VI] 



DRIVING AND HARNESS 



69 



examined; the bit must be inspected to ascertain 

 if it fits properly. Any injury must be attended 

 to at once. If the horse pulls through having a 

 bad mouth, it means that he was either badly 

 broken or that he has been ridden or driven by 

 bad hands since. In either case severe bits will 

 only make matters worse. It is almost impos- 

 sible to convince the average groom of this fact. 

 If the driver or rider plays with the horse's 

 mouth by gentle feelings of the reins, and keeps 

 the horse always well collected and not stretched 

 out, as is seen with uncollected horses, the horse 

 will not be able to pull. A simple steel snaffle 

 (P. 72a) is the best bit with which to cure most 

 pullers. Bad hands, of course, will never cure 

 them, but will probably make them worse. 



269. Tying Horses Up. — The method on the 

 American continent is a very good one. It con- 

 sists of a weight and strap, that is carried in the 

 vehicle, being used as shown in P. 36h. The 

 weight is about 5 lb. ; at the other end of 

 the strap is a spring hook that snaps on to the 

 bit. Delivery horses that are constantly stop- 

 ping, and that, by law, must be attached to a 

 weight when left standing, have a long strap 

 permanently attached to the bit that passes back 

 through rings on the harness, and is attached to 

 the weight that stands on the footboard of the 

 vehicle when the latter is in motion. The strap 

 is loose enough to allow the driver to drop the 

 weight on to the road as he jumps off the vehicle. 

 {See 26e.) Care must be taken that this weight 

 does not drop off while the vehicle is in motion, 

 which would give the horse a violent jerk on 

 the mouth. These weights are used with all 

 kinds of horses, and work most successfully ; 

 the horse soon learns that he is to stand when 

 the weight is snapped on. Riding horses may 

 be made to stand by being taught to do so 

 whenever the reins are thrown over their head. 

 Most Western ponies will do this. It is taught 

 by tying a cloth or sack on to the reins, so that, 

 whenever the horse moves forward, he treads 

 on the sack and jerks himself in the mouth. He 

 soon associates the moving forward with the 

 jerks on the bit, and will very soon stand still. 

 He will continue to do this, after a few lessons, 

 if the reins are put over his head without the 

 use of the sack. It maybe necessary to go back to 

 the use of the sack over and over again until the 

 horse thoroughly learns what is required. Great 

 patience is necessary. General Grant once stated, 

 after he had punished a brutal teamster for abus- 

 ing his horses, " If people only knew how much 

 more they could get out of a horse by gentleness 

 than by harshness, they would save a great deal 

 of trouble both to the horse and to themselves." 



270. Teaching the Horse to Allow the Rein 

 to be Placed Under its raz7.— Sometimes we find 

 that horses are apt to try to grapple the reins 

 with their tail. This is generally the result of 

 the driver having bad bands, the horse's mouth 



being made sore, or of a driver continually jerk- 

 ing the mouth, thus causing the horse to grab the 

 reins to relieve his own mouth. These ignorant 

 drivers cannot conceive that it is their own 

 fault. Of course, at times horses are apt, when 

 swishing at flies, etc., to get their tails over the 

 reins, if the reins are left hanging loosely over 

 the quarters. Horses that are not used to this 

 must be made to become accustomed to it, and 

 then it will not matter at all if they do get their 

 tails over. (See Chapters XII. and XIII.) P. 118a 

 shows a neat little device to keep the reins from 

 getting under the tail, which is only necessary 

 in very rare cases. The best method, and a 

 method that I always adopt with any horse, is 

 to teach him to pay no attention to the reins 

 being placed under his tail. This is done by 

 starting off every day with the reins under the 

 tail, and after a little while drawing them out, 

 putting them under again, and continuing to do 

 this until the horse takes no notice at all and 

 will allow them to be gently drawn out when- 

 ever they get under, by the driver merely pulling 

 the reins gently. The horse that is not accus- 

 tomed to this, upon feeling his tail over the 

 reins, will usually hold his tail down tightly ; 

 the inexperienced driver pulls tightly, causing 

 the horse to increase his grip. Instead of this, the 

 driver should leave the reins quite loose, and 

 the horse will probably release his grip ; or the 

 driver may tickle the horse's quarters with the 

 end of the whip, and the horse, taking it to be 

 a fly, will swish his tail round and release the 

 reins. In the worst cases the driver should lean 

 forward and, while speaking to the horse, 

 quietly lift the tail over the reins. But, as stated 

 above, if the horse has been trained to this, as 

 described in Chapter XIII., he will not mind in 

 the least whether the reins are under his tail or 

 not. In this way any horse can be used with 

 perfect safety as a leader in four-in-hand. I 

 have used this method on nervous mares which, 

 it was stated, could not be driven in this way, 

 and in a few houi-s they have absolutely acceded 

 to my wishes. A horse that has not been trained 

 in this manner, and is sold as a harness horse, 

 is a swindle upon the public. I would not em- 

 ploy this method with a horse with a docked 

 tail, as my experience with them has been that 

 they hold their tails down with great force when- 

 ever they feel the reins underneath ; these horses 

 usually object to having their tails interfered 

 with, whilst the natural horse generally does 

 not. 



271. Types of Harness Horses. — Where light 

 vehicles are used, the lighter breed of horse, as 

 shown in P. 26a, b, d, 36h, 39d, will outlast the 

 heavier breed. The light breeds of horses, so 

 common in America, seldom break down in 

 their legs, but with the more cobby types, more 

 common in England, we see the legs go first. 

 For livery work, slower and thicker-set horses. 



