832 



tliat you will treat him gently. You must recollect that 

 the horse cannot understand your language, and that, while 

 he is confused, he will misinterpret every sign that you 

 make to him. He has an idea of your superior power, and 

 in his fear that you will exercise it, as bad drivers have 

 done before, to his injury, he will not, at once, feel confi- 

 dence in your kind intentions. He must feel this confidence, 

 whether it take an hour or all day to convey it to him, 

 before you can do anything to cure him of his trick. If 

 you have him harnessed to a light wagon, on a smooth 

 road where it will afford but little resistance, you may, by 

 repeated trials, convince him that it is a simple and easy 

 matter to draw it, and you should continue to exercise him 

 from day to day with the same light load, and afterward 

 increase it gradually, until you have trained him to a quiet 

 manner of starting, or of going up a hill or elsewhere 

 where he has been accustomed to baulk. 



By the same gentle treatment you may start a horse or 

 a team that have baulked under the driving of another 

 person. Eequest the driver and all spectators to go to the 

 side of the road, and then unfasten the check-reins, hang 

 the reins where they will be easily accessible, but so that 

 they may lie loosely on the horses' backs, caress them and 

 allow them to look about and convince themselves that no 

 harm is being done. When they have become priperly 

 quiet, go to their heads and stand directly in front of th*e 

 worst jibber of the team, so that his nose may come against 

 your breast if he start. Turn them gently to the right, 

 without allowing them to tighten their traces, and, after 

 caressing them a little, draw them, in the same way, to the 

 \eft. Presently turn them to the right, and, as you do so, 

 bring them slowly against their collars and let them go. 



