162 



ATTENDIX. 



judgment to know when he is choked sufficient'y, as there is a bare possibility 

 that he might get more than would be good for him. We advise persons not 

 perfectly familiar with a horse to resort rather to the strapping and throw ing- 

 down process (unless he is very vicious) described below ; this, in ordinary- 

 cases, will prove successful. It is the fault of most people who have owned a 

 horse to imagine that they are expert in his management; while, on the con- 

 trary, many professional horsemen are the very worst parties to attempt a sub- 

 jugation. Unless a man have a good disposition, he need not attempt horse- 

 taming. 



In practicing the method exhibited in fig. 55* retire with the animal to be 

 operated upon into a close stable, with plenty of litter upon the floor (tan-bark 



Fig. 55. 



or sawdust is preferable). In 

 the first place fasten up the left 

 fore-leg with the arm strap, in 

 such a manner that it will be 

 permanently secured. Then 

 take a broad strap and buckle, 

 and pass it around the neck 

 just back of the jaw-bone. 

 Draw the strap as tight as 

 possible, so tight as to almost 

 arrest the horse's breathing. 

 The strap must not be buck- 

 led, but held in this position 

 to prevent slipping back. The 

 animal will struggle for a few 

 minutes, when he will become 

 perfectly quiet, overpowered 

 by a sense of suffocation ; the 

 veins in his head will swell ; his eyes lose their flre ; his knees totter and be- 

 come weak ; a slight vertigo will ensue, and growing gradually exhausted, by 

 backing him around the stable, he will come down on his knees, in which po- 

 sition it is an easy matter to push him on his side, when his throat should be 

 released. Now pat and rub him gently for about twenty minutes, when, in 

 most instances, he will be subdued. It is only in extreme cases necessary to 

 repeat the operation of choking. The next lesson is to teach him to lie down, 

 which is described in the account of the fourth method of taming. No horse 

 can effectually resist the terrible effects of being choked. 



It must be constantly borne in mind, that the operator must not be boisterous 

 or violent, and that the greatest possible degree of kindness is absolutely es- 

 sential. When the horse is prostrate, he should be soothed until his eyes show 

 that he has become perfectly tranquil. 



2. Second Method. The plan described in fig. 56 is very simple, though not 

 as expeditious as the previous one. Buckle or draw a strap tight around the 

 neck, lift a fore-leg, and fasten around it the opposite end of the strap, the 

 shorter the better. In the engraving, for the sake of clearness, the strap is 



