Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 281, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1915 — GIRL TAMES HORSES [ARTICLE]

GIRL TAMES HORSES

Buys 111-Tempered Animals and Then Cures Them. Kindness Is Her Rule, but She Cae Give Lesson When Necessary— Has Her Own Training Field.

Philadelphia.—ln a field near Swarthmore college a girl who is believed to be the only woman horsebreaker in the world goe/» quietly about her dally business of taking the temper out of half wild equines. No one is there to see, but it is a show that has all the exciting features of a broncho exhibition, with the added interest that the “buster” is a slender little woman.

Miss Betty Brown, thd woman horsebreaker, says she took up the business because she knew little about anything but horses. For two years Miss Brown was a trainer, for a New York. firm. Besides taking unbroken horses belonging to dealers and training them for saddle or harness. Miss Brown buys ill-tempered animals on her own account and by special treatment makes them fit for a child to ride. “There is usually a reason for a horse being vicious,” she said, from her seat, cross-saddle on a splendid thoroughbred. “Take the case of this mare. I bought her for a song because her owner could do nothing with her. I traced her history and found she had been attached to a racing stable where a lot of half-grown boys used her for joy rides around the track. The consequence was that a good mare was almost hopelessly spoiled by a lot of frolicsome young fellows who would yank her out of the stable at all hours, and beat her and ride her with or without a saddle at the fastest gait they could get out of her. “Naturally the mare became possessed of the idea that all men were born enemies and every chance she got she tried to protect herself or get even with her tormentors. They replied in kind, and the last gleam of good-natured Intelligence was soon beaten out of her.

“The fact is she is a splendid mare, and if I can but bring back her original sweetness of temper and undo the havoc done by that pack of boys I shall be able to sell her for SI,OOO easily. If I .cannot do this she will still be worth more than I gave for her. She is quite untrustworthy now, and it will be a long fight to bring her around, but I think I shall win. “I depend upon kindness and firmness rather than the whip to achieve results. You see, I do not even wear spurs. A horse responds more readily to masterful kindness than to brutal ill treatment.

“But sometimes it is necessary to use drastic measures. The worst case I can remember was a horse that persistently threw himself. No sooner would I be in the saddle than this illmannered brute would up in the air and flop over.

“It takes skill and agility for a rider to avoid injury when a horse, without warning, throws himself on the ground. One has to disengage one’s self without a second’s delay or a nasty bump is likely to result. “Well, I stood this horse’s antics for a few times and then decided that a sharp lesson was needed. I threw him and threw him hard. This was repeated until he got it firmly into his head that throwing was a punishment and not a pastime. When he learned that, he was a good horse. “It’s interesting work. I vary it by teaching riding, but I like horsebreaking best. There is a certain. amount of risk about it, but I have never been hurt. My natural quickness has saved me at critical times.”