PALLIATIVE TREATMENT. 197 



A Maine Man's Method. 



"When a horse balks, take him out of the shafts, tie the bridle 

 rein into the tail short enough to bring his body into a half circle, 

 and make him go around four or five times. This will make him 

 dizzy ; then put him in shafts and he will go off all right. If one 

 lesson will not break him, repeating it will be sure to do so." 



This is merely palliative ; it will frequently enable starting a 

 balking horse, but is not by any means adequate for breaking up the 

 habit. It will be seen farther on that it is part of my regular treat- 

 ment for this habit. I invented it and taught it in that State nearly 

 twenty-five years ago ; and the idea of managing balky horses in 

 this way was given by me as a simple method of starting a horse, 

 but not of breaking up the habit. 



A mare in the habit of balking, although occasionally driving 

 well for weeks at a time, one day got into one of her balking tan- 

 trums. Her owner, becoming angry, determined to kill her, Tak- 

 ing a gun from the hands of a sportsman who happened to be 

 standing near, he fired the charge of shot into the body. It did not 

 kill her, and on recovering, she was put to work as usual. It was 

 found afterward that whenever she balked, simply pointing a stick 

 at her was sufficient to make her start at once. 



A horse employed in drawing limestone, to a kiln from a quarry 

 close by, was in the habit of balking. One day he refused to pull, 

 and, in defiance of the strength of several men who caught and held 

 the wheels to prevent the accident, backed over the precipice, falling 

 about thirty feet. The cart was broken to pieces, but the horse es- 

 caped with slight injury. He was put to work as usual, but was 

 never known to balk afterward. 



A farmer who was once a member of my class made the follow- 

 ing statement in relation to his managing a balker : He had a mare 

 that would sometimes work well for a week, and then, perhaps, at a 

 critical time would stand stubbornly, .resisting all effort to move her. 

 One day while drawing in oats she balked. After working with her 

 a long while, he resolved that she should go or starve. He drove a 

 stake. down in the ground, and tied her to it ; then putting a sheaf of 

 oats a few rods distant, he went off. This was at ten o'clock in the 

 morning. About five o'clock he returned and tried to start her, but 

 she would not go. He tied her again to the post, and let her stand 

 until morning. Then he unhitched her, took the reins and tried to 

 start her, but she would not pull. During the afternoon he tried her 

 again, when she went. Upon reaching the sheaf of oats, he let her 

 eat it. He now drove her home, unharnessed and fed her,, then put 



