BREAKING TO HARNESS 99 



dispute, that a horse will more readily acquire " bad " 

 than " good " manners. 



Here, then, is another good habit you may 

 train yourself and your horse to. When taking 

 him out of the shafts, make it a practice — 

 and it is the correct one — to push the gig or 

 whatever form of machine it be, back from the 

 animal, at the same time raising the shafts above 

 the level of the back. The horse, of course, must 

 stand until permitted to go. Some horses acquire 

 that common and abominable habit of rushing out of 

 the shafts directly they feel their tackle undone. 

 Sometimes, indeed, they don't even wait until it is 

 unfastened, or else they catch some portion of it upon 

 the tugs, etc., the outcome of bad teaching. 



By the way, when taking a horse out of harness, 

 you should remember the following order : First 

 unfasten the breeching, etc., the kicking strap 

 (if used), now the shaft band, and lastly, the traces. 



Returning, however, to the pupil in harness, the 

 driver, I may add, should give special attention to the 

 animal's paces. A horse ought always, for instance, 

 to walk up hill, and, on the other hand, make the 

 descent at a steady trot, it is not altogether a simple 



