TEACHING HORSES GOOD MANNERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 423, 16 December 1911, Page 6

TEACHING HORSES GOOD MANNERS.

If your horse is restless and wants to be off before you are rtady, as many horses habitually do, just take a halfhcur before starting on your drive, and with the assistance' of a friend break him ol' this foolish habit. You will find it a ha't-hour well spent. While your friend holds the reins put your foot on the step as if to get in the horse makes a move to go. Tighten the reins and say "whoa." Than put your foot mi the step again; the horse will make another move. Hold the reins firmly, and speak, to him again. The horse will get excited by this time. Walk around him. and pat him a little on the neck, and talk to him soothingly, and give him an apple. Put your foot on the step again and repeat the. process until the horse will stand still for you to get in and adjust yourself in your seat, and give him the, word to go. A few such lessons will train him, so he will always wait for orders before starting.

When you require him to do a certain thing speak to him soothingly, and intimate in a gentle way what you want him to do, and he will try to do it. When you return from a drive remove the harness at once, and rub the horse down with a wisp of hay or straw. Give him a bite of hay, and allow him to cool off before being watered or feed. Anyone who drives a horse or cares for one should cultivate his acquaintance, gain his confidence, let him know that ymi are his friend, and prove it to him by kind treatment. He is then your humble, obedient servant.

If your horse becomes frightened at any unusual sight or noise, do not rab the whip and commence to whip him. If you do he will connect the whipping with the object that alarmed him. and always be afraid of it. If he merely shies at an object, give him time to examine it, which, with some encouraging words from the driver, \v ill persuade him to pass it. Thus, little by little, he will become accustomed to strange sights. If a horse persists in being frightened at some stationary object,lead him up to it and feed him with grain there. -A merican.