The Management of Light Horses 153 



which would be " fast and furious " enough in its way till it was 

 nearly dark. A hemp halter would be fixed on the foal's head, and 

 to that one or two more would be attached. A couple of lads 

 would be told off to attend to the end of the rope, and instructed 

 to throw all their weight into it. The foal would throw all his 

 weight into the halter at the other end, and so the " tug of war " 

 would go on, the foreman helping matters a little by putting his 

 shoulders against the foal's quarters and pushing. After some time 

 spent in this manner — in what appeared to be an impasse — the foal 

 would move on a few inches. This was something gained. Then 

 the same state of impasse would arise again, but the struggle would 

 be shorter in duration, and the foal would move on a few more 

 inches. And so the game would go on for a few nights, and then 

 the foal would lead — in a fashion. 



Now this was a great deal of unnecessary trouble, and the 

 foal could have been taught to lead much better at the same 

 age if a common-sense method had been adopted from the first. 

 A foal being intended eventually for the service of man, should 

 be well handled from the very day he is foaled. By this I do not 

 mean that he is to be made a fool of and petted unduly or teased 

 and taught tricks. A man who would do either of these things 

 is not fit to come amongst horses, and when caught should be 

 instantly dismissed. But the foal should be made familiar with 

 his future partner. He should be handled sensibly and carefully 

 every time the man who waits on the mare enters the box. If this 

 is done there will be no difficulty in putting a halter on him when 

 he is five days old. It goes without saying that this must be 

 done in such a manner as to give the foal confidence that it is not 

 intended to do him any harm. Each part of the process should be 

 done slowly, and the foal should be well " gentled " and soothed 

 with kind words. He will not like the halter at all when he gets 

 it on, but he will soon get used to it. I prefer at first to have the 

 halter shank knotted up so that he cannot touch it with his feet, 

 but when he gets well used to the halter on his head, I would put 

 on a long shank which will trail along the ground for some little 

 distance. He will constantly be stepping on it and brought up sharp 

 by so doing. When his head is checked by his standing on the 

 halter shank he will naturally yield to the pressure, when he does 

 not quite know where it comes from, and so a very important 

 lesson will be learned. The foal, when he has got so far, will soon 

 learn to lead. Let the mare be led away from him, and though 

 he may not care to be led alongside her at first, he will be eager 

 enough when she is some way in front of him — perhaps so eager as 



