272 Outdoor Vices and Whims 



This treatment is sometimes recommended for 

 the horse that balks. He is first tied to a post and 

 forced back into the rope until he learns its use and 

 to spring forward as it presses him. Then he is 

 hitched by the side of a gentle horse with the halter- 

 pulling rope still about his body, and the other, end 

 is tied to the hame of the gentle horse. It should be 

 tied of such length as to cause no pressure so long as 

 the balker walks along even with the other horse, 

 but the instant he refuses to go the pressure is 

 brought to bear about the body, when he springs 

 forward as at the post. 



In overcoming the habit of halter-pulling, some 

 horsemen think they get better results from slightly 

 different hitches. Some prefer to tie a stationary 

 loop in one end of the rope sufficiently large to go 

 about the tail similar to a crupper, passing the free 

 end forward through the turret at the top of the sur- 

 cingle, then through the ring at the halter on to the 

 post and back, and tie to the ring at the halter (Fig. 

 82). Now when the horse pulls back, the pressure 

 is brought to bear at the tail, a very sensitive part, 

 and he springs forward as before. Other horsemen 

 prefer to tie one end of the rope about a pastern, 

 some choosing a fore pastern, others a hind one, then 

 pass the free end of the rope through the ring at the 

 halter and on to the post, then back to the halter and 

 tie as before. With this hitch when the horse pulls, 

 he jerks one leg out from under him, which surprises 



