i8o BREAKING ON FOOT. 



stage of the proceedings, we may for safety sake noose a 

 fore leg (see page 117), say, the near, and give the rope to 

 an assistant to hold, while we take charge of the halter 

 rope. In most cases we can now go up to the horse, and 

 apply the rope-twitch by means of the rope halter which 

 is already on the horse's head (see Fig. 39). If this can- 

 not be done without risk, we may, by means of a stick or 

 pole, pass a blanket or similar article over the horse's 

 head, so as to blindfold him. We may then put on the 

 twitch over the cloth, and after we have adjusted it, we 

 may remove the cloth from underneath it. With the 

 twitch on, the man who holds it, is safe from being 

 bitten by the horse, or from being struck by a fore leg. 

 If the attempt to blindfold the animal makes him, as 

 it sometimes will do, outrageously violent, and if he also 

 furiously resists any approach being made to his head ; 

 we may obtain control by applying the noose-twitch (see 

 Fig. 44). The great difficulty I had experienced in going 

 up to some of the wild horses I had to break in South 

 Africa, prompted me to invent this twitch. In getting it 

 or the rope-twitch on the horse, we may expedite matters 

 and save ourselves from being bitten, by putting a stick 

 into the horse's mouth. He will seldom offer resistance 

 to this being done. In fact he will generally like to 

 get the stick between his teeth. Its presence in his 

 mouth will greatly help to distract his attention from 

 his breaker, and will consequently make him less trouble- 

 some than he might otherwise be to handle. Although 

 the noose-twitch is not so effective as Pratt's rope-twitch 

 (see page 132), the fact remains that its power is ample 



