MANAGEMENT OF BALKV HORSES. 4-5 



you. It has been suggested that a novice should 

 begin his practice on a gentle horse that he can 

 handle at pleasure, and the plan is a good one. He 

 may thus become familiar with the process before 

 trying it, in earnest, on a vicious or unbroken animal. 

 A singular fact in illustration of tlie beauty of 

 this treatment of refractory horses is mentioned in 

 an English periodical. A beautiful gray mare, 

 which had been fourteen years in the band of one 

 of the Life Guards regiments, and consequently at 

 least seventeen years old, would never submit qui- 

 etly to have her hind-legs shod ; the farriers had to 

 put a twitch on her nose and ears, and tie her tail 

 down : even then she resisted violently. After 

 three days' treatment similar to that above de- 

 scribed, she was easily shod with her head loose. 

 And this was not done by a trick, but by proving to 

 her that she could not resist even to the extent of an 

 inch, and that no harai was intended her. 



HOW TO MANAGE BALKY HORSES. 



Horses know nothing about balking until they are 

 forced into it by bad management. When a horse 

 balks in harness, it is generally from some misman- 

 agement, excitement, confusion, or from not knowing 

 how to pull, but seldom from any miwillingness to 

 perform all that he understands. 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 tho 



