94 PULLING ON ONE REIN. 



power of the breaking-bit, a horse of decided courage and 

 nerve, that has learned to lunge savagely against the bit, 

 from fear or other cause. It is not unusual for the writer to 

 have horses brought forward, of this character, that at first 

 would pull, on a walk on the barn floor, against the entire 

 strength of from four to eight and ten men.* 



If given the advantage of motion, such horses could carry 

 along almost any weight thrown upon the mouth from a 

 wagon. I admit there is no great difficulty in holding any 

 common horse, even with an ordinary bit ; but I am referring 

 to horses that have resisted, and would run away in defiance 

 of, any bit or control of any rigging in use upon the head. 

 I frequently have horses offered for treatment before the 

 class that had overdraw checks and reins, and the most 

 powerful bits used upon horses, that would run away at the 

 drop of a hat, in harness, regardless of any restraint by such 

 means upon the mouth ; yet it is upon such that I have and 

 do make my greatest hits of success, and I never found one 

 I could not make so gentle as to submit to be driven as I 

 pleased, under excitement or not, with entire safety. I will 

 refer here to a few exceptionally bad cases. In Memphis, 

 Tenn., a large white horse, owned by a coal-dealer named 

 Watson, had run away several times in succession. A mule 

 and horse drover from Alabama, who openly bragged that 

 he could drive any living runaway horse, after the greatest 

 deliberation and care, made the experiment. The bad char- 

 acter of the horse, in connection with the great pretension of 

 the man, who had the advantage of being large and power- 

 ful in build, made the case interesting. The horse ran from 

 the first jump, the man having no control whatever over 

 him, resulting in almost fatal injuries to the man ; the horse 

 smashing the wagon, and clearing himself from all encum- 

 brance. The next and last attempt to drive him was by a 

 mule-drover from Mississippi. He knew he could drive the 

 horse : he, in fact, claimed to be invincible. This time the 

 man was thrown, an arm broken, and almost fatally injured ; 

 the horse running into the Mississippi River, and was res- 



* Twice during the past winter ordinary sized horses, noted runaways, treated 

 before the class, pulled at first against the united strength of ten men, on a walk, 

 with such desperation as to pull themselves down upon the belly on the floor, yet 

 were broken so thoroughly that they were afterwards perfectly safe. 



