CHAPTER XXXI. 



CONTROLLING THE ACTIONS OF THE HORSE BY HIS 

 TAIL. 



There are other uses for a horse's tail than to brush off the flies. 

 In our hands it becomes a great medium for controlling the actions of 

 the horse. Experience with plains' horses is, that there is no other 

 means by which we can accomplish so much in so short a time, as by 

 hitching the subject's head to his own tail so close that he is obliged to 

 gyrate or whirl around in a very small compass. Yes, but the natural 

 query comes to almost everybody, how are we to accomplish this con- 

 nection of head and tail without danger of getting hurt? The answer 

 is, that it is best done the very first time he is ever caught with the 

 lasso, and then he should never again have his liberty until he is thor- 

 oughly acquainted with his controller, man. This thing of catching the 

 wild horse and then letting him go again and again, soon educates him 

 to have a dread fear of man; besides, he is very apt to! learn how to 

 evade the fatal noose, which only serves to make him the more danger- 

 ous whenever anything out of the ordinary routine of his experience 

 transpires. 



LET THE HORSE RUN AWAY IN A CIRCLE. 



When he is lassoed and thrown is just the time to put the halter 

 on his head and secure it to his tail before letting him up. Then, with 

 a long, limber pole, something like a fishing-rod, we begin his educa- 

 tion. See Cut No. 66. He has the use of his legs — his means of escape 

 and defense — and at our approach and the touch of the pole he attempts 

 to get away by flight; but his run away is only in a small circle, and, 

 notwithstanding he exerts himself to the utmost of his ability, he does 

 not succeed in getting away from the touch of the pole. If he attempts 

 to kick or strike at the pole he is almost certain to fall, which, of itself 

 is an admonition that he had better not repeat that action. 



POLING THE HORSE A GREAT FEATURE IF WELL DONE. 



This whirling motion requires but a very few minutes to render him 

 so dizzy he must either stOp or fall, and he generally prefers the former; 

 but in either case, when he stops is the time we should bring it in con- 

 tact with every part of his body — as advised with the young colt and like 

 the use of the hand in our first visit to him when he is but one hour or 

 one day old — and as soon as the wild horse finds that the pole does not 

 hurt him, and he has done his very best to get away from it and failed. 



