Vol. LXVI. No. 3020. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 14, 1907. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
HANDLING A WILD HORSE. 
A “War Bridle” That Means Peace. 
I was much interested in “The Call of the Wild.” 
as heard by Mr. Morse, and his way of responding to 
it, as described on page 817. His account also sug¬ 
gests the need of more serious attention to “horse 
method” among farmers. Mr. Morse evidently has an 
exceptionally level head, and so got along well enough 
with his “bronks,” but if he had made a little pre¬ 
liminary study of handling wild ones it would have 
saved him lots of hard work, and probably also lame 
shoulders and sore muscles. It occurs to me that a 
little discussion of the subject in your paper may 
be the means of putting a few more of us “on to our 
job” when a wild one comes our way. “Breaking” 
horses is really a very simple job; not requiring any 
elaborate outfit; 30 feet of rope and a bucket of oats 
will tame the worst of them, if applied scientifically. 
Mr. Morse could have had his mares following him 
like pet pigs in less than an hour with a judicious 
use of the “war bridle,” and thus have done away 
with the necessity of extra help and snubbing to trees 
and fences along the road home. There are various 
forms of the “war bridle” described in horse books 
by trainers, such as Rarey, Magner, Gleason and oth¬ 
ers, but the one I have drawn, shown in Fig. 454, is as 
simple as any, and will answer in nearly all cases/ 
It can be put on under the halter if so desired, and 
taken off when the animal is tied. A good way to 
tie is the “body hitch,” as shown in Fig. 455. The ani¬ 
mal will not pull long on this hitch; it is a cure for 
halter pullers, even confirmed ones. Mr. Morse could 
have gone to bed and rested his weary legs in con¬ 
tentment if he had tied his “bronks” this way, for 
they cannot break their necks nor otherwise injure 
themselves. At least, I never knew one to, and 
I have used the “body hitch” on a good many 
of them. This loop must be made so that it 
will loosen up again when colt stops pulling. How¬ 
ever, when broken well to lead with the war bridle, 
there are very few that will make a very bad fight 
when tied in the usual way with a good strong hal¬ 
ter. 'One of the greatest “gentling rigs” ever put on 
a horse is the hind-foot hitch, which I infer is not 
generally known in the East, and is not used as 
much as it should be in the West. See Fig. 457. 
This can be put on in a variety of ways. If you 
have your horse’s confidence so that you can get up 
to him, put one end of a 20 or 30 foot rope around 
his neck with a bowline knot which will not slip, 
big. 456. Other end of rope must go around hind 
foot and back through loop around neck; fasten end 
around foot so that he cannot get it out of the loop, 
nor burn his heel. 
Or if you haven’t the patience to “jolly” your horse 
into this lig, you can force it on him as in Fig. 458. 
Lash iron ring in each end of a three-foot rope, which 
should be wrapped with old blanket, gunny sack or 
something to prevent burns. Bowline a loop two feet 
long (A) in one end of 30-foot rope with the 
colt s neck rope or halter rope inside loop. Put 
this loop over his head with a pole as in cut; pass 
other end of 30-foot rope through iron rings on short 
rope B, and back through neck loop C; put small 
guy rope on short rope, D, take ends of 30-foot rope 
and guy, go behind, let him ‘kick into it as in 
big. 458; then pull up his foot. Foot should be 12 
inches or so from ground. With this rig on he can 
neither kick nor strike. He cannot do a thing but 
TIIE BOWLINE KNOT. Pig. 456. 
fall down, and he will go down easy and get up again 
without difficulty. Have no fear of curbing or oth¬ 
erwise hurting the horse. I have never known of one 
getting anything worse than a burnt heel, and that 
is unnecessary. Climb on him, handle him all over, 
throw blankets and sleighbells around him, slash 
whip around him, but never hit him; saddle him. 
My experience is that not one out of 20 will buck 
to amount to anything when ridden after this handling, 
and I have used it on branded horses as wild as ever 
came off the prairie. 
In the cattle country where nearly every man is an 
expert rider, a pitching horse may do for service, but 
even there a well-trained saddler is much more de¬ 
sirable and “busting bronchos” in the old-fashioned 
breakneck style ought to be ruled out. It is an un¬ 
necessary risk for man and beast, dangerous usage for 
the “interior works” of the man, and leaves the horse 
in an unreclaimed state. In fact, the logical result of 
the “busting” method is to teach the animal the 
bucking habit instead of taking it out of him. At any 
rate, the aim of a horse trainer should be to turn 
out saddlers, which the ordinary horseman can ride 
or drive. 
“Roping” is another old-time western practice that 
is seldom necessary in a farming community. Thev 
will run from you as long as the noose is used to 
catch them. Oats and patience is the magic com¬ 
bination that will win their confidence every time. 
No man that ever turns a horse loose, particularly a 
busy farmer, wants to spend much time catching him 
again, and a little careful training in a small yard 
will remove the necessity. Just “jolly” him with oats 
by odd spells and he will learn to stand for the halter 
anywhere. 
The double foot rope, Fig. 459, is an excellent rig 
for breaking in to drive. Used in connection with a 
bridle and pair of lines it will have the worst of 
them going quietly after a few lessons. When the 
horse bolts or kicks take his feet. A horse hates to 
hit the ground. It will take the conceit out of him, 
and show him where he is wrong. You can teach 
him the word “whoa” in a few minutes by taking his 
front feet and letting him down at the word. Handle 
him on soft ground or put on knee-pads. The apex 
of the whole horse business is “kindness.” There arc 
men who handle the worst horses without even a war 
bridle or throwing rig. Patience, and careful study 
of the animal’s disposition will do the turn. The 
point is to get the animal’s confidence; convince him 
that you are his best friend, never hurt him, punish 
only by restraint, and he is your slave. As an in¬ 
telligent people it is time we threw aside old, brutal 
methods when training the one animal above all oth¬ 
ers, which all time has proved the most faithful, use¬ 
ful and valuable to our race. There is a fad in this 
country for overdraw checks, which should have 
run its course before this. A horse will travel eas¬ 
ier, last longer and look better when given his head 
at least to the extent of a moderate side check. The 
present fashion is to clip the foretop close to the 
skull, so that the animal’s eyes and brain have no 
protection from the light and heat, and then pull his 
face up into the sun with an overdraw. This is rank 
abuse of a helpless dumb animal, and is entirely un¬ 
called for, except by ignorant custom and fashion¬ 
able stupidity. Undoubtedly the overdraw has its 
uses, but it is a special tool of the horsemen, and has 
no place on an everyday bridle. Some horsemen, 
acting on the theory that a horse can only think of 
one thing at a time, draw the colt’s head so high that 
the check gets all its attention while it is being driven. 
1 he education of a horse handled in this way will be 
about as complete as that of the young man who 
went through college by entering at the front door 
and being kicked out at the rear. I agree with Mr. 
Morse that we all require a little of “the wild,” and >'n 
these days when the wilderness has vanished, or 
nearly so, we can at least get our red blood to cir- 
