STHE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



101. 



frighten at your new position if you had the power 

 to hold yourselfover his back without touching him. 

 Then the first great advantage of the block is to 

 gradually gentle him to that new position in which 

 he will see you when you ride him. 



Secondly, by the process of leaning your weight 

 in the stirrups, and on your hand, you can gra- 

 dually accustom him to your weight, so as not to 

 frighten him by having him feel it all at once. 

 And, in the third place, the block elevates you so 

 that you will not have to make a spring in order to 

 get on the horse's back, but from it you can gra- 

 dually raise yourself into the saddle. When you 

 take these precautions, there is no horse so wild 

 but what you can mount him without making him 

 jump. I have tried it on the worst horses that 

 could be found, and have never failed in any case. 

 When mounting, your horse should always stand 

 without being held. A horse is never well broken 

 when he has to be held with a tight rein when 

 mounting j and a colt is never so safe to mount as 

 when you see that assurance of confidence, and ab- 

 sence of fear, which cause him to stand without 

 holding. 



HOW TO RIDE THE COLT. 



When j''0U want him to start do not touch him on 

 the side with your heel or do anything to frighten 

 him and make him jump. But speak to him kindly, 

 and if he does not start pull him a little to the left 

 until he starts, and let him walk off slowly with the 

 reins loose. Walk him around in the stable a few 

 times until he gets use to the bit, and you can turn 

 him about in every direction and stop him as you 

 please. It would be \^ell to get on and off a good 

 many limes until he gets perfectly used to it, before 

 you take him out of the stable. 



After you have trained him in this way, which 

 should not take you more than one or two hours, 

 you can ride him any where you choose without 

 ever having him jump or make any effort to throw 

 you. 



W^hen you first take him out of the stable be very 

 gently with him, as he will feel a little more at 

 liberty to jump or run, and be a little easier fright- 

 ened than he was while in the stable. But after 

 handling him so much in the stable he will be 

 pretty well broken, and you will be able to manage 

 him without trouble or danger. 



When you first mount him take a little the 

 shortest hold on the left rein, so that if anything 

 frightens him you can prevent him from jumping 

 by pulling his head around to you. This operation 

 of pulling a horse's head around against his side 

 will prevent any horse from jumping ahead, rearing 

 up,orrunningaway. Ifheisstubbornandwill not go, 

 you can make him move by pulling his head around 

 to one side, when whipping would have no effect. 

 And turning him round a few times will make him 

 dizzy, and then by letting him have his head 

 straight, and giving him a little touch with the 

 whip, he will go along without any trouble. 



Never use martingales on a colt when you first 

 ride him ; every movement of the hand should go 

 right to the bit in the direction in which it is ap- 

 plied to the reins, without a martingale to change 

 the direction of the force applied. You can guide 

 the colt much better without it, and teach him the 



use of the bit in much less time. Besides, martin- 

 gales would prevent you from pulling his head 

 around if he should try to jump. 



After your colt has been ridden until he is gentle 

 and well accustomed to tlie bit, you may find it an 

 advantage if he carries his head too high, or his 

 nose too far out, to ])ut martingales on him. 



You should be careful not to ride your colt so 

 far at first as to heat, worry, or tire him. Get off 

 as soon as you see he is a little fatigued ; gentle 

 him and let him rest; this will make him kind to 

 you, and prevent him from getting stubborn or 

 mad. 



THE rilOPER WAY TO BIT A COLT. 



Farmers often put bitting harness on a colt the 

 first thing they do to him, buckling up the bitting 

 as tight as they can draw it to make him carry his 

 head high, and then turn him out in a lot to run 

 half a day at a time. This is one of the worst 

 punishments that they could inflict on the colt, and 

 very injurious to a young horse that has been used 

 to running in the pastures with his head down. I 

 have seen colts so injured in this way that they 

 never got over it. 



A horse should be well accustomed to the bit 

 before you put on the bitting harness, and when 

 you first bit him you should only I'ein his head up 

 to that point where ne naturally holds it, let that 

 be high or low ; he will soon learn that he cannot 

 lower his head, and that raising it a little will loosen 

 the bit in his mouth. This will give him the idea 

 of raising his head to loosen the bit, and then you 

 can draw the bitting a little tighter every time you 

 put it on, and he will still raise head to loosen it; 

 by this means you will gradually get his head and 

 neck in the position you want him to carry it, and 

 give him a nice and graceful carriage without hurt- 

 ing him, making him mad, or causing his mouth to 

 get sore. 



If you put the bitting on very tight the first time, 

 he cannot raise his head enough to loosen the it, 

 but will bear on it all the time, and paw, sweat, and 

 throw himself. Many horses have been killed by 

 falling backward with the bitting on : their heads 

 being drawn up, strike the ground with the whole 

 weight of the body. Horses that have their heads 

 drawn up tightly should not have the bitting on 

 more than fifteen or twenty minutes at a time. 



HOW TO DRIVE A HORSE THAT IS VERY WILD 

 AND HAS ANY VICIOUS HABITS. 



Take up one fore foot and bend his knee till his 

 hoof is bottom upwards, and nearly touching his 

 body ; then slip a loop over his knee, and up until it 

 comes above the pastern joint to keep it up, being 

 careful to draw the loop together between the hoof 

 and pastern joint with a second strap of some kind, 

 to prevent the loop from slipping down and com- 

 ing ofl^'. This will leave the horse standing on three 

 legs ; you can now handle him as you wish, for it 

 is utterly impossible for him to kick in this posi- 

 tion. There is something in this operation of 

 taking up one foot that conquers a horse quicker 

 and better than anything else you can do to him. 

 There is no process in the world equal to it to 

 break a kicking horse, for several reasons. First, 

 there is a principle of this kind in the nature of 



