fashioned carryall. But he was not driven much in this vehicle as the Colonel said it would spoil him for a saddle horse and he wanted Halsey to have the best saddle horse in Kentucky. But it did Palo'mine no harm to learn all of these things.
In the autumn when Palo'mine was three and a half years old, Halsey and the Colonel put in a good deal of time hunting quail. They hunted with dogs, either setters or pointers. But the men themselves went on horseback and shot from the saddle.
There are not very many quail in Kentucky, but there were a few on Eaton Manor and other plantations near by, so the sport was quite good.
Halsey first accustomed Palo'mine to the noise of firearms by firing a five-shot Colt revolver from the saddle. At first the spirited horse jumped about and snorted, but when he saw it did him no harm, he stood quite still while his young master blazed away. But the Colt revolver was one thing and the shot gun was quite another. The first time Halsey fired from his back he bolted and nearly spilled his rider on the ground. But the boy kept steadily at it and finally he could fire almost between the horse's ears and he did not mind. This also was a part of the training that was to stand both in good stead later on. But neither master nor horse were conscious of the events which were slowly shaping to take both where the smell of powder and the sound of firearms were a part of the day's work.
For tricks Palo'mine was taught the usual horse accomplishments. He could give his fore leg to shake hands when asked to do so, and he could bow quite gracefully when commanded. He could waltz either in the harness or under the saddle if Halsey was driving and gave him just the proper signs with the reins and the proper flick with the whip. But as a general thing Palo'mine needed no whip. At a word from the boy he would start from a slow walk to a quiet trot. At another sign he would break into the slow swinging canter, which jars the rider very little. There was nothing in his life that so rested the boy after a hard day at school as a mad gallop with Palo'mine. To feel the sensitive quivering horse under him set his own blood to racing; while to feel the air rush through his hair which streamed about his forehead, and to see the trees, fences, and gateways rush by was like a mad moving picture—only they had no moving pictures in those days. Just these mad rushing horseback movies.
So boy and horse grew up and developed together. When Halsey needed recreation or play Palo'mine was always the one who furnished it. The first thing after returning from school Halsey went to the stable and he always carried an apple, a carrot, or a lump of sugar. The horse had a time piece of his own, or at least he was always watching for his young master at four thirty in the afternoon. Saturdays were wonderful holidays for them both. On that day they usually went for a long ride, often twenty or thirty miles. Sometimes on these occasions Halsey stopped at a likely looking creek to fish, while Palo'mine was left to nibble grass nearby.
What life would have been without Palo'mine during his boyhood and his early young manhood, Halsey did not dare dream, and as for the horse he worshipped his master as only a good dog or a faithful horse can worship a man creature.
Halsey never allowed a groom to put a brush or currycomb on his chum. "If I can't groom him he can go without," he said. "I don't want any hand but mine to touch him." So Palo'mine came to look to his young master for everything that went into the making of his horse-life. Food, care, petting, and exercise, all these things came from the one he loved best of all. And this was well, for they were destined to see hard times together. So this friendship between them could not be formed too early and it could not be too strongly cemented together with the strong cement of a mutual love and respect.
If Halsey thought Palo'mine was the finest saddle horse in Kentucky the horse was equally sure that his young master was the best rider in the state. No hand on the rein was like his. No one else sprang quite so lightly into the saddle. No one was so careful to see that the saddle was rightly adjusted. No one else watched for saddle galls as did Halsey. He never sawed upon the reins. He never spoke sharply, he rarely struck Palo'mine with the riding quirt, although he always carried one.
"Never ride without a whip," the Colonel had said one day. "It may save your life some time. You never can tell when you will need it to help you in a tight place." And since the Colonel was an authority on horses Halsey always took the quirt but rarely used it. He could get the same results with a slap of the reins on the neck, or a spoken word. But he wanted to obey Uncle in all things and besides perhaps the older man was right. He might need the quirt some day. So boy and horse grew to be one, in spirit and motion, and that is a perfect saddle horse and perfect rider. As the horse moves the man moves. He is like an equestrian statue, a part of the horse. But the thing that made them one was not so much good horsemanship and a good horse, as it was mutual love.
As love me, love my dog, is a saying, with some boys, so love me, love my horse was a maxim with Halsey. If this had not been so they never could have met the great crises in their lives as they did, and come off more than conquerors.