30 THE ART or TRAINING ANIMALS. 



" I have been here before and got out, and I can do it again," 

 and out he goes. We add to the load one or two hundred 

 pounds, and go through the same process, then wait a day or 

 two and try him again, taking care that we require nothing to 

 be done extra except with a lighter load. This is teaching a 

 horse to have confidence in himself, which is the basis of all 

 good draught horses. 



A Scotch paper describes a curious case of horse manage- 

 ment, and though the same treatment has been equally successful 

 in other instances we are inclined to believe the true secret lies 

 partly in gentling the animal while the preparations are being 

 made. The fact related is curious and may be useful, so we 

 reproduce it : 



^' On Saturday last a groom, mounted on a high mettled 

 hunter^ entered the High street of Coldstream, and, -when oppo- 

 site Sir John Majoribank's monument, the horse began to plunge 

 and rear to a fearful extent, swerving to the right and then to 

 the left, bnt go forward he would not, nor could all the exer- 

 tions cf the groom overcome his obstinacy. The street was 

 filled with people expecting to see the 'animal destroy himself 

 on the spikes of the iron railmg around the monument, when 

 Mr. McDougal, saddler, walked up to the groom, and said : ^ I 

 think, my man, you are not taking the proper method to make 

 the horse go; allow me to show you a trick worth knowing.' 

 ' Well,' says the groom, ' if you can make him go, it's more 

 than I can ;' when Mr. McDougal took a piece of whipcord, 

 which he tied with a firm knot on the end of the animal's ear, 

 which he bent gently down, fastening the end of the string to 

 the check buckle of the hridle, which done, he patted the horse's 

 neck once or twice, and said, '■ Now, let me see you go quietly 

 home like a good horse,' and, astonishmg to relate, it moved off 

 as gently as if nothing had happened. Mr. McDougal says he 

 has seen, in London, horses which no manner of force could 

 make go, while this mild treatment was always successful." 



HOW TO PREVENT HARNESSED HORSES FROM RUNNING AlVAY. 



For the following useful suggestion we are indebted to Mr. 

 Robert McClure : 



" It has often occured to our mind, on account of the many 

 and destructive runaways of horses harnessed to sleighs, that 

 have taken place in this city and its neighborhood the present 

 winter, that some mode of training might be adopted for family 

 or carriage horses, which would entirely prevent or at least 

 mitigate the violence and excitement of horses that may take 

 fright. A good plan, based upon our knowledge and observa- 



