284 HALTEK-PULLING. 



with which the horse is tied should give way. Even the 

 breaking of the whip, or the inability to force to the point 

 of complete submission, would be equivalent to defeat. In 

 all cases, the experiment should be made at the place where 

 in the habit of resisting, or as near it as possible. 



The Patent Bridle will be found to give still more power, 

 and is indispensable in the breaking of bridle-pullers. In 

 using this, reverse the reins through the pulley, so that in- 

 stead of passing back, they will run forward. (See cut 205.) 

 Now the moment the horse pulls, the punishment upon the 

 head becomes so severe that he will be afraid to re- 

 peat it. 



Having learned these points, I advertised, among other 

 apparently difficult feats, to break any halter-puller in two 

 minutes so that he would not pull upon his own halter when 

 hitched. Many amusing incidents could be given, showing 

 an effort to break me down in this respect. I will give 

 here two illustrative cases, one of them among the worst 

 halter-pullers the writer ever saw : — 



On the morning of my engagement at a large town in 

 Northern New York, happening to step into a livery stable, 

 I found several men standing around, laughing and yelling 

 at a mare hitched in the stall. She had a rope under her 

 tail, against which she pulled with great desperation, sit- 

 ting back upon the ground and bracing herself with her fore 

 legs. There was no lunging, but a steady, reckless pull, 

 which settled the cord its thickness into the flesh of her 

 tail. In explanation, they said they were stirring up and 

 practicing the mare, to have a good subject for me ; that 

 they knew she was the premium halter-puller of that coun- 

 try, and they proposed to fix her so that she would 

 beat me. 



She was ten years old, of medium size, brownish black 

 in color, of the most courageous, plucky character imagina- 



