ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 39 



HOW TO DRIVE A KICKING HOUSE. 



I will now commence with the old bad horse's harness 

 trick. I have very often remarked that ninety-nine out 

 of every hundred vicious horses in harness, are horses with 

 ungovernable mouths. If we govern the mouth, we shall 

 in almost every instance, have a controllable horse. I will 

 ask, did the reader ever see a balky, kicking, bolting, 

 plunging, runaway horse, with a fine, easy, governable 

 mouth ? I never have; therefore I always give the vicious 

 horse a thorough training with the bitting cord before 

 hitching up ; in a short time he will learn to yield the 

 mouth readily to the pressure of the bit, after he has been 

 thoroughly trained with the cord. I wish to convince him 

 beyond a question, that I have the power to handle him 

 just as I wish, and will just say that I consider it necessa- 

 ry to handle all horses in a manner to convince them that 

 they can be controlled : let your lessons be thorough, but 

 not very long ; be gentle and patient with the colt, but 

 make the old, stubborn and vicious horse feel the extent 

 of your power until he submits ; then repeat until he yields 

 unconditional submission; then be gentle and kind, yet 

 firm in your treatment afterwards. 



After testing all other plans that have been brought be- 

 fore the public, I must say that my present system for 

 handling a vicious horse, to subdue him, or for performing 

 surgical operations, is far ahead of anything ever made 

 public; and if I had retired from the business of teaching 

 Horsemanship, I would not be deprived of the use of this 

 one point for ten times its cost. The first step in the man- 

 agement of a bad horse, is to show him that his willfulness 



