BRAINS, NOT SPURS. 205 



be a physical but always a mental one. Give him his own way 

 if you can, but take care to show him that he gets nothing 

 by it. 



467. — With these horses it is generally a question of refusing 

 to go away from home, away from company, or turning some 

 road that implies a long journey. They often fix on some 

 particular spot beyond which they will not go in that direction, 

 or they insist upon taking some turn that leads in the direction 

 they want to go ; and some of them have learned some successful 

 way of putting their rider off at a particular spot and going 

 home without him. We have known a few horses who have 

 never failed at this, no matter who the rider was, but would 

 deliberately tumble over on their back when all other means 

 failed. 



468. — We can only give a few illustrations of the way to 

 outwit such horses. You will find some of them very learned in 

 such matters, and perhaps up to more devices than you are. But 

 as soon as you find that they are up to one, change it immediately 

 and try another, until you hit upon one that they are not up to. 



469. — We will suppose that the horse stops and prepares to 

 turn round. Don't resist the turn but give him a quiet horizontal 

 pull with the rein in the direction he wanted to turn, so as to 

 carry him further round than he intended to go, and if possible keep 

 him going quietly round half a dozen times. In mild cases this 

 will often upset all his calculations, and he will go quietly on 

 without more ado. If six turns will not do give him twenty. In 

 fact if he will keep on turning to your rein you are safe to 

 conquer, as enough turning will certainly confuse him and leave 

 him at your command. 



470. — If he will not turn and will back to the rein, keep 

 him going backwards in the direction you want to go. He will 

 soon get tired of that and prefer to go wiih the right end 

 forward, but before you let him turn, give him decidedly more 

 backing than he likes. 



471. — If he will neither turn nor back, or if you are not a 

 sufficiently skilled horseman to deal with him on his back, get off 

 and tie a knot in his tail, or tie a piece of string securely round 



