Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-08-21

to the bit, and will bear it without trying
to geti: out of his mouth. 1t would be
well, ifconvenient, to repeat this several
times before you do anything more with
the colt; as soon as he will bear the bit,
attach single rein to it, without any mar
tingale. You should also have halter
on your colt, or bride made after the
fashion of halter, with strap to it, so
that you can hold or leal him about with
out pulling on the bit much. He is now
ready for the saddle.
HOW TO MOUNT THE COLT.
First soothe him we'll on both sides,
about the saddle, and all over, until he
will stand still without holding and is
not afraid to see you anywhere about him.
AS soon as you have him thus genteled
get small block, about one foot or eigh-
teen inches in height, and set it down by
the side of him, about where you want to
stand to mount him; step up on this, rails
ing yourself very gently; horses notice
every change of position very closely, and,
if you were to step suddenly on the block,
it would be very apt to scare him; but by
raising yourself gradually on it, he will
see you without being frightened, in a po-
stion very near the same as when you are
on his back.
As soon as he will bear this without
alarm, unite the stirrup.strap next to you,
and put your left foot into the stirrup, and
stand square over it, holding your knee
against the horse and your toe out, so as
not to touch him under the shoulder with
the toe of your boot Place your right
hand on the front of the saddle, and on
the opposite side of you, taking hold Of a
portion Of the name and reins, as they
hang loosely over the neck, with your left
hand then gradually bear your weight on
the saddle. Repeat this several times,
each time raising yourself little higher
from the block, until he will allow you TO
raise your leg over his Group and place
yourself in the saddle.
There are three great advantages in
having block to mount from. First, a
sudden change of position is very apt to
frighten young horse who has never been
handled. He will allow you to walk up
to him and stand by his side without scar
ing at you, because you have wontoned
him to that position, but if you get down
on your hands and knees and crawl toward
him, he will be very much frightened;
and upon the same principle, he would
flighten at your new position if you had
the power to hold yourself over his back
without touching him. Then, the first
great advantage of the block is to gradu-
ally accustom him to that new position
in which he will see you when you ride
him.
Secondly, by the process Of leaning your
weight in the stirrups and on your hand,
YOU can gradually accustom hin to your
weight, so as not to frighten him by hav-
inc him feel it all at once. And, in the
third place, the block e!evates you SO that
YOU will not have to make a spring
in order to to get on tn 9
horses back, but from it you can gradually
raise yourselfinto the saddle.
SUBSEQUENT EDUCATIONAL LESSONS, N
HORSE -TAMINa-How TO sUBDUE KICK
ING HORSE.
A kicking horse is the worst kind of a
horse to undertake to subdue, and more
dreaded by man than any other; inleed
it would not be too much to say that they
are more dreaded than all the other bad
and vicious horses put together. You of
ten hear the expression, even from horse
Jockeys themselves, Il don't care what he
does so he doesn't kick" Now, kicking
horse can besbroken from kicking in har-
ness, and effectuallv broken, too, though
1t will require some time to manage him
safely; but perseverance and patience by
this rule will do it effectually. When you
go 10 harness a horse that you know moth
ing about, if you want to find out whether
he is a kicking horse or not, you can ascer-
tain that fact by stroking him in the flank
where the hair lies upward, which you can
discover easily on any horse; just stroke
him down with the ends of your fingers,
and if he does not switch his tail land shake
his head, and lay back his ears, or some OF
these, you need no. fear his kick ng; If he
does any or all of these, set bin down
for kicking horse and watch him closely.
When you harm sss a kicking horse, have
a strap about tn zee feet long, with buckle
on one end; have several holes punched
in the strap; wrap it once around his leg
inst above the hoof; lift up his foot touch
ing his body; put the strap around the
the arm Of his leg, and buckle it; then
YOU can 90 behind him, and pull back on
the traces; you must not fear his kicking
while bis foot is up, for it is impossible for
him to do it. Practice him in this way
awhile, and he will soon learn to walk on
three legs. You should not hitch him up
until you have praeticed him with his leg
up two or three times, pulling on the ira
ces, and walking him along. After you
have practiced him few times in this
way, take up his foot as directed; hitch
him to something,and cause him to pull it
a short distance; then take him out; ca
ress him every time you work him. You
will find il more convenient to fasten up
his left fore foot, because that is the side