Kicking Houses. 79 



all habits. There are plenty of ways by which yon 

 can hitch a kicking horse, and force him to go, though 

 he kicks all the time ; but this don't have any good 

 effect towards breaking him, for we know that horses 

 kick because they are afraid of what is behind them, 

 and when they kick against it and it hurts them, they 

 will only kick the harder, and this will hurt them still 

 more, and make them remember the scrape much longer, 

 and make it still more difficult to persuade them to 

 have any confidence in anything dragging behind them 

 ever after. 



By this new method you can hitch them to a rattling 

 sulky, plow, wagon, or anything else in its worst shape. 

 They may be frightened at first, but cannot kick, or 

 do anything to hurt themselves, and will soon find that 

 you do not intend to hurt them, and then they will not 

 care anything more about it. You can then let down 

 the leg, and drive along gently without any further 

 trouble. By this new process a bad sicking horse can 

 be learned to go gentle in harness in a few hours time. 



ON BALKING. 



Horses know nothing about balking, only as they are 

 brought into it by improper management ; and when a 

 horse balks in harness, it is generally from some mis- 

 management, excitement, confusion, or from not know- 

 ing how to pull, but seldom from any unwillingness to 

 perform all that he understands. High spirited, free- 

 going horses, are the most subject to balking, and only 

 so because drivers do not properly understand how to 

 manage this kind. A free horse in a team may be so 

 anxious to go, that when he hears the word he will 



