Vicious Habits. 77 



HOW TO DRIVE A HORSE THAT IS VERY WILD AND 

 HAS ANY VICIOUS HABITS. 



Take up one fore foot and bend his knee till his hoof 

 is bottom upwards, and nearly touching his body, then 

 slip a loop over his knee, and up until it comes above 

 the pastern joint to keep it up, being careful to draw 

 the loop together between the hoof and pastern joint 

 with a second strap of some kind, to prevent the loop 

 from slipping down and coming off. This will leave the 

 horse standing on three legs ; you can now handle him 

 as you wish, for it is utterly impossible for him to kick 

 in this position. There is something in this operation 

 of taking up one foot that conquers a horse quicker 

 and better than anything else you can do to him. There 

 is no process in the world equal, to break a kicking 

 horse, for several reasons. First, there is a principle 

 of this kind in the nature of the horse, that by con- 

 quering one member you conquer, to a great extent, 

 the whole horse. 



You have, perhaps, seen men operate upon this prin- 

 ciple by sewing a horse's ears together to prevent him 

 from kicking. I once saw a plan given in a newspaper 

 to make a bad horse stand to be shod, which was to 

 fasten down one ear. There was no reason given why 

 you should do so ; but I tried it several times, and 

 thought it had a good effect — though I would not 

 recommend its use, especially stitching his ears togeth- 

 er. The only benefit arising from this process is, that 

 by disarranging his ears we draw his attention to them, 

 and he is not so apt to resist the shoeing. By tying 

 up one foot we operate on the same principle, to a 

 much better effect. When you first fasten up a horse's 



