TAMING HOKSES. 147 



ing on three legs ; you can now handle him as you 

 wish, for it is utterly impossible for him to kick in 

 this position. There is something in this operation 

 of taking uj) one foot that conquers a horse quicker 

 and better than anything else you can do to him. 

 There is no process in the world equal to it to 

 break a kicking horse, for several reasons. First, 

 there is a principle of this kind in the nature of 

 the horse: that by conquering one member you 

 conquer to a great extent the whole horse. 



You have perhaps seen men operate upon this 

 principle, by sewing a horse's ears together to pre- 

 vent him from kicking. I once saw a plan given 

 in a newsi^aper to make a bad horse stand to be 

 shod, which was to fasten down one ear. There 

 were no reasons given v/hy you should do so ; but 

 I tried it several times, and thought that it had a 

 good eifect — though I would not recommend its use ; 

 especially stitching his ears together. The only 

 benefit arising from this process is, that by disar- 

 ranging his ears we draw his attention to them, 

 and he is not so apt to resist the shoeing. By ty- 

 ing up one foot we operate on the same principle 

 to a much better efiect. When you first fasten up 

 a horse's foot he will sometimes get very mad, and 

 strike with his knee, and try every possible way to 

 get it down ; but he cannot do that, and will soon 

 give up. 



