CHAPTER XXXVII. 



THE BALKY HORSE. 



From the heading, every reader will naturally say to himself: "Well, 

 now you have introduced a subject in which we are all interested, and 

 from the varied experiences with men and horses, we all want to know 

 more about." 



WHAT IS A BALKY HORSE? 



A balky horse is one that has been badly handled or overloaded. 

 His shoulders are sore or he is discouraged, disgusted, or prevented 

 from going when he wanted to, and naturally says to himself, "you have 

 stopped me, now I will go when I get ready." Here we are, and the ques- 

 tion is, "what are we going to do about it?" Well, most people will begin 

 to whip, yell, yank and pound the poor horse, and so confuse him that he 

 loses what horse sense he had and stands there like a post, puts his 

 head over the other horse, or, throwing himself to the ground, breaks 

 some part of the harness or wagon, and thus gains his point in a large 

 majority of cases. 



MOST BALKY HORSES ARE MADE FROM ONE OR MORE OF 

 THREE CAUSES. 



Horses are generally made balky in one of three ways, and sometimes 

 all three, viz.: Overloading, going with a heavy load until the horse 

 is out of breath, exhausted, discouraged and disgusted with the treat- 

 ment of his driver; by badly fitting collars, sore shoulders, improper 

 draught of the collar, pulling too high or too low on the shoulder, etc. 



THE HIGH STRUNG, NERVOUS HORSE MUST BE TREATED 

 VERY KINDLY. 



Horses are made balky by punishment in the mouth with the bit 

 when the horse is disposed to go, preventing him from starting when he 

 would go off quietly, by "yanking" the horse back from time to time, 

 when he would go ahead, until, when the driver is ready for the start, 

 the horse has concluded that he dare not try it again on account of 

 the punishment by the bit, when he absolutely refuses to go when 

 asked. 



PUNISHMENT AND CONFUSION OFTEN MAKES BALKY 

 HORSES. 



When the balky horse has stopped is the time the fata! mistake is 

 generally made, by the use of the whip at the rear end of the horse. 



