CURING REFUSERS. 2^7 



trial with the long reins. In this, as in all other breaking 

 operations with the horse, we should exercise great patience, 

 and should renew our efforts again and again if we do not 

 at first succeed. If the animal *' shows fight," I would 

 advise that the whip should be put aside altogether ; for, 

 according to my experience, the moment its cut, or even 

 crack, fails to prompt him to go on, it will incite him to 

 offer increased resistance. Instead of its effect, we should 

 employ that of the long reins, in circling him, turning him 

 sharply and backing him, until he gives in, or until we are 

 forced to employ stronger means. Mr. John Hubert Moore, 

 the great Irish trainer of steeplechase horses, who taught 

 me this admirable method for curing refusing and other 

 forms of jibbing, considers that its efficacy is chiefly due 

 to the punishment inflicted on the animal's mouth and 

 hocks. It is possible that the animal which has been put 

 through this discipline may imagine that he has no power 

 to resist the command to go forward, after having been 

 forced to turn as the breaker wished. It is not, however, 

 the act of turning a jibber to the right and to the left 

 which will overcome his sulkiness, but its continued re- 

 petition ; especially if the turns be made sharply. Hence, 

 I am inclined to think that the punishment theory is 

 the right one. The horse seems, as with the rope-twitch 

 (see page 129), to fail to connect the idea of pain, in 

 this case, with the man who inflicts it, as he undoubtedly 

 does when whipped or spurred; and, probably on that 

 account, yields the more readily to its influence. 



If the animal prove thoroughly stubborn, and time be of 

 consequence, he may be made to lie down, and held with 



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