>>)S ^»m II >i ^^ # LIBRARY OFjJONGRESS.Ii 'i ^^^.J):3..: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. r^ ^^^^ >-x>>^o> J»» L »>^^ j> ;2^^ 3> J» :J>J -^:» :> ,^>' >^^S> 5 3^ >>^ >>.^^ Su,o- THE FARMER'S AND HORSEMAN'S GUIDE TO DEIVE THE HORSE; THE RIGHT AKD W EOISG WAY TO DRIVE A HORSE rUI>LY EXPOSED AND EXPLAINED. -^N ■ •■ On ^ J/OHN DEENEY. X^r^^'" '^'' r^'; NEW YORK: MoGEE tt WARREN, PRINTERS, 647 BROADWAY. 1872. SF30b' Entered according to A.ct of Congress, in the year 1 8T2, by Johx Deemby, in the Clerk's offlce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. INDEX TO TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page The Wrong Way to Bit a Colt 9 The Wrong Way to Drive a Horse 11 Different Ways and Habits of Men in Driving Horses 12 The Young Man's Style of Driving the Horse 14 The Old Gentleman's Style of Driving the Horse 18 Every Man's Notion in Driving a Horse 2'2 The Way some Men Handle their Horses when they get Scared. . 29 What you will Hear some Men Say 31 The Wrong Way to Whip the Balkiness Out of a Horse 42 General Remarks 48 How to Drive after a Colt is well Broken 55 What you Must Never Do 58 The Way to Punish Your Horse when He Disobeys 62 Habits of Slack Rein Driving, how to Overcome them ; also Balking 73 A Word to Those who Drive in Single Harness 85 The Way to Train a Horse to Trot 9(» All Harsh Bits Condemned 93 Conclusion 96 -. PREFACE The author, in publishing this Avork, has done so with an anxious desire of placing before the public the result of twenty years' experience in the education and management of the horse. I will also treat on the new and improved method of fully eradicating the bad und vicious habits occasioned by the ill management of drivers. To give a clear and comprehensive view, I have deemed it necessaiy to give the wrong Avay of driving, as practiced by the great majority of men, together with the right way, which needs but to be read to be appreciated. In treating on this subject,! am conscious that T am obliged to contend with many and obstinate difficulties. Owing to the many and various works that have been published, each contradicting and condemning in a great measure the other, it is not to be wondered at that the public, and especially those practically engaged in the management of horses, should de- nounce all works on this subject as an imposition. A great and distinguished poet has said : " He that cheats me once, ^ame to him ; but he that cheats me twice, shame to me." So it is with the great majority of men ; they have been imposed on, and learned to their sorrow that those VI PKEFACE. writers profess to teach impossibilities. Now, why should I hesitate to believe that I must necessarily expect to meet with like censure, until time and a fair trial shall establish ray reputation and prove my ability to accomplish what I profess to do ? I do not claim to break a horse in one or two hours ; and boldly and emphatically say, that those who make the pretension endeavor to impose on your credulity. Honv many of those horse-breakers and tamers have met witii invariable success ? We hear of them, read their books and follow their instructions. Evidently they prove a failure. We abandon them as unworthy the name they bear, and soon they dwindle into oblivion. Do not understand me to say that all they teach is wrong ; certainly not. They give some very good instructions, together with a mass of absurdity. I have carefully and perseveringly devoted my time and experience to the preparation of this little book, hoping thereby to merit the approbation of my readers. To make it equally beneficial to the old and the young, has been my constant endeavor and earnest desire. A boy of fifteen will become interested in its perusal, and consequently he will learn a system of breaking and driving the horse which will be a gratification and pleasure to him, and highly profitable to the value of the horse. Had he not a guide to instruct him in what manner to proceed, he would necessarily adopt some method of his own. Now it is manifestly evident that this inexperienced youth will break his colt with an honest conviction that he is pursuing a prudent and proper course. And why not ? Doubtless his father followed the same way • and through tedious and dis- heartening trials they got the colt so far under control as to drive him with great caution. With these few introductory remarks, I will commence my little volume by giving you ray objections to the old- fashioned way of bitting, and also the method of bitting with the cord. Thus we shall see the value and necessity of a work- like this; and with feelings of gratitude and respect, and anticipa.tion of future success, I submit this little work to your charit^able and unselfish inspection. " Whosoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be ; In every work, regard the writer's end, Since none can compass more than they intend ; And if the means be just, the conduct true, Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due," — Popk. FARMER^S AND HORSEMAN'S GUIDE. THE WRONG WAY TO BIT A COLT. " The wrong way to bit a colt is to put on the old-fashioned bitting harness. The practice which has been adopted bj most farmers, of placing the bitting harness on the horse and buckling up his head as high as they can, also drawing the side-straps very short, and then turning him out in a pasture, is not only cruel, but gives a very ungraceful stiffness to the horse's neck. How often has it been the case where horses, turned out in such a position, have reared and thrown themselves upon the ground, struck their head upon a log or some other hard substance, and lost their life ?" I claim that your colt has every chance to learn some bad habit, to bit him in this way before you commence to drive him. He is at liberty to learn the habit of lying down in the harness when you would leave him hitched to a post. This he learns in your old way of bitting. You would find hira lying in the field. And your colt don't know any difference between the common harness and the bitting harness. He is at liberty to pull seven hundred pounds on the bit, and you have no way of telling him that he is doing wrong. And he will keep this habit' for life, if you don't know how to break it up. So, with some colts, you never get control of the mouth ; and if you have not control of the mouth, you can never control your horse. He will learn any habit in the 10 THE WRONG WAY harness that he takes into his head, and you can't avoid it. You will see him standing in the field, pulling on the bit; and then he,w411 start and run around the field, just the same as if he had taken a fit. So you can see, in bitting in this w^ay, you let your colt have all his own way, and it becomes a habit ; and when you commence to drive Uim, if you don't let him have his way, just the same as be had in the bitting harness, he will get mad and dance and pull on the bit ; then you will let him go off on the trot, and you wdll let him trot and drill him down with w^ork until he has no more life than an ox ; then you think you have him broken. But put him in the stable two or three weeks, and feed him his oats, and then harness ^lim up, and you will see you have no control of him whatever, until you break him down with work again. This is enough to show you that you never got control of your horse. I tell you that your colt that you break in this w^ay has five chances to learn some bad habit^ where you have only one to make him kind and true. It is all luck and chance with you. Perhaps you will sa}'', there has been many a fine horse well broken with the old bitting harness. But no ; you are mistaken. They w^ere broken by some good reinsman and a horseman, not with the old bitting harness. Now, as for bitting w^ith the cord ; in the first place, it is too harsh for the colt's mouth, and it makes it raw and sore; and when you come to drive him, you have to drive with a slack rein, or you are liable to make him balk ; and slack rein driving is no w^ay to drive a horse. It is just like driv- ing a pig with a cord fastened to his leg. • He will first run into one corner of the fence and then into the other. That is the way slack rein driving goes. In bitting with the cord, it don't learn your colt to hold up his head ; and you stand TO DRIVE A HORSE. 11 a,t his shoulder arid jerk him first one way and then the other ; • he learns nothing, only to lead with the bit in his mouth. That is not what you want. You want to learn him \o drive ; and if you get control with the cord, then put on the common bit and commence to drive him, and you will iind he will want bitting with the common bit, because there is as much difference between the cord and the common bit as there is between the bit and the twist tliat smiths put on horses' noses when they are vicious to shoe. The cord is the next thing to the twist. Yes, the cord will leani the colt to carry his tongue over the bit and out of his mouth, and if that is the st^de you want, jerk away with the cord. THE WRONG WAY TO DRIVE A HORSE. ^^Ji ^P'sJlBfci'S^i^^^^ ^*^*^^ around the country, and see how some oi the horses are driven that have been bitted and broken in the old-fashioned w^a}^; some you will see run- ning away from their drivers. x\sk the driver how^ it happened, an^ he will tell you that ''it is a fashion the horse has ; he will run away every time he takes the notion. It makes no difference who drives him, he will run away." Another you will see trotting as fast as he can go, pulling upon the bit with his mouth wide open, the driver pulling on the reins, crying, " Whoa ! whoa! " and there is no whoa. Another you will see with a team of horses, one of the horses about two feet ahead of the other, and the driver is pushing upon the reins and clicking away for his horses to go. Another horse you will see just getting ready to start, and he is rearing up and dancing all over the road, and the 12 THE VVKUNG WAV driver is crying, "Whoa! whoa!" and he might as well say. '* Go! go !" foB there is no whoa. Another man you will see starting a team of horses with a load, and his horses are flying back and forth, just like a pair of flying- shuttles. The driver keeps driving and whipping until he has his horses badly balked. This is a specimen of some of the horses that are broken in the old-fashioned way. I will tell you what it is in breaking horses in the old way — it is something like playing checkei-s ; if you don't move so and so, you lose the whole game. DIFFERENT WAYS AND HABITS OF MEN IN DRIVING HORSES. The first is a habit that most all men have in driving horses ; that is, to let their horses go right off, just as quick as they take hold of the reins, without giving them the word to go. In this way you teach your horse to disobey ; it learns your horse to have his own way. With liigh-lived horses it becomes a habit to start just as quick as they are hitched up ; and your horse Avill soon learn to think that he knows better when to go than you do. In fact, it is a question whether you or the horse is boss. Now, let us see ; you have let your horse go right off every time just as quick as he is hitched up, without giving him the word to go. Well, now, you have just hitched up your horse and get into the buggy; now your wife or some one else calls out to you to wait a few minutes and they will ride with you, and you pull upon the reins and say, '■ Whoa !" This makes your horse stick up liis head, and dance and prance all over the road. You will keep crying. "Whoa! whoa!" and the more TO DRIVK A HORSK. 13 you cry " Whoa !" tlie faster your horse will go. Now, you can see that your horse has learned to disobey ; and when your wife gets into the buggy, you are angry with your horse because he would not stand, and you give tlie horse a shai-p cut of the whip and say, " Go now, if you want to go so bad." Now^, dear reader, you never strike a horse with a whip without learning him something, let it be good or bad. You whipped your horse because he would not stand, and after whipping him you let him go, pulling perhaps one or two hundred pounds on the bit, as fast as he can trot. Your horse will think that you whipped him to go, and the next time you hitch him up, he will be more anxious to go than he ever was before. Now, you have taught your horse the habit of pulling on the bit, and he is afraid to stand for you, and if you try to hold him he will rear up. Now, you have a dancing, prancing, disobedient horse ; a horse that has learned the habit to disobey. He is liable to run away, balk, kick, or anything else he takes into his head. Here is another bad fashion that most every man has that drives a horse ; that is, to be crying, " Whoa ! whoa !" It makes no difference whether the horse is going or stand- ing, they will cry, " Whoa !" I have seen men driving horses, and when their horses would shy or stick up their ears or commence to prance, they would say, "Whoa! whoa !" and let their horses go trotting along all the time, while they are crying, "Whoa!" Now, those men did not mean " Whoa !" They meant for their horses to go steady, or to be careful. Well then, why don't you say, " Whay, boy !" or " Be careful or steady," or " Take care ?" Use some of those words. Do not say " Whoa !" unless you mean just so. How often will you see men backing their teams out of 14 THE WRONG WAY a shed or barn, and the driver is singing, '• Whoa! whoa !" and the teams are going backward full drive ? Yes ; and I have seen men stopping their horses, and they would pull a little on the reins, and keep saying, " Whoa ! whoa !" and let their horses go three or four rods before they Avould stop. Now, in this way, you can see you teach your horse to dis- obey. When your horse learns that he can go three or four rods after you say " Whoa !" some day he will get scared and run away three or four miles, and then he will care nothing about you nor your *' whoa." THE YOUNG MAN'S STYLE OF DRIVING THE HORSE. Young man's style of driving horses : First, he makes up his mind that he is going to see his girl or take her riding^ Now, he wants to have his "gal " and every one else think tbat he is capable of driving a high-lived horse, or think he is a great horseman ; and he wants his horse to get right up and dance and show off. Now, when he gets his horse hitched up, he gets into the buggy, and the first thing he does is to take the whip and give the horse five or six sharp cuts before he gives him the word to go. And after he whips him, he lets him go full sail, as fast as he can trot. Now, what have you taught your horse in this way ? Why, you have taught him to lose confidence in you ; he will never feel safe to stand for you again. There is no doubt, but when you brought your horse out to the *^»gg7 you said, "Whoa!" and your horse stood until you struck him with the whip. Now, your horse will think that TO DRIVE A HORSE. IS you whipped him because he obeyed the word "whoa!" He wi]l think that you whipped him for standing so long for you to hitch him up, and of course he will think that you whipped him to go. Now, the next time you hitch your horse up, he is afraid to stand long enough for you. He will be throwing his head up and down, and dancing and prancing to go when you are hitching him, and you will be crying, " Whoa ! whoa I" and you don't know what has got into your horse to make him act so. You have forgotten the da}^ that you whipped him to make him show off and dance and prance. Now, your neighbor will see how ugly your horse acts with you, and he will tell you to " whip it out of him." You will say that the horse is " naturally ugly ;" 3^ou say this to take the blame off yourself Well, the next time you hitch your horse up, you undertake to whip ^11 this dancing and prancing out of him, and make him stand at, the word '' whoa !" Now, I want you to understand that you whipped all of this dancing and prancing into your horse. Now you say you are going to " whip it out of him." Just think of this kind of horsemanship. I will say, when you did not know any better than to whip this dancing and prancing into your horse, you do not know enough to Avhip it out ; but any way you tried the experiment because your neighbor told you to. Now, you have just hitched your horse on to your buggy, and he is dancing and prancing, and you get into your buggy and pull upon the reins and say, "Whoa!" This makes your horse go faster, because he has lost confidence in you; then comes the slashing and cutting of the whip. Now, you have already lost control of your horse's mouth. When you were making him show off, you allowed him to pull one or two hundred pounds on the bit ; you thought that was the- 16 THE WRONG WAY style. Now your horse has a tough, ungovernable mouth. He will ran and jump and plunge, and verv' likely kick with you. This scares you, so that you are afraid of being killed, or afraid of getting your buggy smashed to pieces ; and if your horse does not get away from you, you rein him up to the fence and get him stopped in this way ; then you get out of your buggy and go up to your horse, and pat' and caress him, to quiet down the excitement, as you think you are doing ; but your horse will think that you are giving him praise, and telling him that he done right in jumping and plunging as he did. You are giving your horse courage to act so again, if you ever strike him with the whip. But I do not think you will ; you are afraid for fear he might run away with you. Now, your horse is boss, at least half of the time. Your horse is afraid tp stand for you ; you are afraid to try to hold him, unless you stand at his head, caressing and pat- ting him until the one that is going to ride with you gets into the bugg}' ; then you steal away from his head, and get into the buggy just as quick as you know how ; then you let your liorse go full sail, as fast as he can trot. Now, if your horse is tender bitted, or if you used a curb or any harsh bit, your experiment will work a little different with you. When you strike your horse with the whip, and pull upon the reins, your horse rears right up straight, and comes over backwards and breaks your buggy. Now, this scares you ; you are afraid to strike your horse again, for fear that he might kill himself, and it costs you five or ten dollars to get your buggy repaired ; but you think that this kind of work won't pay, so you will not strike your horse again. Now, you go through your process of patting and coaxing him, just the same as you did the other horse, and this is the way TO DRIVK A HORSK. 17 you have of making your horse show off". Now, dear reader,, if you want to teach your horse to dance, take him out of the harness, because the horse that is all the time dancing in the harness is liable to balk. Dancing is the first step to balkiness, rearing up is the next ; and when you are driving him with a load on, or with another horse, he throws his head over the other horse, and then he has balked. Here is another fault that young men have in driving horses ; that is, when a horse is walking, and thq}^ want to start him on the trot, they strike their horse a sharp cut of the whip, and then they tell him to " go along." In this way, if your horse is high-lived, you teach him so that he will want to trot all the time ; and if you don't let him trot, then he will dance and fret and sweat, and he will never feel safe to walk for you. iHe don't know what minute you would up with your whip and strike him just as you did be- fore. Your horse has lost confidence in you, and you have taught him to pull on the bit perhaps three or seven hundred pounds. Then you get a curb-bit, and put it on your horse, to break tlie habit of pulling on the bit. This you will find is a failure. You have got to drive with the curb-bit as long as there is any life in your horse. With any harsh bit, you teach your horse so he don't know how to start ; and when you are starting him, you have got to push on the reins, or then you are liable to teach him to rear up or balk. So much for one wrong cut of the whip. I don't believe in whipping a horse unless he disobeys. Your horse did not disobey, because you did not tell him to go until after you whipped him. 18 THK WRONG WAY THE OLD GENTLEMAN'S STYLE OE DRIVING THE HORSE. The old gentleman's style of driving horses : First, they have taught their horse so they have to give him the word to go five or six times before they get him started ; then they keep drawing their reins back and forth, just the same as it they were sawing with a cross-cut saw ; and they are click- ing and squeaking ; and if they have a w^hip, they will be striking their horse a light blow on the back. This they call "tipping him up a little." Now, just as quick as the •driver stops his clicking and sawing on the reins, just so quick will his horse stop trotting. This way of driving looks too much to me like working your passage. It looks like a man riding on a hand-car ; just as %uick as he stops turning the crank, just as quick his car will stop running. It looks somewhat like a man rowing a boat — when he stops rowing, it is apt to go as the wind blows. It will, in all cases, blow to the shore and stop. Just so it is Vith the old gentleman's horse. When he stops clicking and sawing and " tipping him up," his horse is apt to go up to the first hitching-post and stop. Now, it appears to me that some men cannot see when their horse disobeys, until he balks and kicks or runs away. Now, when you give your horse the word to go, and he does not go, he disobeys ; then if you give him the word to go four or five more times before you get him started, you are teaching him to disobey. It becomes a habit - your' horse will think that he cannot go unless you tell him five or six times. You have the habit of starting him in this way, so, you can see, you and the horse both have learned a habit. Now, suppose you would hitch your horse up with a TU DKIVK A HOKSHJ. 19 colt, or H well-broken horse ; when you would tell them to go, the well-broken horse would start at the first word, and of course he would not be able to draw the whole load and your horse too ; so then he would fly back. You would shout, " Get up there !" This would scare the high-lived horse ; he would jump with all vengeance to draw the load and your horse too ; and he would be jerked back again with the weight of the load and your horse, because your horse did not make a move yet. He is waiting until you give him the word to go five or six times, before he will start ; and when you get your slow horse started, the high-lived one has been jerked back five or six times, and now he is dancing and prancing and " tipping up a little " on the forward end. His forepart appears to be as light as a- feather, and he don't offer to draw a pound. He is mad. He ' never had the courage jerked out of him before. He don't know what you mean. He was always driven with a tight rein You push back and forth w^ith your reins. Now, you will begin to think that there is something wrong, when you see the high-lived horse is not drawing a pound ; then you will whip the high-lived horse and shout, "Get up there !" Then your high-lived horse will rear up, and throw his head over the other horse. Then you will shout, " Whoa! whoa !" Now, your high-lived horse is balked. You will go and take his head off of the other horse ; then you will take your reins and push on them, and whip and halloo, "Get up there !" Then your horse throws his head over on the other horse's neck as before. You may whip or unhitch, I don't care which you do ; you and your old disobedient horse have balked a well- broken one. Now, when the old gentleman is driving his horse on a walk, and he gives him the word to go, and if his 20 THE WKONG WAY horse don't start a little faster or ti"ot. he disobeys. Then if the old gentleman commences to saw back and forth on his reins, and click and "tip him up a little," he is teaching him to disobey ; he teaches his horse to think that he can't trot unless his driver is clicking, sawing and squeaking, and '• tipping him up a little." You and the old gentleman may think that he has got to drive his horse in this way because he is lazy ; but no, it is no such thing. It is because the old gentleman has the habit of driving him this w^ay, and he has taught his horse the habit of going in this way. Now, if you can make your horse trot by clicking, sawing and " tip- ing him up a little," your horse can trot just as well by giving him one Avord to go, if you but teach him so. Now, as I have stated before in this little, book, you never strike a horse with a whip unless you teach him something, let it be good or bad. Now, I will just tell you what the old gentleman teaches his horse when he strikes him a light blow on the back, or " tips him up a little," as he calls it. To keep striking your horse in this way, you take away that fear from your horse which he ought to have in order to make him obey you. When he disobeys he has no fear of you nor your whip. You never struck him hard enough to hurt a fly. Your horse thinks you cannot hurt him with your whip ; and if your horse is low-lived he will become lazy ; then you will be hallooing, " Get up there !" and clicking, sawing, squeaking and " tipping him up a little," doing all this in order to get him to go. Your horse never knows whether he is doing right or wrong, because you are all the time hallooing at hi^. It appears to me that some men don't know^ what their whip was made for ; they use it in driving their horses just the same as if they were driving a TO DRIVE A HORSE. 21 drove of hogs or sheep. Your whip was never made to drive your horse. It was made to punish him when he dis- obeys. Now, if your horse is high-lived, and you " tip him up a little " in this way, you are liable to teach him to kick ; it will become a habit, and he w^ill kick every time you strike liim with the whip ; then you will have " tipping up " in earnest. I will give you one more case of this kind, out of hundreds of cases too numerous to mention. A teamster was driving his team on the road, on a walk, and the man that sat in the seat with the driver struck the off horse a light blow on the top of the left hind-quarter ; then the horse jumped and tried to run away, but the driver managed to hold him, so he did not get away ; then the horse, dancing and prancing sideways, with his hind-quarters against the outside trace, was trying to get his hind-quarters as far away from the whip as he could. The horse went two miles in this way ; then the driver reined them up to a hitching-post, tied them and let them stand about two hours. A gentle- man asked the driver why he did not "whip that dancing out of his horse?" So when he commenced to start his team, this horse commenced dancing just as he did before. The driver thought he would "whip it out of him," so he struck the horse three or four light blows, just where the other man did. This made the matter w^orse. Every time he struck the horse, the faster he let him go. He reined out and passed three or four teams, and his horse went dancing, prancing all the way home. Now, I will tell you what this man was teaching his horse in striking him those few blows. In striking him where he did, he taught his horse to crowd more against the outside trace ; he taught him to pull on the bit, and his horse learned that the harder he pulled on the 3 22 THE WRONG WAY bit the faster he could go. In this way your horse would learn to pull so hard on the bit that two men could not hold him ; if they would hold him, he would rear up. Your horse would think that you whipped him to go. Surely he could not think anything else, when he ran past three or four teams, after whipping him. All of this becomes a habit with your horse. Every time you drive him on the road he will dance, fret and sweat, and pull on the bit. I have seen them pull on the bit in this w^ay until they would pull themselves blind ; yes, and their mouth was cut and wore up an inch or two longer than it ought to be. This is the way to teach your horse to disobey. Then he is liable to get lazy, balk, kick, run away, or anything else he takes into his head. EATERY MAN'S NOTION IN DRIVING A HORSE. Every man ^.that drives a horse thinks that his way is right. Now, dear reader, throw away a little of that self- conceit and prejudice, and I will endeavor to show you that there are only a few" men who know how to drive a horse right, and keep him from learning any bad habit. One man manages to keep control of his team to a certain extent, by making them walk all the time. When he is driving them, and when he is plowing with the team, he would go so slow that you would have to stand and look at his team ten minutes before you could tell whether they were going or standing ; and when he drives them on the road, he never drives them faster than on a walk. He is sitting in the seat, braced, pullmg on the reins- about two or three hundred pounds, I should think, and when his team got startled a little TO DRIVE A HORSE. 23 or commenced to prance, he would halloo, " Whoa ! whoa!" and let them dance all the time he is singing whoa. Now, if you want to have a good plow team, let them learn to walk right oif. Never make an ox of a horse. And if you have a team that you are afraid to let trot, for fear they would cut up and kick or run away, they are not half broken. Now, suppose there was a man who wanted to buy your team, he would want to see them trot ; but if it was the first time that you ever let them trot, they would get scared at themselves and try to run away, and it would take you one hour to get them cooled down. Then the man would not want your team ; he would think they were not half broken, or they were regular runaways. When I saw this man pulling on his reins, he looked to me as if he was full of fear and misery. I thought he would rather go on foot than ride after his team. I have seen him go three or four miles on foot, and his team dancing in the stable for the want of exercise. Now, the man that lets his team learn the habit of pulling fifty or two hundred pounds on the bit, is liable to lose all control of the mouth, and your horse will learn to know that he is stronger than you are, and he can pull more on the reins than you can ; and when he knows this, he is liable to learn any habit, and you are liable to lose all control of your horse. When you hallooed "Wheal" to your team, and did not stop them, you were teaching them to disobey. Here I will give you another man's style of driving his team. He has them taught so, that when he is plowing with them he has to give them the word to go four or five times before he gets them started ; then he will keep clicking and talking to his team all the time in order to keep them 24 THE WRONG WAY going; and when he wants to stop them he will halloo, '' Whoa !" three or four times before he gets them stopped. In talking so much in the open air you expose your lungs to the cold, and you are liable to get cold and hoarse, and perhaps die with the consumption ; anyhow, with so much talk, you become a nuisance to your team ; they don't pay much attention to your clicking and talking ; you might a& well be singing or whistling. I have seen the same man trying to draw a heavy load with his team, and while he would be- pushing on the reins, clicking and striking them a slight blow of the whip, his team would jerk back and forth, first one and then the other. When they work this way a few moments he will say, " Whoa ! whoa !" His team stops. They don't appear to be excited much. His team is used to such driv- ing. Then he will try to take another start, and he pushes on the reins again, clicks and whips very lightly for his team- to go. They go something like a shingle machine, back and forth. Some men would call this team balky ; but no, it is no such thing. A horse is never balky until he gets mad at the driver and refuses to go when he is whipped. This team are willing to go, but they don't know how to start together,, and the driver don't know how to teach them to draw to- gether. This man has a very good team, but they have been very badly managed. The man that starts his team with a slack rein, or pushes on the reins, if his team ever starts together with a load, it is all luck and chance. The team that you start in this way, one of them is sure to get the start of the other ; they are liable to calk themselves, and you are liable to never get them started with a load. Here is another man's notion of driving horses. He thinks that he must let the horse have partly his own way ; TO DEIVE A HORSE. 25 and he considers himself quite a horseman. Now, I will ex- plain to you how he drives a low-lived and a high-lived horse together, and what it amounts to to let your high-lived horse have his own way. When he picks up the reins to start, if they start without giving them the word to go, he lets them start off on a slow trot, or what you might call a double- quick step, and the high-lived horse is a foot or two ahead of his mate. The driver, some of the time, is pushing on the reins, and sometimes pulling a little, but not enough to hold his high-lived horse back even with his mate ; then he strikes his low-lived horse a little with the whip every minute or two ; but it makes no difference how fast he makes his slow horse go, his high-lived horse will keep just so far ahead of his mate. And when he is starting to go up a hill, or any place where they would have to pull a little harder than they would on a level road, he will whistle, sing and click for his horses to go, and away they go up the hill on the double- quick step. This way of driving becomes a habit. In let- ting your high-lived horse practice to start always on the double-quick step, or go up the hill just the same way, your horse will learn to think that he could not start with anything hitched to him unless he starts full drive, just like a ram when he starts to meet his enemy in the field of battle. And if the driver would pull a steady rein, hard enough to bold his high-lived horse back even with his mate, or to make him start on the walk, his high-lived horse will dance, shake his head and balk. The driver knows this, and that is the reason he thinks^he knows more about a horse than an}^ one else, so he lets them start on a jump, and up the hill on a double-quick step. This is the way he has his team taught to go, and both him and his team think they are doing just right. The 26 THE WRONG WAY man who drives a team in this way can never draw a very big load, because the high-lived horse has always got to start the load. I have seen this man trying to start a heavy load, and the first jump his high-lived horse made to go, he was jerked back, and this jerk hurt the horse so much he becomes mad and refuses to take another start ; then the driver takes them off and puts on another team to start the load, and when he gets it started he hitches his team on again, and away they go on a double-quick step. I have seen teams when they would go over a rough road in this way, that the w^agon- tongue would give them such a jolt that the high-lived horse would be knocked down flat, and his mate would fall on the top of him. I saw this man driving his team one day, when he found it was necessary to draw up on his reins ; he was driving them, and they were going full drive against a gate- post. The driver pulls up quick on his reins to check their speed, and reins them, first to the right and then to the left; then his high-lived horse flies back and stands there mad, and the driver commences to whip his high-lived horse, and his horse kicks every time he strikes him. Now he has a balky and kicking horse, and his horse will keep these habits for life if he don't get some horseman to break them up. Thus you can see, in letting your horse have partly his own way, you teach your horse to think he knows more than you do. In letting your high-lived horse go a foot ahead of his mate, he learns to think that is his place, and he thinks his driver has no right to pull on the reins to hold him back or to make him go slow. In letting your horse have partly his own way, he soon learns to want all his own way ; and if his load don't start, the first step he takes he is mad ; he stands ready for a flare-up, and he thinks you have no right TO DKIVE A HORSE. J7 to whip him ; and that is the reason that he kicks at you. when you strike him with the whip. Either you or the horse have got to be boss ; so let your horse have partly his own w^ay and he is liable to kick you out of society. Now, when 3^ou allow your slow horse to always go a foot behind his mate, he learns to think that is liis place, and he always waits for his mate to start first, and when you give them tlie word to go, your sloAv horse pays no attention to you until the high- lived one starts first, because he has no fear of you when he disobeys ; you took all the fear out of him in striking him so many light blows of the whip. If you ever get your slow- horse started even with his mate, he will not stay there half a minute ; he will fiv back to where he w^as taught to go. a foot or two behind his mate, and your high-lived horse will jump and tr}^ to get ahead to where he was allowed to go. So much for letting 3'our horse have partly his own w^ay. Yes ; and here is more of this man's driving. He attempts to driv»j a young high -lived horse single, when he has been *dle for a fevx- weeks and well fed, and when he hitches him up he is all go-ahead. When the driver gets into the buggy the horse starts right off, and the driver is pulling a little on the reins, singing, "Whoa! whoa!" and allows his horse to continue going as he says, '"Whoa !" He lets his horse trot, fret and sweat until there is nothing left of him but skin and bone ; then he drives his horse by pushing on the reins, clicking, hooting and touching him a little Avith the whip : and his horse will sometimes take a start, and mn on one side of the road, and probably ten or fifteen rods, before the driver has time to pull the slack out of his reins ; and just as quick as the horse takes tlie start, the driver will say. *' Whoa ! whoa !" and there is no whoa. He manages, to 28 THE WRONG WAY keep him from running away, but that is no whoa unless you stop him at the word of command. When he goes down hill, his horse drives all on one rein, with his head on one side and his hind-quarters on the other. He goes side- Avays. This is caused by the driver pushing on one rein and pulling on the other, and letting the horse have partly his own way ; and when he is coming home, and stops to talk to his neighbor, his horse will be anxious to get home. He will not be more than stopped when his horse starts to go ; then the driver will have to keep saying, '' Whoa!" His horse Avill be dancing and prancing to go, and in a few minutes he will show signs of rearing up. This scares the driver, and he says, " I must go, my horse won't stand," and he lets him go full sail. In this way you teach your horse, that whenever he wants to go, if you don't let him, he will rear up ; then if you don't let him go, he will flare-up and' balk. The cause of this is by letting him have partly his own way. You always let him go as soon as you take up the reins, without giving him the word to go ; and letting him have this privilege, he learns that he can start any time you will throAv down your reins. He will never be safe to leave a minute unless you hitch him to a post. Every time you say, "Whoa!" to your horse, and don't stop him, you are teaching him to disobey ; you teach him to have his own way ; you teach him, whenever anything happens, to be sure to run away. That word whoa never ought to be trifled with. How often is it the case that the driver is upset and has no power of the reins whatever? The driver will halloo, " Whoa !" but it is all in vain ; his horse runs away and draws the wagon over him, and kills him. This is enough to condemn the idea of letting your TO DRIVE A HORSE. 29 horse have partly his own way. Every horse that ever balked, was caused by letting him practice the habit of having partly his own way, for six months or perhaps six years, before he balked. The man that lets his horse have partly his own way may drive him fifteen or twenty years, and he will not have his horse half broken. This is the cause of all accidents by horses running away, and learning so many habits in the harness. They are driving horses that never were broken, nor never will be as long as they drive them, because they don't know how. They never get control of their horse, and the longer they drive him the more awkward he gets, the more habits he will learn, by letting him have partly his own way. THE WAY SOME MEN HANDLE THEIR HORSES WHEN THEY GET SCARED. The first is a man with a team of colts. His team was afraid to go across a bridge, and just as quick as the driver saw the team getting scared, he threw his whip in the bottom of the wagon ; he crouches with fear and pulls on the reins, and says, " Whoa!" His team stops, then he pushes on the reins and gives them the word to go. Now, here was danger. The minute he pushed on the reins, his team was liable to jump either to the right or to the left ; they were at liberty to turn around and run home ; but as luck happened, he got them pushed over the bridge. In this way you teach your horse to believe there is danger where there is none ; you let your horse learn that habit of whirling around short, and tipping you over, and away he will go, and you can 30 THE WRONG WAY never drive your horse single without putting yourself in danger. Here is another man with a horse, and when liis horse got scared, he stopped and got out of the buggy, went up to him, patted and caressed him, and led him across the bridge. In this way he teaches him a habit. Every time he gets scared you will have to lead him past the object. Your horse will lose confidence in himself; he will never feel safe to go unless you go ahead of him. The first time your horse refused to go across the bridge, when you patted and caressed him, you were teach- ing him to disobey. You taught him to think he did right in refusing to go ; you gave your horse courage to stand up so every time he got frightened ; you taught him when he got scared that you had a right to pat, caress and lead him across the bridge. Now, here is another one. This man thinks he is quite a horseman. Just as quick as he sees his horse sticking up his ears and shying a little, he will commence whipping, and every time he strikes his horse he lets him go faster ; and after he gets past the object, he lets him go full sail, pulling on the bit, and the harder his horse pulls on the bit, the faster he lets him go. Now, if you would ask this young man what he whipped his horse for, he would say, " For getting scared," and he was " going to whip it out of him." Oh, how foolish ! You might as well try to whip the nervousness out of a man. As I have said before, I don't believe in Avhipping a horse unless he disobeys or does something wrong. Your horse did not do much more than stick up his ears ; that was nothing to whip l\im for. I like to see a horse have his ears up straight. Now, I will i TO DRIVE A HORSE. 31 tell you what you taught your horse in whipping him in this way ; you taught him to pull on the bit, and every time he got scared he would think of your whip, and then he w^ould start and run and pull on the bit. Every time you whipped him, he Avould think you wanted him to run ; and after a few lessons of this kind you would require all your efforts to hold him without whipping at all. You have taught your horse three habits ; that is, jumping, running and pulling on the bit. Such a horse as this is liable to run away any time, unless you have his habits broken up. Here, then, is another. This horse gets scared at an um- brella in the wagon, and commences to prance a little, and the driver halloos, "Whoa!" loud enough to shake the earth. He lets him trot right along, then he gives another loud " Whoa !" and he commences to whip him; after whip- ping he lets him go full sail on the trot, pulling on the bit two or three hundred pounds. This horse has learned just the same habits as the previous one; that is, jumping, running and pulling on the bit. You may think that these horses act so because they are high-lived ; but no. That is no excuse for you to let them learn these habits. When those men com- menced driving these horses, they had the idea that the}^ could hold any horse with a steady pull on the reins ; but the horse taught them that he was the strongest. Then they will get a curb-bit, or some other harsh bit, which is liable to teach them to balk. WHAT YOU WILL HEAR SOME MEN SAY. I have heard some men say there " were some breeds of 32 THE WRONG WAY horses that were naturally ugly and of a balky disposition;'' but no. There are no such breeds of horses. Men say this when they get one they cannot handle. They say this to take the blame off themselves. There are only two kinds — the high-lived and the low-lived horse. The high-lived is the one that men usually have the most trouble with. He fears man too much, and when he does anything wrong, it is through fear, or he don't know how. Then the majority of men have a way of teaching him ; that is, in whipping him. In this wa)' your horse would never know what he was whipped for, because you never knew how to teacli him what was right or what was wrong ; so, when your horse did not know what was right or what was wrong, it was im- possible for him to know what he was whipped for ; and when you were whipping you did not know how to handle the reins ; you did not know when to say whoa or when to say go. In ona word, you did not know how to handle your horse when you whipped him. And when you are driving the high-lived and the low-lived horse together, nine times out of ten you whip the wrong horse. You drive them for months or for years together with a light load on, and your high-lived horse will obey the word go every time. He starts the load and the low-lived horse too, and you keep clicking to your low-lived horse to make him keep up, and your clicking has no effect on your low-lived horse whatever ; then you will slap him with the rein, and strike him a light blow of the whip, just hard enough to let him know that you won't hurt him ; and when he knows this, your whip takes no effect on him whatever. Every word of this clicking takes effect on your high-lived^horse, for it confuses him. He will dance and run ahead, and you will pull two or three TO DRIVE A HORSE. 33^ hundred pounds on the reins to hold him back, and the low- ^ lived horse is holding back too, so your high-lived horse has got to draw the load, the slow horse and you too. That is three pulling against one. Your high-lived horse puts up with all of this until you put on a load that he is unable to draw ; then he gets jerked back three or four times, when he stands up mad and refuses to draw a pound. Now, if your high-lived horse could talk, he would tell you that you im- posed on him to ask him to start the load always alone, and when he would start it, you were always clicking for him to go faster. You and your slow horse seem to think that the high-lived one has a right to go ahead and do all the work. Your high-lived horse says, by his actions, that he cannot start the load, and he will not try again, if you don't "give your sloAv horse a good whipping, and make him keep up with him, when you give them the word to go. But I can not see it in this light. You are in such love with the slow horse that you fail to see his faults. You have always had it in your head that your high-lived horse was naturally ugl}'-. When he threw up his head or switched his tail, you thought it was because he was ugly ; but this is not so. It was caused by your telling him to go, and you and your slow horse would not let him go. In this way you confused him, so he did not know what he was doing. When your slow horse disobeyed you had all sorts of patience, and would tell him to go six or seven times before you got him started once ; but when your high-lived horse refused to go, because he was not able to draw the load, you had no patience ; you became excited, and commenced whipping and hallooing for him to go ; and before you got through whip- ping, you had taught your liorse that he would always have 34 THE WRONG WAY the habit of balking, kicking and rearing up; and when you have taught him one of these habits he has conquered you, and he is ugly. Now, some men will stop here and see that their whipping is all in vain, and never whip their horse again. There are some men who do not want to give their horse the name of being ugly, and they will say that he is so high-lived that you can't strike him with the whip. They will tell you that ''he don't want any whip." With a low-lived horse it is just the reverse. He don't fear man enough to make him obey. He sometimes acts stubborn and sulky. When you strike him with the whip he will switch his tail, as much as to say, "I don't care for you nor your whip," and he would not move much faster. This horse will learn habits; but men can't see his faults as quick as they can the high-lived horse's, because they are not so dangerous. This is the kind of horse that learns to stay about two feet behind his mate when you are driving him, and so thoroughly he learns it that you will have to tell him three or four times before he will start. With stubborness he learns the habit of holding his head down, and pulling against the bit ; and when you try to turn him to the right or left, he will turn his head around to his side. He learns the habit of stopping without giving him the word whoa. When you meet a team, he would rather stand and hear you talk than to continue on his walk. You will hear men say that the stable is the place to whip a horse. They will tell you to do all your whipping in the stable. Whip until you get your horse afraid of you, and then you are all right. The man that says this is a coward, and he knows but very little about breaking a horse if he whips a high-lived colt in this way. You would soon TO DRIVE A HORSK. 35 teach him to run away, and just as quick as you got him hitched up, he would jump and try to make off. He would also learn to pull on the bit, and be liable to do every- thing wrong through fear. He fears you too much, and after your way of whipping him, it would make the matter worse ; and when he does anything wrong in the harness or disobeys, you are afraid to strike him with the whip, be- cause if you do, he will jump and pull on the bit, and perhaps run away with you. So when your horse did any- thing wrong in the harness, you would have to Avait until you got him into the stable before whipping him. In this wiiy your horse would never know what he was whipped for. In whipping a horse in this way reminds me of some men whom I have seen driving horses. When their horse did anything wrong, they would wait until they were go- ing up a hill, then they would whip their horse for something that he had done wrong two or three hours before they whipped him. Away with such whipping as this ! No one will whip in this way but a coward ; and you may be sure • that he don't know how to handle the reins. With the low- lived horse, to do all your whipping in the stable, it would act quite different with him, because he forgets a whipping very quick. You would teach him to fear you while in the stable, but if you never whipped him out of the stable he would soon learn to not fear you when out of the stable ; then he is liable to learn any of the habits that a low-lived horse would. If you lifted your wiiip to strike him out of doors, he would remember the severe thrashing that you gave him in the stable ; and if you struck him with the whip, he would jump, plunge and pull on the bit ; then you would stop whipping, because you would see that 36 THE WRONG WAY your horse could jerk and pull you around just where he pleased. And just as quick as your horse knew that you were not going to strike him. he w^ould be as slow as ever. In the stable you conquer your horse and you are master, and out of doors your horse conquers you, and is boss. That is what your w^hipping amounts to. You will hear some men bragging how good their team is to go, and how free they will pull on the bit ; that they have all they want to do to hold them. I have heard one man say that when his team " was drawing a load, he had to pull on the reins so hard that he pulled the heels from off his boots." The man that lets his team pull on the bit in this w^ay knows but very little about the comfort of driving a well- broken team, and has the best part of horsemanship to learn yet. The team that knows how to pull on the bit in this way, should they get scared, they would run away and you could not avoid it, and if they should ever kick, you could not hold them to whip them for it. The man that tries to hold •such a team as this with a steady pull on the reins, is foolish to try to compare his strength with a horse. When a horse learns that he can pull more on the reins than his driver, he will soon learn to pull fifteen or twenty hundred pounds on the bit. Where is the man that wants to pull on the reins in this way ? What pleasure can you take riding and pull- ing on the reins in this way ? I w^ould prefer to go on foot rather than drive such a team. Don't be so foolish as to think that you have the smartest team, just because they pull on the bit, for that is nothing but a habit. A team could draw just as much, and more too, if you had them taught not to hold on the bit more than five or six pounds ; they could go just as fast, if not faster. Now, if you pull two TO DRIVE A HORSE. 37 hundred pounds on the reins, your team could pull four hundred more on the load, if you did not pull on the reins so hard. And suppose your team have just strength enough to' draw thirty hundred pounds, if they have to lay out two or three hundred pounds of this strength to draw you, surely they could not draw so much on the load. I have heard some men say that " they did not care how hard a horse pulled on the bit; the harder he pulls the better I like it," they would say. " They never saw that horse they could not hold." The man that talks in this way don't know what he is talking about. I have gone into some of these men's stables, and I have seen them lined with curb, chain and all kinds of harsh bits. Why do you use such bits as these if ** you don't care how hard your horse pulls on the bit ?" I tell you, dear reader, there never was a man that could hold a horse with a steady pull on the reins, when your horse had learned the habit of pulling on the bit, unless you can find a man stronger than a horse, and that man never was found yet. A great mistake made by those men who train horses to trot is made in teaching them at first to pull on the bit, and the harder the driver pulls on the reins, the faster th^ horse will trot. This is altogether wrong. When your horse is trained in this manner, you have got to pull two or three hundred pounds on the reins or your horse will start on the gallop. With some horses, as soon as you ease up on pulling so hard, they hold up on trotting so fast. When you drive on the trotting course, you might just as well take the traces off the harness, because the horse draws you and the sulky by pulling on the bit. Now, when you take the traces off the harness, everj^ one can see and will say, " That is a hard wav for a horse to trot." In this way, 4 38 THE WRONG WAY with some horses, you curb the head and neck so much that you bother the horse to breathe. It chokes the horse, and his wind will give out before he trots half a mile ; therefore you lose the heat by making your horse pull so hard on the bit. When he pulls so hard it is impossible to rein him to the right or to the left, and when you give your horse the liberty to pull on the bit, he don't know when to stop. He is liable to pull two or three hundred, or perhaps fifteen hundred pounds, and you can't punish him for pulling so hard, because you taught him the habit ; and if you should punish him for it, he would not know what you meant, so your punishment would all be in vain. When you put forth all your strength in holding such a tight rein, should your horse happen to overreach or stumble, he will be likely to fall, because you have not remaining strength to help to hold him up. When you learn your horse that dangerous habit of pulling on the bit, you lose all control of the mouth, and you teach him to run away, and he very often kills his driver. Then some one else takes him in hand, and puts a curb or some other harsh bit in his mouth, and drives him but a few times until they teach him to rear up, balk or kick. This is what pulling on the bit amounts to. Your horse has no right to pull on the bit, and you have no reason to allow him to do so. The man that cannot teach his horse to draw^ his load without learning him to pull on the bit, does not know how to drive ; he who cannot teach his horse to trot his full speed without teaching him to pull on the bit, don't know how to drive ; and the driver who cannot teach his team to draw without pushing on the reins, and in turn- ing them to the right or to the left, will push on one rein and pull on the other, don't know how to drive. The slack TO DRIVK A HORSK. 39 rein driver teaches his team to think that he has no right to pull four or seven pounds on the reins when he gives them the word to go. A team that has always been driven with a slack rein, if you should hold a tight rein and tell them to go, they don't know what you mean, and perhaps they will not go at all until you strike them with the whip ; then they will jump and pull as much with the reins as they would with the traces, and you will find that you might as well try to hold them by taking hold of their tails as to hold them with the reins. In driving your young team with slack reins, you give them eveiy chance to get the advantage of you ; you teach them to think they have their liberty, just the same as if they were in the pasture. You give them an opportunity to run away ; you give them so much liberty with their heads, that they take the advan- tage and kick up. When you struck them a sharp cut of the whip, you taught them to know that they could pull more on the reins than you could, and when they know this they are apt to run away any time they take the notion. When you try to draw a heavy load, you always start them by pushing on the reins, always pushing one ahead of the other. To drive a slack rein driving horse singly, you are never safe, for he is apt* to upset you any minute, and if he stumbles he will be sure to fall. When you think he is going a little too fast you pull up on the reins, then he learns the habit to curb his head down to his breast and piill on the bit. He does this because he was always driven with a slack rein. The slack rein driver never gets control of his horse, and he is afraid to give him any oats unless he drives him eveiy day, so he can never fit his team for sale, because they would be likely to play-up and run away from him. Any man 40 THE WKONG WAY whom you see driving a horse with curb-chain, leather or any harsh bit, I care not who he may be, does not know how to drive. You w^ill hear men say that '*any one can break a colt.'' if he only takes him kindly and does not whip him. They will say they broke such a colt, and drove him for six months and never struck him with the whip. The man that says this is sure to be a slack rein driver, and when he drives a low- lived horse, he is busy shaking the reins and all the time clicking. In driving a low-lived horse in this way, he is liable to learn any habit that a low-lived horse will learn ; but this driver thinks he knows it all, as long as his horse does not learn the habit of balking or kicking. He cannot see any other fault. He thinks his horse is well broken. If his horse should get scared and run awa/ once or twice a year, he thinks that is nothing more than any horse will do. In driving horses in this way you never establish the fear of disobedience, and without that, I say it is impossible to drive a horse right, for when he disobeys he has nothing to fear. When you commence to drive a high-lived colt he fears you, and will cringe and tremble when 3^ou go up to him ; but this is not the right kind of fear. There are two kinds of fear for a horse to have of a man. I will try and explain this to you. In recalling to memory the time you were a boy, you remember the fear of punishment which haunted you if you disobeyed your parents. This is one kind of fear, and it is the kind of fear I establish in every horse I drive when he disobeys. He fears me, and is Bure to get punished ; but when he obeys he has no fear, and is sure to get treated kindly. Here is a crazy man with a gun ; he comes to you in the field when you are alone, and TO DRIVE A HORSK. ^ 41 if this man lays hands on you, you will tremble with fear, for you are afraid you will lose your life. This is the other kind of fear. This is the kind of fear your high-lived colt has of you. You take this fear out of your horse by patting, caressing and treating him kindly. This you will accomplish in a few^ days. But when you are driving him, he is afraid of everything else he sees. When he comes to a bridge he stands and refuses to go across it, and you may give him the word to go, but he will show every sign of whirling around to go back. Now he has disobeyed you, because he is afraid of the bridge and has no fear of you. Mr. Rarey says, " Whenever a horse scares at an object on going along the road, always lead him slowly towards it, and let him touch it with his nose." In this way you encourage him to disobey you. Every time he refuses to go you give him kind treatment, and start him by leading. By doing so you teach your horse a habit that he will never forget, and you will have to lead him when he is fifteen or tw^enty years old. The idea of leading a horse up to everything that he gets scared at! With some horses it would be a tedious job. When your horse gets scared at a hog, the hog will not stand for you to lead your horse up to him to let your horse examine him with his nose. You drive along a little farther, and he gets scared at a white dog, the next is a black one, and the next red. These dogs wnll not stand for you and your horse to examine, and if they would, you and your horse are liable to get bitten. This is enough to condemn the idea of leading your horse when he disobeys or refuses to go. The man that drives his horse in this way never gets control of him. When you are driving a horse that you have not control of, you are never safe, and are liable to be upset at 42 THK WRONG WAY any time. When a horse has not the fear of disobedience of his driver, the driver is afraid of his horse, and this is the reason that he has for leading him past the objects he gets scared at. Ask this man if he is afraid of his horse, and he will say, " No ; he never saw the horse he was afraid of.'' When a man drives a horse that has been broken in this way, he has a perfect right to be afraid of him, until he can break up his habits and establish the fear of disobedience in his horse, and when he accomplishes this the driver has no right to be afraid. THE WRONG WAY TO WHIP THE BALKINESS OUT OF A HORSE. You have heard men sav that they ''have whipped the balkiness out of some horses." I want you to understand that a horse never learns to balk, so that it becomes a habit, until it is thoroughly whipped into him. Now, I will show how they whip it out in every case that I have seen or heard of, with the exception of one case. Here now, this man has just hitched his team to the wagon, and one of them is balky, and he says his horse "has got to go or die." This is a hard sentence, but his horse don't understand a word of it. He gives his team the word to go, and the balky horse goes backward ; then the driver commences to whip him, and his horse will throw its head over the other horse, when the driver runs and gets a stake off the fence and strikes his horse on the head and knocks him down. He keeps whip- ping and thrashing ; it makes no difference whether his horse is lying or standing. He thrashes his horse in this ' TO DKIVK A HORSE. 43 way for about two hours, when the animal gives a terrific jump, between life and death, and draws the wagon and the other horse, and goes off on the jump. This man thinks he has whipped the balkiness out of his horse ; but no. I can't see it in this way. The man that whipped the balkiness into this horse taught him one habit, and the man that thinks he whipped it out, has taught the horse to pull on the bit, t* go on the run, or start on the jump ; and if you don't let him go in this way, you will see he is just as balky as ever. When you hitch him up you cannot hold him. If you don't let him go the first move he makes, he will not go at all. Hitch him to a heavy load, and if it will not start at the first jump, your horse is just as balk}^ as ever. Keep the harness oft' your horse one week, and 3'ou have to go through the same course of whipping before he will go ; then he starts on the jump just as he did before. Now, if you sell this horse, he is sure to balk ^ith the man who buys him. This is enough to show that you never whipped the balkiness out of him. You could make your horse go, but you had to let him have his own way, and he was master more than half the time. He may stop at the word whoa, but he will not stand : he will want to go, for he is afraid to stand. You may keep saying whoa to muke him stand, but this makes him go faster. He will be throwing his head up and down, rearing, backing, dancing and prancing all over the road. When you get ready to go, -your horse will not move for you, for he is mad and is ready for another fight with you. Yes, he is ready to fight with you every time you don't let him have his own way, and will balk, run backward, rear up, and very likely fall over backward. He is liable to kick or run away. You have taught him' to pull on the bit and go on the THE WRONG WAY jump. Your horse is altogether master, and he may go or stand, or do anything else he takes into his head, and you can't avoid it. I will giye you a case where the balkiness was whipped out of a horse. The man purchased the horse for twenty- eight dollars. Because he was so balky, the owner could do nothing with him. The man says his •' horse must obey or die," procures a good whip, and hitches him up with another horse, giving them the word to go : but.his balky horse rears right up straight, and the driver strikes him a sharp cut of the whip and says '' Whoa !" His horse shakes his head, as much as to say, I won't go. The driver stands off a proper distance, and holds a tight rel^n, then he commences cutting him with the whip, bringing the blood nearly every time he strikes him. The horse throws himself down ; but that makes no difference to the driver, for he keeps plying the whip ; then his horse makes a spring and jump*s, making a plunge to go, when the driver surges him back, and says " Whoa !" He stops whipping for a few moments, then he gives his team the word to go, but his balky horse will not go yet. He cuts him with the whip, and says " Whoa !" keeping at work in this way for about three hours. Some of the time his horse will be lying down. The horse jumps up, straightens his ears and whinnows ; the driver ceases to whip him, and says " Whoa ! " He has conquered his horse, he gives them the word to go, and his team walks off as if nothing had happened. This horse will never balk with this man again, bT!t it will take him two weeks to heal up his wounds. It would not be profitable for this man to take balky horses to break up their habits, because he would be likely to kill TO DRIVE A HORSE. 45 5ome of them. It is between life and death to break horses in this way. You will hear men say that " dancing is not the first step to balkiness." They will say that '' they have got horses that would get right up and dance and prance and never balk." These men always drive their horses -in a buggy or some light rig ; but let them hitch their horses to a heavy load, and then they will see that they will balk. The dancing horse is not fit to draw a load. No, no more fit to draw a load than you would be to dance with two bushels of wheat on your bairff. There are some men who think it stylish to make their team jump and dance just as soon as they take up the reins, so it becomes a habit, and they get so that you cannot make them stand unless when at their heads. In this way you teach them to pull on the bit ; then you will drive with a harsh bit, when they go pulling and chewing on the bit. Another man says, " If I had that team to drive for a couple of days, so that I could drive them thirty or forty miles a day, I would have them broken so that they would stand." In this way you would have to break them every time you harnessed them, and in the end you would break, not the horse, but his constitution. Here is another young man driving a horse that has been driven for three years. He says, " Take the reins and see how good he is broken, and how good he pulls on the bit." He will pull about one hundred pounds, and if he got scared he would be apt to pull ten or fifteen hundred pounds, which is very often the case with pullers on the bit. I first reined him to the left ; he went that way very well. Then I tried to rein him to the right ; but there was no give to the rein, and 46 THE WRONG WAY I pulled on it, but all in vain, for it appeared to be as firm as if fastened to a hemlock stump. " What is the matter?" I said ; "I cannot rein him to the right." " Oh !" said the young man, " He will never jee." There are hundreds of horses broken in this way ; they only break to one side, that is the left side. There are some men who try to break balky, kicking and runaway horses by putting them on a barn floor, buckling up one forefoot ; then they attach a strap to the other forefoot, stand at the horse's shoulder, pull the strap and throw the horse down ; then they pat and caress him, and if he is a runaway horse, they will take the whiffletree and rub him all over, to take the fear out of him. They will repeat this several times, until they see they have perfect control of the horse on the barn floor. This w^ill do very well with a wild colt, so as to take out of him that trembling fear he has of mankind ; and for the circus horse it will also do, be- cause he always goes through his labor in an enclosed tent, or some place similar to a barn ; but with a balkj^, kicking, runaway horse, to try to break up his habits in this way is a complete humbug. When you throw your horse, you teach him that you can master him while standing at his shoulder ; but when you are behind him on the road, you will find that yom* runaway horse can master you, and you will see that he is just as ready to run away as he ever was. Your training in the barn was all in vain. In the barn you get control of him, and you are boss ; but out of doors your horse gets control of you, and he is boss. This is what your training amounts to. ^ny horse that has learned the habit of balk- ing, kicking or running away, to break any of these habits, it must be done just where he learned them. If your horse TO DRIVE A HORSE. 47 learns one of thgse habits in the single harness, that is where it must be broken up, not in the barn nor in the double harness. A horse that learns a habit in the single harness, you might drive him in the double harness his life-time, and you would not have his habit broken up ; or the horse that learns a habit when you are driving him in the double har- ness, you may drive him singly his lifetime, and you will not have his habit broken up. There are some horses that will learn habits when you are driving them on the road, but when you are working them on the farm you can drive them all right. Such a horse should have its habits broken up on the road. I have seen men trying to break a runaway horse by driving him with the bitting-cord. In this way you. may get control of your horse as long as you drive him with the cord or some other harsh bit, but if you ever try to drive him with the common straight-bit, you will see that you have no con- trol of your horse. This is enough to show you that you could never break up his ha-bits with the cord. And now, dear reader, I have endeavored to give you many and various illustrations of the different methods practiced by uninstructed men. Hoping that you will easily perceive from every-day life that what I have said in regard to the wrong way of driving is true, I shall next proceed to- give you the right'-way. 48 THE RIGHT WAY GENERAL REMARKS. 1 have a few more words to say, then I will endeavor to show you the right way to drive a horse. There is no doubt but that you have some of these faults or habits in driving horses, for no one is perfect. Every man has his faults about driving horses, and all were not born to break or educate the horse. Some will learn to be doctors, some lawyers, some merchants, some farmers, some sailors, some preachers. We can all talk, but we cannot all preach. Just so is it in driving horses ; we can all drive them in a sort of way, but we cannot all break or educate them as they ought to be. Here is where all these horse-tamers or trainers have failed, when they advertise to teach us how to educate or break the horse. They say if we will pay them four or five dollars, they will teach us in one hour how to break any horse. This is an impossibility. The preacher might as well advertise to teach us all how to preach if we will only go into his church one hour and hear him. Some men could never learn to preach, and they would see that it was an impossibility for them to learn. So it is with the breaking or educating of the horse ; some men could never learn to break a horse as he ought to be. You require to have natural taste and ability to be a skillful doctor, and there are men who have got it. Some have the aptitude for a lawyer, some for a preacher, some for a horse-tamer, or how to educate the horse, and so on it goes. If you have not got the natural capacity, it is vain for you to try to educate or break the horse and do it right. It is useless for those horse-tamers who write books and travel through the country, proclaim- ing how to break any horse and get control of him, to give TO DRIVE A HORSE, 4^ the majority of men such instructions. What good is it for you to get control of your horse if you do not know how to drive him properly, and keep him from learning any vicious habit ? Now, I claim there is not more than one man in a hundred who knows how to drive a young horse, and prevent him from learning any kind of a habit ; and there is not more than one horse in a hundred, that you see men driving, but has learned some kind of a habit. The majority of men cannot see when a horse is learning a habit, until he balks, kicks or runs away. These horse-trainers never gave you any instructions how to drive the horse ; they never told you that it was wrong to push on the reins or drive with slack reins ; they never said it was wrong to try and hold your horse with a steady pull on the reins, when your horse was pulling one hundred, or perhaps seven or ten hundred pounds on the bit ; they never told how to keep your horse from learning the habit of pulling on the bit ; they failed to tell you the right way to punish your horse when he disobeyed. When you paid them four or live dollars, they never told you that they did not care how you drove your horse. Now you can see how you have been humbugged. HlPliMHfftall^I am for making peace between man and beast, and not have them fighting and kicking each other every day they work together. First, I will take your high- lived colt and take from him that trembling and cringing fear he has of mankind when he is approached, I will teach him to lead ; I will teach him to hold up his head when the bit is in his mouth ; I will teach him not to pull on the bit ; I will teach him that when his driver pulls three, five or seven pounds on the reins, and gives him the word to go, 50 THE RIGHT WAY he will start right off and hold on the bit just what the driver pulls ; I will teach him to turn to the right or left when the driver pulls three pounds on one rein and two on the other ; I will learn him to go, stop or back-up at the word of com- mand ; I will teach him to stand for you to brush or clean him off; I will teach him to stand for the smith to shoe him ; I will teach him not to fear the harness, buifalo-robe, umbrella or sleigh-bells ; and I will teach him to stand hitched to a post with a light strap. Some of the colts that are broken in the old-fashioned way learn to pull on the halter when you leave them hitched to a post with the harness on, or perhaps you will find them lying down with your thills or wagon- pole broken. The colt that I Tjreak you will never find in this disagreeable position. I will teach your colt to draw ; I will teach your colt to have the fear of his driver. When he gets scared he will not stand" and refuse to go, nor will he jump to one side of the road and run and pull on the bit. With your low-lived colt, I will take away that ugly and stubborn disposition he shows when you give him the word to go ; I will teach him to start at the first word, and "he will love, fear and obey you. Here are the words I have taught your colt to understand. There are three ways to start a horse, and I have taught your colt them all. First, ^' squeak " with your lips ; the next is to say, *' Get up !" and the third is " click." Your colt will start with any one of these signals. Pull five pounds on your reins and "squeak," and your colt will start off on a walk. You may then let him walk one rod or one mile, just as you choose, or you can start him on the trot. First, give him the word to go, then give it the second time, and that starts him to trot. I have taught him the words, " Whay, boy I" No one can drive a TO DRIVE A HORSK. 51' Tiorse right without these words. "When he is trotting, pull seven or nine pounds on the reins and say, " Wha}^, boy !" and that causes him to walk. If your horse shows any signs of doing wrong, this word " whay I" makes him walk right along and attend to his own business. This word is a warn ing for him to obey, and if he should refuse, he is sure to get punished. He has learned to stand when you say " whoa !" and he will stand until you tell him to go. By pulling five or seven pounds on the reins, and saying " Back !" he will backup for you, and this is what I call a well broken horse. It is an education for the horse, and when once educated he will never forget it ; and this I can accomplish with your colt in four days. Are there any of you who can break a horse in this way ? In your old-fashioned way of breaking them, your high- lived horse may stop at the word " whoa I" or he may not ; but when you get him stopped, he will not stand. You are pulling on the reins and saying " whoa I" but with your low-lived colt, you will have to tell him to go four or five times before he starts. There is as much difference be- tween the horses you break and the ones I break as there is between the horse and the ox. I claim, and I challenge con- tradiction when I make this statement, that I have invented the only true way to bit the colt. The colt that I break, and is driven according to my instructions, will never require a harsh bit. All horses that you see driven with a harsh bit have not been broken rightly. I do not require any harsh bit for the colt that I break, only a good straight bar-bit. The colt that I have broken, and is driven by my instructions, I consider him worth from ten to fifty dollars more than one that is broken in the old-fashioned way. Yes, in some 52 THE RIGHT WAY cases he would be worth his full value ; whereas, had he been broken in the old way, he would doubtless have been rendered useless. Now, dear reader, I will not give you any instructions how to break or educate the colt, because it would not prove satisfactory with the majority of men as it would with me, and then they would find fault with my way of breaking the colt, just because it will not work with them as it would with me. The country is full of books giving instructions how to break the colt ; but there is only one man in a hundred that such a book is any value tu ; therefore it is useless to put such books in some men's hands, or to give them a well-broken horse, without giving them some instruc- tions how to drive the horse, so that they will not teach him some bad habit. Your young horse is liable to learn bad habits if you are not posted and on your guard, and know how to put a stop to them in the commencement. One cut of the whip in time, Very often saveB ninety-nine. After I have taught and educated your colt to understand the words that are necessary for him, and to know how to drawaj^d how to go with the pull on the rein, either to the right or left — in one word, after your colt is broken or educated, it is an easy matter to drive him. As men who know the pro- per way of driving are very scarce, I deemed it necessary to write this little book, to show them the difference between the right and the wrong way to drive a horse. Any young man is liable to spoil three or four horses before he knows any- thing about driving, and all for the want of some instructions before he takes hold of the reins. This is the reason why there are not two men who speak to a horse and drive him ■■*> TO DRI7E A HORSE. 53 alike. They are all left to their own judgment to learn as best they can. There are some men who have been driving less or more for the last seventy years, and who do not know how to drive a horse properly, because they were never taught to drive the right way. Now, just think how hard it is for a horse to understand three or four different drivers. Every one drives somewhat differently. Now, when I am giving you instructions to drive the horse, I will tell you at different times to jerk him with the reins ; then sometimes I wall tell you to surge him. This is done by a sudden pull, first of one rein and then tlie other. I do not want you to pull the horse, first to one side of the road and then to the other; but make the bit play back and forth through the horse's mouth three or four times. Do it with short and sudden pulls, and do it quickly. This is what I call surging on the bit. Some men will tell you that it will spoil a horse to surge or jerk him with the reins. Yes, sometimes it will. Now, I suppose you are aware that many a fine horse has been spoiled by whipping him; but that is no reason why we all should throw away the whip, because some men do not know how to use it. Many a horse learns the habit of kicking, just by putting the harness on ; but is that any reason why we should never harness our colts ? This trouble all arises from not knowing how to do these things properly ; and to prevent you having the same diffi- culty, I will teach you how. The colt that I break should be surged every time I tell you, and your colt will then know just what it means, be- cause he has become habituated to it. To surge a horse that had never been surged before, Avould make him act rather awkward the first few times. Some men will tell you that 5 54 THE RIGHT WAY they never surge their horses ; that they will let them learn the habit of pulling five or six hundred pounds on the bit, and sometimes allow them to run away. Before I would let a- horse run away with me, I would pull, jerk, surge and do everything else I could think of to stop him. We have got to take advantage of the horse's strength by every means in our power, or they Avill jerk and haul us around just as they please. Most people in the country who drive horses use a common whip stock and a buckskin lash for a whip. Such a whip as this is superior to all whips, when a man knows how to use it ; but only one in a hundred know^s- how to strike a blow with such a whip. When this is the- case, I would advise you to get one of those whalebone whips, covered with leather, and finished at the top with two- or three feet of buckskin lash. Such a whip as this every man can strike with quickly and give a good blow ; and always keep a good cracker on your whip. When you strike a horse with a whip, never hit him on the back. If you are driving a team of horses, the one that is on the off side should be struck on the off side just below the flank, or on the off hind leg, if necessary ; and the horse that is on the near side also should be struck on the near side, as you did the other ; in this way you keep your team from spreading apart. When your horse is broken or educated, I don't believe in all this coaxing and patting him for everything you want him to do. He has learned to obey, and he knows he must or get punished. After he obeys, you may pat and coax him if you choose. Neither do I approve of too much whipping and shouting at your team for everything you want them to do. This is nothing but a habit. The team that is TO DRIVE A HORSE. 55 driven according to my instructions one month will never re- quire the word the second time to make them obey. HOW TO DRIVE AFTER A COLT IS WELL . BROKEN. When I break a team of colts for you, do not put them in the stable and allow them to stand three or four weeks before harnessing, but put the harness on them the next day, 'and give them a chance to practice what they have . learned, as "practice makes perfect." Before you put the harness on, make yourself, acquainted with the colts. If they are in- clined to put their ears back when you go into the stall, carry your whip behind, so that they cannot see it ; then go near enough to make them put their ears back ; step back to one side, give them a sharp cut of the whip, and say " Whoa!" Afterwards go into the stall and pat and caress them. Practice this twice a day until they give up the habit of putting their ears back. This will teach them to fear and obey you. They would rather have you in the stall with them than have you behind, cutting them w^th the whip. This will teach them to step on one side of the stall when they see you coming, and look around as if glad to see you. When they do this, treat them kindly. Take the harness and put it on the colts, and when you are doing so, do not keep saying "Whoa!" As you put it on say "Whay!" Buckle up the harness so that it will fit comfortably. Do not have the collar too large ; and the headstall of the bridle, buckle it up so that the bits will not be hanging half way out of the mouth. Bring them out and hitch them to your 50 THK RiaHT WAY wagon or sleigh. Now that they are liitched, do not be in a hurry ; they will stand until you tell them to go. Pull up on your reins live or seven pounds, squeak, and they will start off on a walk. When they are walking, you must learn to pull a steady rein of three or five pounds. This teaches them to know thai they have a right to drive up on the bit and hold the five pounds that you pull. In this Avay you keep your colts from learning the habit of turning and twist- ing their heads from one side to the other, and they will hold up their heads and attend to their business as they go along. The tight rfein teaches them that you have a hold on them, and are under your control. They will not take the liberty of '^' cutting-up, " like horses driven \Wth a slack rein. Be- sides, when you hold a tight reign, and should one of your horses make a misstep and stumble, you are capable of pull- ing a hundred pounds, if necessary, to prevent him from falling. In fact, it is impossible to drive a horse right unless you hold a tight rein, and learn your team to drive up on the bit and hold just what you pull. It is necessary sometimes to pull twenty-two pounds on a steady rein, but you must never pull any more. When your team is well broken, and taught to drive up on the bit, it is the easiest thing in the world to drive them, if you go according to my instructions. When you are driving them with a five pound rein, and when you want to turn to the right or left, all you have to do is to pull two pounds on one and three pounds on the other rein. In this way you will always bring your team around together ; and in holding both reins tight, you keep each horse in his place. If you are turning them to the left, you keep the near horse from going two feet ahead of his mate, and the off horse is prevented from going around too TO DRIVE A HORSK. 57 fast, and while doing so perhaps step on the near horse and calk him. When you see horses calked, it is a sure sign of a poor driver. Hold a tight rein, and you keep your team from getting the advantage of you. No matter how well a team may be broken to drive, if the driver does not know how to hold the reins and handle the whip, his team is sure to learn some bad habit before he drives them a year. Perhaps they will not learn to balk, kick or run away; but there are hundreds of other habits that horses will learn, and which spoils them as a nice driving team. It is useless for you to call them well broken when you let them learn tlie habit of pulling on the bit, or being driven with a slack rein. Slack rein driving and harsh bits must all go out of use before we can call our horses well broken. When a team learns one of these habits, it is impossible for you or any other man to drive them right until they are broken up. I do not believe in keeping a young team on a walk for seven months or seven years, before letting them trot. Pull up a seven pound rein, give them the word to go, and they will start off on the trot. When they trot as far as you .want tliem to, make a practice of bringing them to a walk by pulling nine pounds on the reins, and say " Whay !" In this way your team will never learn the habit of trotting a few rods and then stopping, but will keep on until they hear the word "whay." In adhering to this rule, you teach them that they can trot their full speed when in the harness, and yet they are under your control ; and when they know tbis, they will never try to run away. When you want to stop them, the word " whoa " will do it. You may then slack up on your reins or crack your whip, without any fear of their starting off, for they have learned to stand until you tell 58 THE KIGIIT WAY them to go. The first year you drive your team. I would not advise you to leave them without hitching; but do not hitcli them so that they can go fi.ve or six feet before they know wliether the}^ are hitched or not ; but hitch them short, never leaving a strap more than two feet long from the bit to the post. Lengthen the check"i*eins and lettliem have their' heads down, so that they can rest thg chords of their necks. Practice this for two or three weeks every time you hitch them. You may think this way don't look well ; but it is better to do tliis for a few w^eeks than to leave them checked up, and get the chords of their necks strained and stiffened for life, which you would be ver}^ likely to do hy keeping them checked up too long at first. Those horses 3' on see in harness that hold their noses out straight, liketlie dog called the pointer, have had the chords of the neck strained by checking them up too high when they were young. When you are ready, check them up and start along agam. If you see that your colts are going to get frightened at something, that is no reason why you should get the same way. Just hold a steady rein, and if they seem to act as if they do not want to go, squeak, and they will go right along ; but if they should try to pull on the bit, say " Whay !" and they will obey. Do not drive them too far the first few times, lest they might get leg weary or sullen. Five or ten miles a day is far enough. WHAT YOU MUST NEVER DO. You must never let any horse which I break or educate start without giving him the word to go, and never say " Whoa!" TO DRIVE A HORSE. 59 unless you mean it. When he disobeys you, whip him ; but never let him trot or run after punishment unless you want him to do so. Never start your horse with a slack rein. When you turn to the right or left, never push on one rein and pull on the other. Never strike him a light blow witli the whip. In place of doing so, crack your whip, for in striking a horse a light blow of the Avhip it is nothing but trifling with him. Never trifle with a horse, but everything you say or do, let it be done in earnest. Never give your horse the word to go four or five times 'before he starts ; make him obey the first or second word. Never pull back and forth on your reins, or keep clicking, to keep them going or make them trot ;• give them the word to go, and if they don't start fast enough or trot, crack your whip or give them a sharp cut of it. Never strike your horse on the back with the whip. Never drive a young team without having a whip with you, because you don't know what minute it will be necessary to use it. During the first six months you drive your colts, never make a practice of starting them on the trot, but start them on a walk, and let them walk five or ten rods or a mile ; then trot them if you choose. In driving your team, never allow one of them to be half a foot or more ahead of the other, as this is driving one and leading the other, but always make them drive up evenly together. When you want to start, never strike them with the whip before you tell them- to go. This is getting '' the cart before the horse." First, give them the word to go ; then, if they don't start, use your whip. When they are walking, never allow them to start on the trot without giving the word to go. Never pat and pet your horse to make him obey you, but first punish him for 60 THE RIGHT WAY disobedience, and then caress him' if you choose. If you want him to do something that he never did before, you must first teach and show him with kindness what you want him to do. After he learns it, he should be made to obey or be punished. Never drive a young horse wdth slack reins, and never hold or allow your team to pull over eleven pounds on the bit, except when you are starting ; then you must hold a steady rein until they go three or four rods. If one of your horses is then inclined to pull more than this, say "Whay !" If this don't stop him from pulling, ease up on his rein until he goes a step ahead of the other horse ; then give him a jerk, at the same time say " Whay !" Do this with him a few times, and he will be afraid to go ahead of the other horse. When he submits to your wishes, never surge or pull hard on the reins. If your horse gets scared, and starts off on the jump, never try to hold him with a steady rein, but surge him every time ; but you must never use a harsh bit. Always drive with a straight bar-bit. Never make a practice of slapping your horse with the rein, by toss- ing it up and then bringing it down with a jerk. In doing so, if your horse is tender-bitted you make him awkward, and he don't know what you mean ; and you are liable to teach him to rear up, and confuse him so that he is liable to balk. When your horse disobeys and refuses to go, because he is afraid of a bridge, or perhaps gets mad and w^ants to balk, never take hold of his head to lead him. Never make a practice of stopping your horse by pulling on the reins. In this way you will teach him to stop to allow you to talk to every man you meet on the road. Never allow him to stop un- less you say "Whoa !" except when you are plowing wit^ him and the plow strikes a solid rock ; your horse then has a right *! TO DRIVE A HORSE. GT to Stop until you tell him to go. Sometimes a horse will' stick up his head and act as if he did not know how to start, or want to pull a pound on the bit ; when he does this, you should not surge, jerk or pull hard, but give him a kind, steady rein. When you have a rein in each hand, do not let your hands be more than six or twelve inches apart, and never wind the reins around your hands. Never make a practice of unbuckling the crupper before you take the har- ness off. In this way your horse will not learn to hold the rein if he switches his tail over it. Never make a practice of going into the stall on the off side of your horse to feed' him. By so doing you teach him the habit of stepping to- the left side of the stall, and when you go to put the harness on him he is apt to step on your foot ; then you are likely to blame your horse, when your own awkwardness was the cause of him stepping on you. Never make a practice of currying and cleaning your horse when he is eating, as this is liable to teach him the habit of putting his ears back when any one goes up to him, and will make him cross and inclined to kick ; at least, it will make him look cross,. and strangers will be afraid of going near him. In this way you hurt the sale of your horse. Whenever you Avant to curry or clean him, take him out of the stall and hitch him on the barn floor or out of doors, as the dust and hair blows into the manger if you perform the operation in- side. Never whip, jerk or surge too much, but always treat your horse kindly when you see him willing to obey.. 62 THE RIGHT WAY THE WAY TO PUNISH YOUR HORSE WHEN HE DISOBEYS. It makes no difference how well horses are broken, some day or other they are liable to disobey. It is then necessary to punish them in the right waj^, in order to have control of them, and keep the fear of disobedience in them. By doing so you can always make them obe}^ you. You hitch them to the harrow ; one of them is a high-lived, and the other a low-lived horse. When 5^ou pick up the reins, your high- lived horse starts and goes a step ahead of his mate. Give him a jerk and say " Whoa !" and this will teach him to know, that he has no right to start until you give him the word to go. Don't stand ajid hold a tight rein, as if you are afraid he will get away from you, but slack up on your reins, and let him dare to start again. Now he is standing still ; pull your reins tight and give him the word to go, and they will both start together. Drive them across the field a few times, always holding both reins tight. Now try to turn them around short, and one of them curbs his head down, so you cannot hold him in his place with a steady rein of eleven pounds ; therefore ease up on his rein and give him a jerk ; then, if he is ahead of the other horse, surge him, saying " Whay !" Hold a steady rein again, as it will never do for the slack rein driver to jerk his horse, because it teaches him to understand that he has no right to pull on the bit, or try to pull the reins from you. This is the only way to get con- trol of his mouth, or keep him from learning the habit of pulling on the bit. He has no right to pull on the bit ; but, at the same time, you must never punish him for doing so TO DRIVE A HORSK. 63 until he pulls more than eleven pounds, because it is hard for a horse to learn the difference between holding seven pounds on the bit or pulling seven pounds. When your horse pulls five or eleven pounds on the bit, you should hold just what he pulls ; but when he does not offer to pull any on it, 3^ou should pull up five or seven pounds on the reins, and make him drive up and hold just what you pull. Your low-lived horse is a little tired or lazy, and he don't drive up on the bit as he ought tt), and is four or five inches behind his mate. You then give him the word to go, and he drives up on the bit, but he don't stay there a minute until he is right back again. Hold both reins in the left hand, and give him a sharp cut of the whip ; he will then jump and try to run. Now is your time to surge him, as this will teach him that he is never safe unless he drives up on the bit, and holds his share of a five or seven pound rein. Surg- ing also teaches him that you did not whip him to run or trot. Now, they both drive up on the bit, and when they go ten rods, say "Whoa!" Go up to them, pat and caress them, pull up their collars and rub the sweat oft' their breasts. This will let the air under their collars and keep their breasts from scalding. If the crack of the whip caused the high- lived horse to get excited, stopping them quiets down all the excitement, and patting teaches them to love you ; and they will always obey that word '' whoa," if you treat them kindly when they obey. Such a team as this the majority of men have a great deal of trouble with to make them drive to- gether. When we first commenced to drive them, the high- lived horse had too much fear of the whip, and not enough fear of the bit ; and the low-lived horse had too much fear of the bit, and not enough fear of the whip. If you make a 64 THE RIGHT WAY practice of giving your low-lived horse a sharp cut of the whip every time he tries to stay behind his mate, and surge on the bit, this teaches him to fear you and your whip^ and he will soon learn to know that he is perfectly safe when he keeps up with his mate. When he knows this he will keep up without whipping at all. On the other hand^. when your high-lived horse is a little ahead of his mate, he hears the crack of the whip, and then he is sure to get surged on the bit. To make a practice of cracking your whip behind your high-lived horse and not striking him, will teach him to care very little about it. This is the way to take the fear of the whip out of the high-lived horse. When he gets surged on the bit, every time he hears the crack of the whip he learns to fear the bit, and to know that he has no right to go ahead of his mate. When he under- stands this, he will stay back even with him, it makes no difference how slow he goes. Now, no matter how fast or slow you may drive, they are both together. The low-lived horse is afraid to get behind, because he is sure to get a cut of the whip ; and the high-lived horse is afraid to go ahead ^ because he is sure to get surged on the bit. This is the way to make them both obey, every day you drive them to- gether. You drive them across the field three or four times. Your high-lived horse is on the off side, and every time you turn them to the near side, the high-lived horse switches his tail and tries to turn around on the double-quick step, and acts as if he was going to kick. The last three or four times they are coming around, you say '' Whay !" and he pays no attention to you. Now, when you have them turned halfway around, say " Whay !" and give him a jerk TO DRIVE A HOItSK. 65 with his rein, which wiH set him back; then give him a sharp cut of the whip, and say " Whoa !" This teaches him that he must obey. Every time you say " Whay " do not let them turn all the way around, but make them stand when they are half way around. This teaches the high -lived horse to fear and obey you. Let them stand a few moments, then start again, and the next time you turn he will come around steady and be ready to obey the word " whay " or the word " whoa." If you want to have a nice driving team, you must not have too much to say to them, and see that what- ever you say is faithfully obeyed. When you turn them around to the right or left, they m^jst learn to come around all right without saying a word. In this way it is easy to learn them the difference between right and wrong. When your high-lived horse starts at the Avord of command, and goes along all right and attends to his own business, you have nothing to say ; but when he attempts to disobey, you should speak to him ; then he knows he must obey or get punished. . When he knows this he will be always willing to try to obey, if he is sure to get well treated and a kind, steady rein. This is an inducement for him always to obey you. Wlien turning them around to the left, and your low- lived horse seems to stand and turn his head around to his side, give him a sharp cut of the whip and then surge him. This will teach him he must obey the pull of the rein, either to the right or left. It will also teach him that he must go with a kind, steady rein, or get a cut of the whip and surged on the bit. In surging a horse it teaches him that you are the strongest, and that he is under your control. He will also learn that it is useless to try to pull on the bit ; and wh^n he knows this, you can hold him with a (>6 THE RIGHT WAT steady rein of eleven pounds, and give liim a cut of the whip ; and when you can do this, it is not always necessary to surge him when you strike him with the whip. In hitching them to a wagon to draw a load of wood or manure, always make a practice of starting them on a slow walk, and then they will learn how to set themselves, to draw. "When you give them the word to go, pull up a seven pound rein, and when the}' start, let them do so with a five pound rein, if they start together. In starting them^ with a tight rein, you are always read}^ to hold either of them back, if he tries to get the start of his mate. In setting out slowly, they learn to start their load before they try to travel. They step up with their shoulder against the collar, then they set themselves with every foot braced to the earth, and start the load by stretching themselves and by pushing- iigainst the collars. When they start it, they walk right along both together. In starting them slowly, it teaches- them that they can manage their load -when they go slowly, and when they know this you will never have any jumping,, dancing and tripping up on the forward end. The dancing^ horse tries to start his load on three legs, sometimes on two. This you ought to know will never do, because four legs are- always stronger than two. The jumping and dancing horse never learns how to set hhnself to draw properly. You have just cramped your wagon and pull seven pounds on the reins, and say *' Back !" Your high-lived horse backs about two feet, your low-lived horse stands still and does not offer to back, but is inclined to pull on the bit. Ease up on his rein, give him one good jerk, and then surge him ; this sets him back two or three feet ; then say "Whoa I" Now, pull your seven pound rein and say TO DlilVE A HORSE. 67 " Back !" If he refuses to back with the seven pound rein, give him another jerk, and surge him as you did before. This will teach him that when he does not obey the steady rein and the' word "back," he is sure to get jerked; and the jerk hurts his mouth so much that it causes him to back up. You must bear in mind that you should never pull a steady rein of fifty or a hundred pounds, for in so doing you teach your horse to set himself to pull against you ; then four men could not pull him back, and jerking and surging would have no effect. If this ever happens with you, start him up a step or two, which will take the set out of him. Now, al- ways give him the kind, steady rein, and the word " back," before you jerk him. This will be a warning to him, and he will soon learn that you will not punish him if he only obeys the word "back," and the kind, steady rein. Your high-lived horse always wants to try and be a little too smart to learn, and before you get your wagon half cramped, he will commence backing up full drive, bringing his mate with him. You will be crying, " Whay !" " Whoa !" " Get up !" and he will pay no attention to you. Give him a sharp cut of the whip and make him walk up a step or two ; then say "Whoa!" This teaches him that he must obey those words which he was taught to understand, and he will pay attention to you. Give them then a kind, steady rein, and squeak. Rein them to the right or left, and say " Back up !" Your high-lived horse backs up steady, and is ready to obey any of those words he was taught to understand. You hitch them to your buggy and drive them on the road. Now, you want to start them on the trot, and you pull up seven pounds on your reins and squeak for them to go. Your high-lived horse starts up and shows you he is 'o8 THE Kianr way' willing to go, but the low-lived horse will not pay attention to you. Give him one sharp cut of the whip, then surge him until you see you can hold him with an eleven pound rein ; then give them the word to go, and they will both start off on the trot together. When they trot a few rods, commence easing up on the reins by degrees until you let them out to about seven pounds. In punishing j^our horse in this way, it teaches him that j^ou did not whip him to make him run or merely trot, but that you punished him because he did not pay attention and obey those words he was taught to under- stand. Your high-lived horse commences to gallop, and every time you see him getting ready to jump, ease up a little on his rein, and let him jump a little ahead of his mate, and when he alights on the ground, give him a jerk with his rein. You must not jerk him too hard, but just jerk him hard enough so that he will not run any faster than his mate can trot. This teaches him that galloping is a hard way to travel. In keeping time with every jump, it teaches him to think that it is his jumping that makes the bit jerk and jar in his mouth ever}'' time he alights on the ground, and he will soon take the hint and start on the trot. If he does not commence to trot before he goes ten rods, hold him up with an eleven pound rein, and say "Whay!" Now he strikes out on the trot. Give them the word to go, and they both start together on the full trot, and when they trot as far as you want them to, pull up a nine pound rein, and say " Whay !" If they do not pay attention to you, then surge them, and give them to understand that they must obey the word ^' whay." This teaches them that when they are trotting, and you pull a nine pound rein and say " Whay !" if they don't T() DRIVE A H0R8K. 09 hold up and walk, they are sure to get surged on the bit. A few lessons of this kind will soon teach them to walk as soon as they hear "whay!" One of your horses curbs his head down, and is biting the neck-yoke ; ease up on his rein and give him a jerk. This teaches him that every time he puts his teeth against the neck-yoke he will get jerked. When, he knows this he will not put his head down to get it jerked. When they start to trot, you say " Whay !" and they hold up ; then they will go but a few rods when they start up again ; so ease up on the reins and let them trot a rod or two, then surge them, saying "Whay !" This teaches them that they must never dare to start to trot, until you give them the word to go. If you let your high-fed and high-spirited horse start off on the trot every time he takes the notion, it will become a habit, and he will want to trot all the time when he is on the road ; and he learns to think that you have no right to pull on the reins to try to make him walk; in fact, he gets so that he thinks he knows his business better than you do ; and when you wish to hold him up to make him walk, he will fret, sweat, dance and perhaps pull on the bit, and very likely rear up ; so that you get yourself into a regular flare-up, and perhaps lose all control of your horse just by letting him take the liberty to trot whenever he takes the notion. By giving a horse this liberty, should he get scared, he is sure to start and run, and it is useless to punish him for taking this liberty if you give him permission to trot Avheiicver he takes the notion. Never give your high-lived horse any such liberty, and he will get so that he will never try to take it, but keep him under the strictest rules, and then you can feed, fatten, and fit him up in style., and drive *6 70 THE RIGHT WAY him fast or slow as you please, because you have him pro- perly broken. He will be always uuder your controland wil- ling to obey; because if he does not, he knows what he may expect to get for disobedience. Your team get scared at a hog ; they start on a trot, and you surge them on the bit, but the surging takes no effect, and they go off on a gallop. Ease up, first on one rein, then on the other, and jerk them righ and left. • Keep time with every jump, so that the bit will jar their mouth every time they alight on the ground, and jerk them until you see that you can hold them by pull- ing eleven pounds on each rein ; then say " Whoa !" at the same time surging them down until they stand with every foot on the ground. They stop, but the high-lived horse does not want to stand, and is dancing. Give him a sharp cut of the whip, surge him, and say " Whoa!" This gives him to understand that you are his master and he must obey. Any horse that has been bitted and broken in the right way, so that you have control of his mouth with the straight-bit, it is impossible for him to try to resist the jerk of the reins, and he never will if you only try and drive him in a proper manner. The first or second jerk you gave them had such an effect upon them that they forgot all about the hog. A horse that is broken to understand what the jerk of a rein means, knows that the jerking will never stop until he ceases galloping. When he knows this, he will not start and run every time he gets scared, because he knoAvs he is sure to get jerked. Surging and jerking a horse teaches him to fear the bit, and this fear becomes so much stronger than the fear of the hog or anything else he would get scared at, that he will never dare to jump or try to run even if he should get scared. Stopping them teaches them that it is useless to TO DRIVE A HORSE. 71 try to run away, and when they know this they will give themselves up to you and be willing to obey. You start them again ; you come to a bridge, and your team is afraid to go across it. You hold a five or seven pound rein and sit ready, so that if they jump to the right you jerk them with the left rein, and strike the off horse a sharp cut of the whip ; or if they jump to the left, you jerk them with the right rein, and strike the near horse. As good fortune would have it, they did not jump either to the right or left, but when coming up to the bridge they slackened, up and walked very slow. You gave them the word to go and they paid no attention to you. The high-lived horse jumps back, then they stop. Strike the high-lived one a sharp cut, then the low-lived one. Bring them to time with your whip right and left, and away they go over the bridge, driving right up on the bit. Hold them with a steady rein until they go over the bridge ; then, if you cannot hold them on a walk, with eleven pounds on each rein, surge them and make them walk, until you see that they are willing to walk ; then trot them if you choose. This is the way to always keep the fear of disobedience in the horse. The next bridge you come to they will not forget, and will give all their attention to the bridge, for when you give them the word to go they will not stop, because they are sure to get a cut of the whip ; and they will not start to trot or run, because they are certain to get surged on the bit ; so they go right along and attend to their business. They learn to know that the bridge will never hurt them, and they will go over it just as freely as they would go under a shade tree in the pasture. In this way your team learns to put confidence in your word, and will always obey you, no matter how much they are 72 THE RIGHT WAY scared, as iong as you have them trained in a proper manner. No man can break a high-spirited, nervous horse so that he will never get scared, because something may occur any day that would scare any horse, no matter how well broken he may be. I never whip or jerk a horse for getting scared, providing he keeps his place and is willing to obey, but should he disobey he will be punished in a proper manner. When 3^our horse gets scared, stands up and refuses to go, or begins to trot, run or jump on one side of the road, if you never punished him for it, he would not know that he was doing wrong, and these bad habits would become confirmed, and perhaps after these others more dangerous would follow, and the result ^yould be a tip-over, a kick-up and a runaway. Then the wagon-maker would have to be paid, and perhaps the doctor too, and very likely the undertaker would come in for a job also. Such accidents as these we hear of almost every day. So a little reflection will show you how necessary it is to have your horse broken to the bit and taught to obe}^: then you can have confidence in him and be perfectly safe. Yon are driving along all right, when out comes a little dog and ^^arks at the horses. Pay close attention to the team and Avatch every movement they make with their ears. One of them lays his ears back, cringes and shows you every sign of kicking. Surge him, and say " Whay I" This draws his attention to you, and hs thinks no more about the dog. But if ho vr;i3 too quick for you, and kicked at the dog, jerk him, nii'J s:i;.' ''Whay!" Bo roady to jerk him just as soon as ho kicks ;' he will then tliiik it was his kict that caused the jerk on t!ie bit, and lie v.'ill not do so any more. If he shows more signs of kicking, surge him again, TO DRIVE A HORSE. 73 and give him a sharp cut of the whip, and say '' Whay !" This will teach him to pay attention and obey that word. It will also give him to understand that he must never dare to kick when he is in the harness. The moment you surge or jerk a horse that has been trained to it, his attention is drawn to his mouth, then he will be careful in his movements, and avoid the pain consequent on being surged. It is impossi- ble for a horse to mind two things at once. The moment his attention is drawn to his head by a jerk, he forgets all about his heels. Surging and jerking also makes him hold up his head ; this settles his weight on his hind legs, and it is impossible for him to kick when his head is raised in the air. When I get control of the mouth by my way of bitting, it is impossible for any horse to kick ; and if you only handle the reins in the manner I tell you, he will never kick with you. Believe me, dear reader, you will find it a very easy matter to correct and make the horse obey that has been bitted and broken in the way I prescribe. You can hold him with an eleven pound rein, and bring him to time with your whip. He is not like a horse that is allowed to pull on the bit. Keep control of the mouth , and you have full control of the horse. If you say " Whoa !" and he pays no attention to it, give him a jerk and surge him, and repeat the word "whoa" with authority; and the next time you wish to stop him he will be quick and ready to obey the word "whoa." HABITS OF SLACK REIN DRIVING, HOW TO OVERCOME THEM ; ALSO BALKING. First, a team has learned the habit of jumping back and 74 THE RIGHT WAY forth when you try to start them with a load. Whenever they commence jumping back and forth, first one, then the other, never make a practice of clicking, whipping and halloo- ing at them to start. Always cry out " Whoa! " and put a stop to such conduct by giving the slow horse two or three sharp cuts of the whip ; and when you are whipping him, hold them and repeat the word "whoa" each " time after striking him. This teaches him to fear and obey you, and when you give the word to go, he will be as anxious to start as you and your high-lived horse. Now, when they have both obeyed, give them the word to go, and just as they start, rein them a little to the right or left, and they will start both together, and you will have no more trouble. Another team, the high-lived horse of which has learned the habit 0/ pulling on the bit, and dancing with his hind- quarters against the outside trace, seems to act as if he thought he could run away. You have said " Whay, boy!" two or three times, but he pays no attention to it Ease up on his rein and give him a jerk, and every three or four rods give him another jerk, three or four times. He does not pull so hard on the bit now, but is dancing sideways, and wants to act ugly or disobedient if you do not allow him to have his own way. Now is your time to bring him under sub- jection and make him obey. Be quick and handy, and do just as I tell you. and he will soon learn to act becomingly. Give him a sharp cut of the whip around the leg that is against the trace, then jerk and surge him. When you jerk, it brings him into his place, but he is right back again. Strike him with you whip every time he gets out against the trace, and jerk and surge him after striking him. Give him four or five sharp cuts of the whip, and don't let them go any TO DRIVE A HORSK. 75 faster than a walk ; then surge and say "Whoa!" and let them stand a few moments. Nothing will take the conceit out of a high-spirited horse so much as to cut him with the whip, and make him obey the word "whoa." Stopping them gives a chance to quiet down the excitement, whereas if you keep up the irritation too long, perhaps they will get the advantage of you. Stopping also convinces him that it is useless to try to get away from you. Start them again and they go five or six rods all right, then he jumps out again. Treat him as you did before, and when you start again, he goes off all right, just the same as if nothing had happened. He is convinced that you are his master ; he is satisfied and willing to obey, and will keep his place as long as you drive him. Treating him in this way teaches him that you did not whip him to make him run or trot, but that you punished him for not obeying the word " whay," and for not keeping his place. The moment he does this you must never strike him with the whip, but let him learn to under- stand that he is perfectly safe when he keeps his place and is willing to obey. Here is another team of which the high-lived horse has been trifled with, and has too much fear of the bit. When you give them the word to go, he sticks up his head and oommences to dance. The low spirited one pays no atten- tion to you, and stands perfectly still. Hitch them to a harrow or light waggon, hold a tight rein, and give them the word to go ; then strike the low-spirited horse a cut of the whip, and they will go all right. Keep them on a walk, and when they go thirty or forty rods, say " Whoa !" Stop them just to have the pleasure of starting them again. Start them just as you did the first time ; treat them in this 76 THE KIGHT WAT way five or six times, and you will see that all the dancing is stopped, and you have a team that knows how to start. Here is another team, both of which have learned the habit that, before starting, you will have to click to them five or six times, and when they do so the high-spirited one always starts first. He has also learned the habit of pulling on the bit, and goes a foot ahead of his mate. The low- lived one has the habit of staying a foot behind his mate, and never drives up on the bit. They both have learned bad habits, and you must punish both of them in the right way in order to make them drive together. In three days' time, if you follow my instructions, you will have these bad habit& broken up, so that they will drive right up evenly together. The first thing you must do is to shift the buckles on the cross reins, so that the reins will be three or four inches shorter on the high-lived horse than they are on the low- lived one. You are all ready, pull up a tight rein, and give them the word to go ; but they pay no attention to you. Give the low-lived horse four or five cuts of the whip, hold them, and say " Whoa!" If you cannot hold them with eleven pounds on each rein, surge them every time after striking. Now, you have got through whipping, and 'they both obey the word " whoa;" give the word to go, and they both start together. Hold the high-lived horse back with a seven or an eleven pound rein. You must not make him walk too slow, but let him have his natural gait, and they walk right up together until they go about a hundred rods ; then you will see the low-lived one commencing to hold up. He wants to get back a foot behind his mate. Keep still and don't say a word ; let him get clear back as far as he can ; then bring him up into his place with one good cut of TO DRIVE A HORSE. 77 the whip. Say " Whay, boy !" to the high-lived horse, and if you cannot hold them with a twenty-two pound rein, surge them. They drive right up together one hundred rods farther ; then say " Whoa !" and when you start them, watch the low-lived horse and see that he is willing to obey the first word you give them to go. If he does not, give him a cut of the whip, and they both go together. Attend right to your business, and treat him in this way as often as it is necessary, and you will soon see that he will take the hint, and try and stay up in his place. You will see that when he gets a few inches behind his mate, he will think of the whip and spring right up into his place. Or perhaps you were just ready to strike him, and he was too quick for you and jumped up into his place ; draw back your whip, don't strike him, but be ready for him the next time he comes back. Let him learn to know he is perfectly safe when he is up in his place. There are certain times that the high-lived horse is not satisfied to stay back even with his mate and go on a common walk. He wants to go on the double-quick step, and draw all the load himself He wishes to get a foot ahead of his mate, and in trying to do so draws- as if he was mad, pulls the eleven pound rein from you, and gets ahead of his mate. Ease up on his rein and give him a jerk. This will make him come back ; but he acts as if going to balk and almost stops. Don't click or say a word. The low-lived horse goes right along, and when he gets a little ahead, his mate goes right off with him, and is very cautious about pulling on the bit ; in fact, he is afraid to go ahead of his mate again. Give him a kind, steady rein, and perhaps he will go two hours before trying to pull the reins from you again, or perhaps he will go right at it once more. 7 8 THK RIGHT WAT In which case, when he gets a foot ahead, serve him just as you did before, when he will come back in a very bad temper and stand. His mate goes a foot ahead of him, but is not able to draw the high-lived horse and the load too. When you see this you must cry out "Whoa!" and the low-lived horse will come back and stand even with his mate. Let them stand just a moment, then hold a steady rein and give the word to start. "They both go well together. Now, you have driven them two days in this way, and the third day when you give them the word to go, the low-lived horse starts, but his mate sticks up his head and dances ; in fact, he is afraid to go for fear you will jerk him. Hold a kind, steady rein, give him a cut of the whip, and he goes right off with his mate. If you have a load on, you must say "Whoa !" just after striking him, and as quick as he obeys give them the word to go, and they will both start together. This will teach the high-spirited horse that he must obey those words he was taught to understand from the begin- ning. Perhaps it will not be necessary to jerk him any more ; but if he ever pulls the eleven pound rein from you again, surge him lightly, at the same time saying " Whay !"' when he will come right back to his place. Treat them in this way for a few days, and each horse will learn to know his position, and when they understand this, they will keep their place without whipping or jerking, and be no trouble to you. Besides, you will have a team that drives right up together, and quick and handy to turn to the right or left. Here is another team which has learned the habit of start- ing just as soon as you pick up the reins, and one is a little more willing to start than the other. Give him a jerk, then surge them, and say " Whoa !" They commence dancing TO DRIVE A HORSE. 79 and backing up. Give each of them a cut of the whip, and say " Whoa !" If they stand perfectly still, slack up on your reins and see if they will try to start again. If they do, let them go a step or two, then jerk and surge them back •to just where they started from, and pronounce the word " whoa." Let them stand until you see they are willing to obey ; then pull up a tight rein and give them the word to go. Practice this for a few days, and they will soon learn that they have a right to stand until you give them the word to go. One of the horses of another team has learned to pull on the bit, or hold his head down heavy against it, so that you have lost control of his mouth. Shorten his reins four inches more than those of the other horse, for a few days, to enable you to jerk him without hurting the other horse. One day he refused to obey ; you struck him with the whip, and he resisted by kicking. When you see that he is preparing to kick, jerk and surge him, and every time he kicks strike him a sharp cut of the whip. Keep time Avith him, and if he kicks ten times, strike him every time, when his hind-feet are off the ground ; and just as soon as his feet come down, jerk and surge him. If he is too quick in his movements, and you cannot strike him every time, hit him as often as you can ; but be sure to jerk and surge every time his feet alights on the ground, and you will soon see . that they will take effect, and he will hold his head up ; you have then the advantage, and it is impossible for him to kick. Now, say " Whoa !" and surge him down with every foot to the ground. Let them stand a minute or two until you see that the excitement has cooled down, then start them along on a walk. He is satisfied now that you are his master, and he 80 THE RIGHT WAY is willing to obey, because he fears the bit and the whip. He is afraid to put his head down in order to kick, because he is sure to get jerked on the bit ; and he is also afraid to throw up his heels, because he may expect a cut of the whip. If you drive according to the instructions laid down, he will never kick with you again. Here is another team, the low-lived horse of which has learned the habit of disobeying when you give them the word to start ; and the high-spirited one has learned the habit of starting and being driven with a slack rein. When you give them the word to go, he starts on the double-quick step or on the full jump, and pulls the load and the low-lived horse too, and away they go with the slack rein driver, and only two-thirds of a load on. The slack rein driver never has confidence in his team, and thinks if he does not let them learn to start on a double-quick step they will not go at alL But the man who has learned his team to start their load while pulling up a tight rein of five or seven pounds, has confidence in his team to start slowly and both together ; the consequence of which is, each horse holds his share of the seven pound rein, and the driver is not afraid to put on a full load. Now you have taken your team out of the slack rein driver's hands ; pull up a tight rein and give them the word to go, and the high-lived horse starts on the jump, pulling the reins from you and going away ahead of the other horse ; but he is not able to draw what you pulled on the rein, the low-lived horse and the load too. He jumps right back, dances and shakes his head, and is inclined to tip on the forward end ; in one word, he is balked. All he wants now is to be whipped and told to go. You have taught him the bad habit of balking, perhaps for life. When TO DRITE A HORSE. 81, you have a high- lived horse that acts in this way, always cry out ""Whoa!" Let us reason the case. Your high-lived horse is angry because you did not push on the reins the same as the slack rein driver did, and let him have his own way ; he is mad at his mate because he did not start and help iiim to draw the load when you gave them the word to go ; and he is mad at you because you put on a load he was not able to start alone. Now, would it be right to whip the high-lived horse and ask him to draw the load, the low-lived horse and you too ? No, this would never do. But the slack rein driver says you don't know how to drive ; if you did, the horse would never balk , with you. He says he drove the team four weeks, and the high-lived one was the best for drawing of the two ; he would always start just as quick as he picked up the reins ; in fact, he says he was too free to draw, because he was always a foot or two ahead of his mate, and he was the most willing little liorse for pull- ing that he ever saw. He never balked with him, and he would never balk with you if you knew how to drive. So much nonsense for the slack rein driver trying to clear him- self If he had whipped the low-lived horse and made him obey the word to go, holding a tight rein and the high-lived horse back in his place, he would never have balked with you. T will tell you just what to do. Pull up a tight rein, but don't let them pull a pound, and give the low-lived horse three or five sharp cuts of the whip, saying "Whoa !" every time after you strike him ; and if you cannot hold them with a steady reiii, surge them every time after striking him. Now, they bot!i o"bey that word "whoa ;" p*ull up a steady rein and give tliem the word to go ; then the low-lived liorse is quick to ci\)Q\'. tWy both start together, and then you have no 82 THE RIGHT WAY more trouble. Nine times out of ten it will work with you in this way, and this teaches the low-lived horse to fear and obey you. When the high- lived horse heard the cracking of the whip, it made him also fear and obey you too. The moment the fear of disobedience creeps into your high-lived horse, the mad temper creeps out ; then he is under your control. Here is another high-lived horse that balked in the same manner as the one mentioned above. When you were done whipping the low-lived horse, and said " Whoa I" the high- lived horse did not obey ; he kept on dancing. Just give him a moment to get ready to stand, with every foot on the ground ; then if he don't continue to stand perfectly still, give him one or two sharp cuts of the whip, and pronounce the word "whoa," with a good deal of authority. Be sure and surge him every time after striking him. If you hold a high-lived horse with a steady rein and whip him, he is liable to resist it by kicking ; so be quick and surge, just after strik- ing him, and he can never kick or think of kicking. He is satisfied and willing and obeys the word "whoa." Let them stand a few moments, then give the word to go, and they will both start together. Hold them down on the walk, and don't let them think that they were whipped to make them go off on the double-quick step ; but let them learn to understand that you whipped them for not obeying those words that they were taught at first. Here is another horse which acts a little differently. When you get through whipping the low-lived horse they both obey the word "whoa;" but when you tell them to go, the low- lived horse starts, and the high-lived one sticks up his head, dances and does not pull a pound. Give him a sharp cut of TO DRIVE A HORSE. 85 the whip ; then say " Whoa 1" Let them stand a few moments, then try him again, and see if he will go. If he does not, serve him just as you did before. Do this a few times and he will take hold and draw, and when once you conquer him he will not trouble you again. When you have him started, if he is inclined to keep up the excitement, when they go ten or twenty rods, say "Whoa!" and let them stand a few minutes ; this will give a chance for the irritability to cool down. It will teach him that he is perfectly safe as long as he obeys, and when he knows this you can have it all your own way. But you must never let the slack rein driver drive them again, unless he is willing to learn how to drive and how to handle the reins ; because it is im- possible to keep your team well broken and under your con- trel, when there are two drivers, and one a slack rein driver; because the slack rein driver lets them do almost anything they please. He lets them start without giving the word to go ; he lets the high-lived one go ahead, and allows the low- lived one to remain behind. When you come to drive them, they will imagine you have no right to whip them or hold a tight rein. Between you both you confuse the team, and such driving is enough to raise the temper of any horse. You get yourself and team into trouble, just by letting the slack rein driver drive them. Always when you are driving a draft team, you must be careful and learn to use your best judgment. When you hitch them to a load that they are not able to draw, it is useless to whip and ask them to draw it. When you see that each horse draws all he is able to, and does not start the load, be quick and cry out "Wheal" and they will never lose their courage, but will always have confidence in yo -84 THE BIGHT WAY and start and draw all they are able to. When you give them the word to go, never stand and look at them draw until they pull themselves to a stand. By so doing you let them learn that they are stuck fast ; they Avill give up pull- ing and become completely discouraged, and will lose all confidence in your word when you give them the word to go. They will act more like balking than drawing. Never whip the small horse to make -him draw as much as the large one ; but give him one or two inches the advantage by having his end of the eavener two inches longer than that of the other horse's. A horse that has always been driven before some light vehicle must also not be compelled to draw as much as a horse that is accustomed to heavy loads, until he has had some practice. Always consider and reason the case, and do justice to each horse. Be quick and ready to whip the low- lived horse when it is necessary. Make him obey the word to go, and he will always be willing to obey the word " whoa." Be cautious and careful not to whip the high-lived horse for every quick step he takes, until you see it is likely to become a habit; then cut him with the whip and make him obey the word "whoa," and he will always be quick and ready to obey the word to go. When you use your whip, do so in earnest, and be sure that your horse is willing to obey before you give up whipping. If you get scared and afraid, and let jonr horse go off and have it partly his own way, it were better you had not struck him at all. When you are whipping, never try to strike your horsG sixiy times in a minu;.">, but whip according to tho rules and instructions laid down hero, and then thera will alwiys ho a fair u.idji'.ir/.iiii'n^ botv\^3G!i yo i and yjur horse. When he refuses to obey, ho learns to knov/- that he will be TO DRIVE A HORSK. 85 punished. When your horse has the fear of disobedience and is willing to obey, always be sure and treat him kindly at all times. A WORD TO THOSE WHO DRIVE IN SINGLE HARNESS. The instructions I have already imparted in this little book is necessary for you to know, and they will answer as well for the horse that is driven in the single harness, as the one that is driven in the double harness ; but as it is a little more difficult to drive one horse than it is two, it is necessary to give a little more instructions how to drive. When you pick up the reins, pull up about five pounds and squeak for him to go. In pulling the five pound rein, it prevents him from learning the habit of starting on the jump, and it also teaches him to hold up his head. When you see he is ready to start on a walk, let him go with a three pound rein. When he walks one mile, one rod or one step, pull up a seven pound rein and squeak, and he will start off on a trot. When he does this, let him go with a five pound rein. By holding a steady rein of five pounds, it kefps him from learn- ing habits that horses will learn that are driven with a slack rein. Pulling up a five pound rein makes him hold up his head in style, and gives him the appearance of being a good, free driving horse. When he trots a mile, one-half or one- fourth of a mile, say " Whay 1" and let him walk up and down hills. Never ask him to trot two, three or seven miles up and down, as this will very likely break down his constitution ; then he will trot more like a dog than a horse, or perhaps he will never trot again. There are hundreds of 7 86 THE RIGHT WAY good high-lived horses that have lost their lives by letting them have their own way, and allowing them to trot, trot, up hill and down, until they become completely exhausted, and fall down and die. So try and use good judgment and the word "whay," and make them obey. "When he walks a few rods, it gives him a chance to get his lungs full of air ; then he is ready to start on the trot again . Now he is coming up to a bridge, you say " Whay !" and he holds up and walks. He is afraid of the bridge. He walks very slowly. You hold a steady rein of three or five pounds, and give him the word to go, but he pays no atten- tion to yoU; and he is just going to stop. Give him one sharp cut of the whip, and if he jumps to the right, jerk him with the left, and say '• Whoa !" then he stops. He has shown you that if you strike him again he will whirl around and tip you over. Get out of the buggy and unhitch him, and run the buggy back a few steps ; take the reins out of the turret-rings and run them through the thill-straps. Now stand behind your horse, and pull up a steady rein, and give him the word to go ; then give him one cut of the whip. Strike him in earnest, and if he whirls around from the bridge, then jerk and surge him, and cut him with the whip four or five times. Surge him every time after strik- ing him ; then say " Whoa !" As soon as he obeys the word "whoa," give him the Vv^ord to go, and rein him around to the bridge again. If he appears to be afraid, speak to him kindly, telling him to go. Just as he puts his foot on the bridge, he whirls around again. Treat him as you did be- fore; and when you rein him up to the bridge again, he goes across it like a leaf tremblingon a tree. He is afraid of the bridge, and he is still more afraid of the whip. He will TO DRIVE A HORSE. 87 never try to whirl around again to get surged, jerked and cut with the whip. When he gets across the bridge, say " Whoa !" Go up to him, pat and caress him. In this way you give him courage to go across it again. You are teach- ing him to have . confidence in you ; you are showing him that you do not want to whip him ; and you will not, if he only obeys those words he was taught to understand. Now you can drive him across the bridge a couple of times, then hitch him to the buggy and start along again. If this is the first time he ever disobeyed in this way, I will guarantee he will never trouble you again. You have taught him to fear, love and obey 3^ou, and he will alwa3^s have confidence in your word, and be free and willing to go wherever you guide him with the reins ; but you must never ask him to go where it is impossible to do so. Here is another horse that has been driven with a slack rein, and allowed to have partly his own way ; he drives all on one rein. When he goes down hill he holds his head on the left side and his hind-quarters on the right, and goes bobbing down the hill sideways. When a horse acts in this manner, never keep crying "Whay!" "Whoa!" "Whay!" " Whoa !" Hold a steady rein, and rein him to the left side of the road. Now you have his head turned around as far to the left as you can get it, give him one good jerk with the right rein and surge him lightly, and say " Whay !" Do this as often as it is necessary. Perhaps you will get a chance to jerk him three or four times on the first hill you drive him down. Do this and he will soon take the hint not to put his head around to one side to get it jerked to the other. He has also learned the habit of tr^nng to turn in and stop at every house you come to. 88 THK RIGHT WAT Here is a house on the left side of the road, and jour horse is turning in to stop. You pull three pounds on the right rein and two on the left, and your horse turns his head to the right and keeps going sideways. Give him one sharp cut of the whip on the left side, then jerk him with the left rein, and surge him until he is straight again in the thills; then rein him into the road, and be sure and hold him down on the walk until you see he is willing to walk. When he turns his head around to the right side, or if he turns it to the left, never strike him on the left side, but strike him on the right; and when he turns it to the right, strike him on the left. Here is another way to treat him : when he turns to the right to stop at a house, hold a steady rein of three or five pounds, and let him go up to the gate and stop ; then just as quick as he stops, give him one sharp cut of the whip on the right side, then surge him until you see if you can hold him down on the walk with an eleven pound rein, and rein him out on the road. Treat him in this way a few times, and you will find you have his habits completely broken up. He will not try to go to one side or the other until you guide him with the reins. Here is another horse, and you have lost control of one side of his mouth. You can rein him to the left ; but when you try to turn him to the right, he holds his head stiff against the rein, and you can never turn him around short. "When you are driving him on the road, make a practice of reining him to the left side of it. Now try and rein him to the right. Pull three or five pounds on the right hand rein ; he holds his head stiff against the steady pull of the rein ; ease up on the right rein and jerk him. If he starts to trot, surge and say " Whay !" Do this, and he will soon learn to go to the right with a steady pull on the rein. TO DRIVE A HORSE. 89 Here is another horse that has been driven with a harsh bit, and he has so much fear of it that when you tell him to go, he will stick up his head and dance, or perhaps rear up. When he acts in this manner, do not pull more than one or two pounds on the reins until you get him started. Now give him the w^ord to go ; then give him a cut of the whip. He starts on the jump ; hold him with the five or eleven pound rein until he goes six or seven rods ; then say "Whoa !" and if he don't obey, surge him. Let him stand a few moments, and this will teach him that he w^as not w^hipped to make him trot or run, but that you punished him for not obejang the word to go. If he rears up, do not pull a pound on the reins when he is up, but be sure and cut him with the whip around the hind legs. If he springs ahead and comes down all right, hold him with the five or eleven pound rein, or surge hirn if it is necessar}^; but you must let him go five or seven rods before you stop him. Treat him in this way, and he will soon learn that he can start right off just as quick as he hears the word to go. You can do this just as I say, if your horse has not learned other habits, such as balking, kicking, bolting, plunging and running away. When he learns any of these habits, you must have him broken over again. Here is another horse, and he has a little too much fear of the v/hip, and not enough fear of the bit When you squeak for him to go, he starts on the jump, and sometimes when he is walking, if you make the least move, he thinks you are going to strike him, and he jumps and almost jerks you out of the buggy. Pull up a steady rein and squeak for him to go. When he jumps give him a sudden pull, and that sets him back ; then surge him and squeak, and he starts off with 90 THE RIGHT WAY his head up in the air. He is afraid to jump again. "When he is walking, make a move as if you were getting ready to strike him, and he jumps. Treat him just as you did before, and sometimes after surging it will do well to give him a cut of the whip. This shows him it is useless to jump and try to get away from the whip. When you strike, surge him again, then hold him with a five or eleven pound rein, squeak, and let him go off on the walk. Treat him in this way for a few days, and he will learn to have as much fear of the bit as he has of the whip ; then he will not jump when you squeak for him to go. A.lways bear in mind and learn to pull up on your reins, and hold a tight rein. Jerk, surge and handle the reins just as I say, and you will keep control of your horse's mouth ; you can then hold him with one hand with an eleven pound rein, cut him with the whip, and make him obey the word "whoa," or any other word he was taught to understand. If he ever gets scared and starts to run away, just one jerk or surge and the word "whay" makes him walk right along and attend to his own business. Or if he ever attempts to kick, treat him in the same way, and it will be impossible for him to do so. Believe me, dear reader, you will find it to work with you just as I say, when you have control of the mouth; but if you are driving a horse, and have lost all control of its mouth, or perhaps you never had got control of it, he can kick or run away, and jerking or surging will take no effect. THE WAY TO TRAIN A HORSE TO TROT. Every man that tries to train a horse to trot his full speed, it is necessary for him to know how to drive, and have some TO DRIVE A HORSE. 91 practice and good judgment. If he does not understand his business, he is liable to teach the horse to pull on the bit ; then he is liable to run away or learn the habit of kicking. If the horse has been driven according to my instructions, you will not have to teach him to hold on the bit ; but if he has always been driven with a slack rein, the first thing you must teach him is to hold on the bit five or seven pounds. Now, drive him on the trotting course and give him his first lesson. Pull up a seven pound rein and squeak for him to go. If he does not know how to start when you hold a tight rein, give him three or five sharp cuts of the whip, and surge or jerk him every time after striking him, if it is necessary. When you see that you can hold him with an eleven pound rein, you must not surge him any more, unless he shows you some signs of kicking. Just as quick as you get through whipping and surging, squeak and let him start on the trot with a ten pound rein. When he trots four or five rods, com- mence letting out on the reins by degrees, until you let them out about five or seven pounds ; but if he is tender bitted, you had better teach him to trot with the five pound rein. He holds the five pounds on the bit, and trots very well until he goes eighty or ninety rods, then he commences to hold up. Keep pulling a five pound rein, and do not click or squeak until he walks, then draw up your eleven pound rein and cut him with the whip two or three times, then squeak for him to go, and let him start just as you did the first time. This teaches him that he must hold the five pounds on the bit, and also that when you start him off" on the trot, he must never dare to hold up and walk until you pull the eleven pound rein and pronounce the word •' whay." Just as quick as you let him have the five pound rein he 92 THE RIGUT WAY Starts on the gallop, commence jerking with both reins to- gether, keeping time with every jump. Ease up on your reins and let him jump, then jerk him just as quick as he strikes the ground, but you must not jerk him too hard. Let him run as fast as he could trot. Jerking him in this wa}^ will teach him that it is his jumping and gallop- ing which is the cause of the bit jerking and jarring his mouth every time he alights on the ground. He learns that galloping in this manner is a hard way to travel, and he will soon take the hint and strike out on a trot. If he does not do this before he goes ten or fifteen rods, pull up a steady rein of eleven pounds and rein him a little to the right and left, and say " Whay T' and he strikes out on' the trot ; squeak, and he trots off all right. When he trots a mile or one-half, pull up your eleven pound rein, and say " Whay 1" then rein him off the track, and say " Whoa !". Get out of your sulky, pat and caress him, lead him around and give him all kinds of good treatment. Practice in this way and he will soon learn what he goes on the track for ; and when you pull up on your reins, and give him the word to go, he will start right off and hold five pounds on the bit, and trot his mile without squeaking, whipping or surging. Now he understands you, and he knows just what you want him to do ; that is, to trot. You can now teach him to put in his best steps and trot his full speed, by cracking your whip and using the w^ord "get," or the word "yep." When you urge him to go, he starts on the gallop. Jerk him with the left and strike him on the right, and jerk him with the right and strike him on the left. Do this with him three or five times ; but you must keep time w^ith every jump, jerking him when he alights on the ground, and striking him when he is TO DRIVK A HUBSE. 93 up off the ground. When you get through whipphig, rein him a little to the right and left, and he strikes out on the trot, going his full speed. "When a horse is trotting his full speed, you must keep still. It is useless to ask a horse to do more than he is able to. If you persist, and such was the cause of him breaking the trot, you must not punish him for it. If you see he is likely to break, pull your nine or eleven pound rein, and if he breaks, rein him a little to the right and left and he will strike on the trot again. Give him practice, as practice will always make him perfect. When you have your horse trained in this way, a boy ten years old has strength enough to hold and drive him with perfect ease, for he is not like the horse that has learned to pull on the bit. It is a very great mistake to teach your horse to pull on the bit, as long as you know the horse is the strongest. Where is the man who can lead a horse with the halter if he is not broken to lead, so that he will not pull back on the halter ? Well then, where is the man who can hold a horse vrith the bit if he is not broken to it, and taught that he must never dare to pull over eleven pounds on the bit ? The horse that is driven according to my instructions will never require any of the over-checks, or standing martingals or harsh bits. When you puU up your five or seven pound rein, and squeak for him to go, you will see that his head v*-ill be up in style. ALL HARSH BITS CONDEMNED. I condemn all harsh bits for these reasons : First, a horse has a right to hold five or seven pounds on the bit, and it is 94 THE RIGHT WAY impossible for him to do this with any bit except the round straight bar-bit, without pinching his mouth and making it sore. When you drive with a harsh bit, your horse is con- stantly in misery, and it is liable to raise the temper of any horse; you get yourself into trouble, and your horse learns the habit of rearing up and balking, all of which is caused by using the harsh bit. The bit that all horse- trainers use for their kicking bridle never ought to be used, that is, the com- mon snaffle-bit. When you put this bit in the colt's mouth, you can buckle up the head-stall as short as you please, and the bit will kink down in the centre, so that the colt can get his tongue over the bit, and perhaps it will become a habit. When you pull up your five or seven pound rein, it causes the bit to shut up tight against each side of the mouth, something like a jack-knife, but not quite so sharp. It makes the mouth raw and sore on each side. When you pull on the right or left rein to turn him to the right or left, it pulls the bit right straight back, and it is much harder for the colt to understand the pull of the rein with such a bit. If the colt starts up and pulls a little more on the bit than five pounds, the bit gives and shuts up a little tighter, and when the colt feels the bit giving, it gives him courage to jump and pull on it again and try to get away, for he imagines it is broken. If you jerk and surge with such a bit, it will not take as much effect on the horse's mouth as the straight bit will. When you jerk the straight bit with the right hand rein, it strikes the lower jaw on the right side, and the upper jaw on the left side ; this makes the horse open his mouth, and it is impossible for him over to hold the bit in his teeth. When you jerk the snaffle-bit it only strikes one side of the lower jaw ; and when you get through jerk- TO DRIVE A HORSE. 95 ing and surging, your horse is afraid to try to hold five or seven pounds on the bit, because the bit pinches his mouth. So you can see you have your horse under punishment all the time, it makes no difference whether he is doing right or wrong. When he pulls too hard on the bit, you jerk and surge him ; when he tries to hold five or seven pounds on the bit, your bit pinches and hurts his mouth, and in this way you confuse him and he never learns to know what you mean. You are liable to teach him to become vicious and full of resentment and revenge ; then he is liable to kick, balk or run away, and the cause of all this is the snaffle-bit, but any other harsh bit has the same effect. If you are driving a horse whose mouth you have lost control of, and he has learned the habit of running away or that of pulling on the bit, when you drive him with the curb or chain-bit, it never breaks up these habits. Perhaps you can hold him with the curb-bit, but he will fret and sweat just as much as he ever did, and you will soon have him taught so that he Avill be afraid to start, so that you will have to push on the reins and drive with slack reins. Take the curb-bit out of his mouth and put the straight bit in, and he will pull on the bit just as hard as ever, and run away just as quick. So you can see that the harsh bit never tells your horse he is doing wrong, besides you keep him in misery all his life- time, just because you never learned the right way to bit him and get control of the mouth. But if you learn the correct way to drive, you can keep control with a straight bit ; then you can see you did wrong in ever driving with a harsh bit. 9G THK KIGHT WAV CONCLUSION. Before 1 close, I wish to make a few r^iOre remarks, and then I. am done. If the instructions I have laid dow-n how to drive the horse in the right way are properly followed, I w-ill guarantee they will be found to w^ork with you just as I say. I have found them to do so with every horse I have ever broken, and will be found similarly efficacious with any other horse, if broken to the bit and taught to obey those words necessary for him to understand. But when horses get excited that have been accustomed to slack rein driving, you lose all control of the mouth. Driving horses tha-t are allow^ed to pull on the bit just when they please, or per- mitted to start without getting the w^ord to do so, or click- ing five or six times to get them to go, or crying " Whoa!" four or five times to get them to stop, and in order to make them stand you have to keep crying ""Whoa!" — driving horses in this way is all chance w^ork, and they were never half broken. If you try to w^hip, jerk or surge such horses as these, it is doubtful whether you can make them obey or not. A horse that has been broken to the bit and taught to know that he must obey those w^ords he Avas taught to understand, when he disobeys, you can cut him with the whip and make him obey ; but the horse that never was thoroughly broken to the bit, and taught that he must obey those words that are necessary for him to understand, when you whip him he has no chance to know what he was whipped for, because you never taught him to know what was right or what was wrong. If you whip such a horse as this he is liable to run away, kick or balk. It is impossible for any man to hold a ^ TO DRIVE A HORSE. 97 horse and cut him with the whip if he is not broken to the bit. Every man who has the natural ability to break tho horse will do well to take a lesson in my school-room, and learn the right way to bit and break the horse. If you would try to drive your horse by kindness, and never whip, jerk or surge him, you will teach him so that he will have no fear of you ; then he will learn to disobey, and when you speak to him he will pay no attention to you, but he will give his attention to everything else, and will be afraid of everything he sees. You will lose all control of him. On the contrary, if you try to drive your horse bj' whipping, and never jerk, surge or treat him kindly, you will teach him to pull on the bit, and he will become vicious and run away ; or if you punish him by jerking and surging, and not whip him, you teach him to rear up and balk. I want you to see that you can spoil a horse and teach him bad habits by kind- ness or whipping, jerking or surging ; and yet they are all necessary, each and every one of them, in their proper places. Treat your horse according to the rules and regula- tions laid down here, and you can always make him obey you. Now, you have the right and the wrong way to drive the horse, so do not be tossed about by every man's opinion as to which is the right way. Any man who says he can take any horse that has learned the habit of kicking, balking or running away, and break up these habits in two or three hours, is a humbug. They may get master of the horse so that they can have control of him for one day, but the next day he is just as balky as ever. To break up any of those habits it will take a number of days, and the longer the habit is standing, the longer it will take to break up. 98 THE RIGHT WAY TO DRIVE A HORSE. Now, dear reader, all these instructions may be relied on, as they have been practically demonstrated b}" myself, under great obstacles, while driving in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, where the water and mud on the roads were often two or three feet deep and the rocks all sizes. My advice to you is to drive your horse in the right way, and you will see that you can get through without difficulty, while other men will get only into trouble and not know what to do. N.B. — Those wishing to purchase this book (price 50 cts.) can do so by addressing the author, JOHN DEENEY, East Java, Wyoming Co., N. Y. THE FA HM Kirs AND HOUSEMAN'S GUIDE TO DKIVE THE HOUSE TII?: RIOHT AND WjJONO WAY TO DKIVE A HORSE FULLY E:xrOSLr) AND EXPLAINED. JOHN DEE]NEY N E W Y U K K McGEE ? ^3ttx aj^^<^«.c ^<