THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



193 



MR. RAREY'S SYSTEM OF H O RS E-T AM I NG. 



(Concluded from page 102 J 



ON BALKING. 



Horses know nothing? about balking, only as 

 they are brout>lit into it by improper management, 

 and when a horse balks in harness it is generally 

 from some mismanagement, excitement, confusion, 

 or from not knowing how to pull, but seldom from 

 any unwillingness to perform all that he under- 

 stands. High spirited, free-going horses are the most 

 subject to balking, and only so because drivers do 

 not properly understand how to manage this kind. 

 A free horse in a team may be so anxious to go, 

 that when he hears the word he will start with a 

 jump, which will not move the load, but give him 

 such a severe jerk on the shoulders that he will fly 

 back and stop the other horse ; the teamster will 

 continue his driving without any cessation, and by 

 the time he has the slow horse started again he will 

 find that the free horse has made another jump, 

 and again flown back ; and now he has them both 

 badly balked, and so confused that neither of them 

 knows what is the matter, or how to start the load. 

 Next will come the slashing and cracking of the 

 whip, and hallooing of the driver, till something is 

 broken or he is through with his course of treat- 

 ment. But what a mistake the driver commits by 

 whipping his horse for this act! Reason and 

 common sense should teach him that the horse 

 was willing and anxious to go, but did not know 

 how to start the load. And should he whip him for 

 that ? If so, he should whip him again for not know- 

 ing how to talk. A man that wants to act with 

 any rationality or reason should not fly into a pas- 

 sion, but should ahvays think before he strikes. It 

 takes a steady pressure against the collar to move 

 a load, and you cannot expect him to act with a 

 steady, determined purpose while you are whipping 

 him. There is hardly one balking horse in five 

 hundred that will pull true from whipping ; it is 

 only adding fuel to fire, and will make him more 

 liable to balk another time. You always see horses 

 that have been balked a few times, turn their heads 

 and look back, as soon as they are a little frus- 

 trated. This is because they have been whipped 

 and are afraid of what is behind them. This is an 

 invariable rule with balked horses, just as much as 

 it is for them to look around at their sides when 

 they have the bots ; in either case they are de- 

 serving of the same sympathy, and the same kind 

 rational treatment. 



"When your horse balks or is a little excited, if 

 he wants to start quickly, or look around and 

 doesn't want to go— there is something wrong, and 

 he needs kind treatment immediately. Caress him 

 kindly, and if he doesn't understand at once what 

 you want him to do, he will not be so much ex- 

 cited as to jump and break things, and do every- 

 thing wrong through fear. As long as you are 

 calm, and keep down the excitement of the horse, 

 there are ten chances to have him understand you. 



where there would not be one under harsh treat- 

 ment, and then the little flare up would not carry 

 with it any unfavourable recollections, and he would 

 soon forget all about it, and learn to pull true. 

 Almost every wrong act the horse commits is from 

 mismanagement, fear, or excitement ; one harsh 

 word will so excite a nervous horse as to increase 

 his pulse ten beats in a minute. 



When we remember that we are dealing with 

 dumb brutes, and reflect how difficult it must be 

 for them to imderstand our motions, signs, and 

 language, we should never get out of patience with 

 them because they don't understand us, or wonder 

 at their doing things wrong. With all our intel- 

 lect, if we were placed in the horse's situation it 

 would be difficult for us to understand the driving 

 of some foreigner, of foreign ways and foreign lan- 

 guage. We should always recollect that our ways 

 and language are just as foreign and unknown to the 

 horse as any language in the world is to us, and 

 should try to practise what we could understand 

 were we the horse, endeavouring by some simple 

 means to work on his understanding rather than on 

 the diflferent parts of his body. All balked horses 

 can be started true and steady in a few minutes 

 time ; they are all willing to pull as soon as they 

 know how, and I never yet found a balked horse 

 that I could not teach to start his load in fifteen, 

 and often less than three, minutes' time. 



Almost any team, when first balked, will start 

 kindly if you let them stand five or ten minutes as 

 though there was nothing wrong, and then speak 

 to them with a steady voice, and turn them a little 

 to the right or left, so as to get them both in 

 motion before they feel the pinch of the load. But 

 if you want to start a team that you are not driving 

 yourself, that has been balked, fooled and whipped 

 for some time, go to them and hang the lines on 

 their hames, or fasten them to the waggon, so that 

 they will be perfectly loose ; make the driver and 

 spectators (if there are any) stand oflf some distance 

 to one side, so as not to attract the attention of the 

 horses ; unloose their check-rein, so that they can 

 get their heads down if they choose; let them stand 

 a few minutes in this condition until you can see 

 that they are a little composed. While they are 

 standing you should be about their heads, gentling 

 them ; it will make them a little more kind, and 

 the spectators will think that you are doing some- 

 thing that they do not understand, and will not 

 learn the secret. When you have them ready to 

 start, stand before them, and as you seldom have 

 but one bulky horse in the team, get as near in 

 front of him as you can, and if he is too fast for 

 the other horse, let his nose come against your 

 breast : this will keep him steady, for he will go 

 slow rather than run on you ; turn him gently to 

 the right, without letting him pull on the traces, as 

 far as the tongue will let them go ; stop them with 



