MT. VERNON HOUSE. 413 



what I saw of him at a distance, I stated that there was 

 not a man in the country who could drive him, and if I could 

 not prove it, I would charge him nothing for my instructions. 

 Upon trial with a severe hit, he went straight along in 

 defiance of the pulling of ten men upon the reins, when his 

 bad character was confessed. 



Had I not been able to prepare the minds of the class 

 to see the true character of the horse, he would have 

 broken me down ; but in fact my statement was accepted 

 as a reasonable explanation, and so I had an opportunity 

 to repeat the treatment until successful. I had a very 

 large class of experienced horsemen, and it became a 

 matter of deep interest for them to see whether the char- 

 acter given him would be fully proved by trial. He was 

 subjected first to the First Method, which he resisted with 

 great energy. This was followed by the Second and Third 

 Methods, carried to the fullest extreme, when he would 

 allow his quarters to be touched all around with a pole, 

 and could be handled without difficulty. 



He was next taken in hand for over an hour to obtain 

 control of the mouth, but Avithout making the least impres- 

 sion upon him. This I expected and explained to the 

 class, and put him over till the next day, when he was 

 again subjected to the Second Method sharply, and the 

 training of the mouth repeated, as before, for about an 

 hour, with but little apparent success. This was extraor- 

 dinary, there having no horse been brought forward for 

 years that did not in two lessons yield to the control of the 

 bit; but I promised that one more lesson would bring him. 

 On the day following, he was again subjected in part to 

 First and Second Methods, and the mouth again taken in 

 hand, though quite sore from the effects of the previous 

 treatment. His wonderful pluck and nerve enabled him to 

 fight it with the utmost desperation for nearly an hour, 



