PALLIATIVE TREATMENT. 245 



the severest whipping or pounding can be scarcely felt, and 

 it becomes only a means of intensifying the habit. The 

 usual method of whipping, kicking the belly, hitting back 

 of the head with a club, etc., while often liable to kill or 

 seriously injure the horse, has no beneficial effect. 



Sometimes very simple treatment will start a balky 

 horse ; as, kicking the leg lightly below the knee until he 

 lifts his foot ; passing a string over one of his ears, and ty- 

 ing it down ; letting the horse inhale a little ammonia or red 

 pepper. These are very common tricks, and will some- 

 times disconcert a horse sufficiently to cause him to start. 

 The following has been considered a great secret in the 

 treatment of balkers, and will in some cases work with 

 considerable success : Take the oslets or warts growing in- 

 side a horse's leg, dry and grate them fine and keep in a 

 tightly-corked bottle, as they lose their strength quickly 

 and evaporate on being exposed to the air. About three- 

 quarters of an hour before the horse is to be driven, blow a 

 thimbleful from a quill into his nostrils. This has a 

 soothing effect, and will cause the horse to go off all right. 



An old man who had been a successful horse-breaker, 

 told me that he had used it forty years, and never failed 

 to make a horse go as he desired with it ; that he seldom 

 repeated it more than two or three times. When a horse 

 takes a dislike to other horses and kicks at them, the os- 

 lets from a vigorous horse, or from the one objected to, 

 used as above, will in most cases overcome such aversion. 

 (See Medicine in " Subjection.") 



Sometimes stepping before a horse and moving him to 

 the right or left a little, and stroking his nose, or pulling 

 his ears gently, etc., will cause him to start. Grasping 

 both nostrils with the hand to prevent his breathing until 

 he struggles for freedom, and turning him a little sideways 

 at the instant of letting go, will frequently start quite a 



