OVERLOADING. 207 



and pull as desired when he went home in the afternoon, on the fol- 

 lowing morning he could come to me and get his money back. Next 

 day he stated that in less than ten minutes he was able to make this 

 horse work just as well as the other. 



CASE No. 3. — When in Northern New York, in 1876, a man in- 

 troduced himself to me as an old scholar, who had attended the lec- 

 tures a few years before, and desired to come into my class again. 

 He said that, he had not had occasion to make arry use of the in- 

 structions until about a year before, when, in plowing, one of his 

 horses balked. He was for some time puzzled to know what to do, 

 when it occurred to him to try this method of treatment. He had 

 forgotten the details, but remembered the general plan. He took a 

 three-fourths-inoh rope, and put it on the Second Form of War Bri- 

 dle, as described for balking. He next took a rail from the fence, 

 and tied one end to the gentle horse's singletree ; to the other end 

 he attached the rope. He then started the gentle horse, and jerked 

 the balky horse out of his tracks two or three times. Using his own 

 language, " That 'ere horse did n't wait to be pulled upon the second 

 time, but pulled as if for life, and never offered to balk afterward, 

 though I K put the plow down to the beam." 



It was' by mere good luck that this man succeeded, considering 

 the crude, imperfect manner in which the treatment was applied. It 

 is hardly safe to risk attempting to make a bad horse go directly in 

 this way. He should be made to yield first to the War Bridle until 

 very sensitive tq its restraint, then the pole should be adjusted very 

 carefully. If too short, or so limber that it will bend much, the ex- 

 periment will be liable to fail. , 



Overloading. 



There is a general inclination among teamsters to overload. 

 This is very common in large cities. While engaged in making il- 

 lustrations for this work in New York City, I daily passed through 

 Fulton and other streets, and frequently took a side street to avoid 

 witnessing the abuse to which horses werei subjected in consequence 

 of being overloaded. It was no unusual thing to see a team whipped 

 severely while pulling to their utmost power, and finally compelled 

 to stop for want of strength to go farther. A team never should 

 be compelled to draw more than it is able to pull easily over the 

 worst parts of the road. This should be the rule. The strain and 

 pulling in this way will sometimes injure a horse more in a few min- 

 utes than working reasonably hard all day. 



When a horse is unaccustomed to work before a wagon or plow, 



