THE-:- HORSE 



the horse all over his back. The pole should 

 be long enough to allow a safe distance from 

 the heels of the animal. 



After a while, the horse, finding he is un- 

 able to escape from this rather novel massage, 

 reconciles himself to these manipulations, 

 and allows the flag to be passed all over his 

 body without protesting. Slap the horse on 

 the neck and back with the flag after it has 

 been removed from the pole, and also rub it 

 on his neck and withers. This will gradually 

 accustom the animal to being touched all 

 over. 



Next he should put the noose of the lariat 

 rope around the body of the horse at withers 

 and girth. This is easily done by placing the 

 loop over the horse's back and letting him 

 back his hind legs through it, or letting him 

 pass through the loop in front; then, stand- 

 ing out of reach of the horse's heels, the 

 breaker should pull the noose tight, which 

 will usually cause a number of rapid gyra- 

 tions from the surprised animal. The pur- 

 pose of this last exercise is to accustom the 

 horse to the tightening of the cinch when 

 the saddle is to be placed on his back. 



When only the loop of the lariat is tight- 

 ened around the body of the horse, in the 

 way we have described, he can fall forward 

 or backward and kick out in all directions 

 without doing much harm, After the animal 



79 



