92 PULLING ON ONE REIN. 



training, and leave the horse perfectly gentle and free from 

 inclination to resist control afterwards. If it is fear of being 

 touched, or of any thing behind, that causes the horse to 

 run away, that sensibility should, as far as possible, be at 

 first overcome. The average of such horses have been 

 frightened by the breeching, or something, giving way ; and 

 the fear excited by the unusual contact makes the horse 

 afterwards partially or wholly unmanageable. If it is fear 

 of the wagon, resort to FIRST OR SECOND methods of subjec- 

 tion, or both ; and, as this habit is often combined with that 

 of kicking, the cause of the excitement must be removed, the 

 same as in kicking ; so that you can take either of the meth- 

 ods of subjection, as you may find advisable. Having made 

 this point, next get the mouth under control with the break- 

 ing-bit. Experience teaches me that the surest and best 

 way is to overcome all tendency of pulling against the bit, 

 on the same principle we remove all tendency in the horse 

 to kick by overcoming the sensibility of the part ; here the 

 difficulty being that of pulling against the bit so hard that 

 the horse cannot be held. The true principle of success is 

 to combat the resistance directly, until it is entirely over- 

 come, and there is perfect obedience to the slightest restraint 

 of the reins. Neither is this difficult to do : on the contrary, 

 they yield to this treatment so readily that I can bring the 

 average of such under perfect control in fifteen to twenty 

 minutes, so that they will, at the word, stop instantly. This 

 was the secret of my driving the Malone horse, Wild Pete, 

 and other noted horses, so easily, referred to in the first chap- 

 ter. I frequently get horses that cannot be made to back, 

 resisting even the pulling of six or eight men on the reins ; 

 yet, after a little effort, on this principle, properly directed, 

 they will soon learn to back freely as required, to the lightest 

 pressure of the bit on the mouth. The principle is the 

 same in breaking up the habit of 



PULLING ON ONE REIN. -WILL NOT BACK. -TURN- 

 ING AROUND. 



Overcome the resistance on the side pulled against by 

 pulling on that side sharply, until resistance ceases, and the 

 habit becomes easy to break up. Whatever we do, we must 

 ultimately depend upon our control of the mouth. If this is 



