TO HALTER AND LEAD A COLT. 37 



making him pull on the halter, for if you only let 

 him feel the weight of your hand on the halter, and 

 give him rope when he runs from you, he will never 

 rear, pull, or throw himself, yet you will be holding 

 him all the time, and doing more towards gentling 

 him than if you had the power to snub him right 

 up and hold him to one spot ; because, he does not 

 know anything about his strength, and if you don't 

 do anything to make him pull, he will never know 

 that he can. In a few minutes you can begin to 

 control him with the halter, then shorten the dis- 

 tance between yourself and the horse by taking up 

 the strap in your hand. 



As soon as he will allow you to hold him by a toler- 

 ably short e x rap, and to step up to him without flying 

 back, you can begin to give him some idea about 

 leading. But to do this, do not go before and at- 

 tempt to pull him after you, but commence by pull- 

 ing him very quietly to one side. He has nothing 

 to brace either side of his neck, and will soon yield 

 to a steady, gradual pull of the halter; and as soon 

 as you have pulled him a step or two to one side, 

 step up to him and caress him, and then pull him 

 again, repeating this operation until you can pull 

 him around in every direction, and walk about the 

 stable with him, which you can do in a few minutes, 

 for he will soon think when you have made him step 

 to the right or left a few times, that he is compelled 

 to follow the pull of the halter, not knowing that he 



