DRIVING. 413 



score. You will also be likely to remember the danger 

 there is in snatching a horse sharply, should he break, as 

 more serious results may follow than cutting the quarters. 

 Injury to the knee is frequently the consequence, while 

 the animal may be hurt permanently by a strain of the 

 shoulder or loin. There is nothing gained by this proceed- 

 ure, as I never knew a horse that would not ultimately be 

 a better breaker, and lose less ground, when the gentler 

 plan has been followed. If a person has so little physical 

 strength that he is afraid of not being able to manage a 

 horse, unless he jerks him at the instant he leaves his feet, 

 he must use some of the safety appliances, which will give 

 him the requisite nerve. But the most successful means 

 of managing a refractory horse is not by main strength; 

 address, or skill, as we may term it, being far more ef- 

 fective. 



One of the very best drivers I ever saw has not more 

 strength than a hearty twelve-year-old boy. He never uses 

 hand pieces, or any aid of that kind, depending entirely 

 on skillful management, which I never knew to fail him at 

 any time. If a horse is determined to run away, and is 

 accustomed to do so whenever he tries, pulling will not 

 stop him. The best way, then, is to retain your self- 

 possession, when you will be able to guide him, and keep 

 him running where the ground is the safest. If you have 

 a horse that you feel confident will stop whenever you tell 

 him, and go wherever you direct, you are not alarmed if 

 he does run. It is not the speed, then, that is so frightful, 

 but the consciousness that you are carried along against 

 your will. It is a good many chances to one, that, when 

 the horse finds you are not pulling at him, but, if anything, 

 urging him on, and if he is not heeding the suggestions of 

 the bit in going the way you direct, adding to its admoni- 

 tions a severe reminder with the whip, he will not find so 

 much pleasure in the effort, and be as ready to stop as you 



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