226 HALTER-PULLING. 



Having learned these points, I advertised, among other ap- 

 parently difficult feats, to make any halter-puller in two minutes so 

 that he could hot be made to pull upon his own halter when hitched. 

 Many amusing incidents could be given, showing an effort to break 

 me down in this respect. I will give here two illustrative cases, one 

 of them among the worst halter-pullers the writer ever saw : — 



On the morning of my engagement at a large town in Northern 

 New York, happening to step into a livery-stable, I found several 

 men standing around, laughing and yelling at a mare hitched in the 

 stall. She had a rope under her tail, against which she pulled with 

 great desperation, sitting back upon the ground and bracing herself 

 with her fore legs. There was ho lunging, but a steady, reckless 



Fig. 272.— The Halter-puller Trying to Pull Loose. 



pull, which settled the cord its thickness into the flesh of her tail. 

 In explanation, they said they were stirring up and practicing the 

 mare to have a good subject for me ; that they knew she was the 

 premium halter-puller of that country, and they proposed to fix her 

 so that she would beat 'me. 



She was ten years old, of medium size, brownish-black in color, 

 of the most courageous, plucky character imaginable, and one of the 

 worst possible halter-pullers in the country. She would undoubt- 

 edly have defeated me had I not, in this way, become aware of her 

 extremely bad character, and prepared for the emergency. It was 

 a preconcerted plan to spring the mare upon me, and defeat me, and 

 thus make an excuse to get their money back. Though I had never 

 seen so bad a halter-puller before, I determined to put a bold front 

 on the matter, and pass for all I was worth. 



In forming a class, I told the people they were to distinctly un- 

 derstand if I could; not control the mare in two minutes so that she 

 could not be made to pull when hitched by her own halter, I would 



