MAKING HORSE LIE DOWN. 165 



it. To carry out the latter part of this condition we may, 

 if the horse shows fight while we are gentling him, pull his 

 head sharply round to his side by the cord (see Fig. 75) 

 so as to punish him ; and when he gives in, we may, as a 

 reward, relax the tension. 



I need hardly say that it is quite immaterial to which 

 side the horse's head is drawn, provided that in either case 

 the opposite leg be tied up. 



If the animal goes down without a struggle, and sulks on 

 the ground, he should be forced to "show fight" by keeping 

 him in the constrained position depicted in Fig. 75, until he 

 has got rid, by inefi'ectual struggling, of most of his 

 " temper." When a horse begins to groan, and to con- 

 siderably moderate the violence of his struggles, we may 

 feel confident that " the sulk " has been taken out of him 

 more or less, and that he is fit to be allowed to get on to his 

 feet again. If an error happens to be made with respect to 

 the amount of the efi"ect produced, it should be on the side 

 of leniency rather than on that of severity ; for the opera- 

 tion can be always repeated and more time given on the 

 next occasion, without running any risk of unduly cowing 

 the animal. Whatever punishment we employ should 

 never be pushed beyond the point necessary to gain our 

 required object, which, in this case, is the attainment of 

 authority over the horse. 



My own practice with animals that are simply impatient 

 of control, is to produce the desired effect by making them 

 lie down several times ; and, with stubborn ones, by keeping 

 them down with their heads pulled round. The latter 

 method might alone be employed, if the ground be hard or 



