The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-01-22
MANAGING HORSES.
How to Break Tricky Animals of Baking,
Running Back and Lying Down.

4 Running Back and Lying Down.
Horses that are in other respects ex-
cellent animals sometimes have some
little trick or vice that spells their
stability and greatly impairs their
usefulness. III the trick can be eradi-
Gated they become valuable animals.
How to break them of these vicious
tricks becomes, therefore. an impor-
tant matter to the owners. Violence
and severity, when tried in such cases,
have always been found inadequate. In
deed, it is usually the case that such
treatment has been the cause of the
tricks, or at least has been the means
of confirming the animal in its evil
way. Take, for instance, the case of
the balky horse.
Baking is usually the result of bad
management or abusive treatment of
the horse. One thing is certain, and
that is, that it is of no use to whip the
balky horse. That only makes him
worse. If u horse refuses to 90, let
him stand and think of il few min
utes. Oftentimes he will soon think
better of it, and start off of his own
accord. If he does not, get out and
pat him, speak kindly, give him a
bunch of grass, potato or an apple,
unhitch the check-rein-doing some
thing just to take his attention off of
the baking, and generally he will 60
along without further trouble. The
horse is very susceptible to
times the chance to break up the habit
of baking by kindly treatment that
there is by abuse or violence. The |
horse that can not he subdued by kind |
ness, can not be by harsh means; or, at |
least, harsh means should not be re-
sorted to until all devices prompted by |
kindness have been thoroughly ex-
hausted.
Some horses, instead of refusing to |
go at all, have u trick of running back |
when you want to start them. This is |
a worse fault than that of refusing to |
60 at all, as it is liable TO smash the |
or injure those in it. In such |
cases the same means as are recon- |
mended for the balky horse may be
tried. If those fail. take the horse
into the middle of an open level field,
start him, and let him back Us much
as he wishes, keeping the wheel turned |
so as to make the circuit OF the field as /
many times as he wishes. Then make |
him keep backing until he is heartily
sick of it and dizzy. Then he will see
that he has been beaten at his own
game, and will not be likely to try it
again.
Some horses greatly annoy their
owners by lying down in the harness,
breaking shafts and doing other mis-
chief. The best way TO break them of
that trick is to give them an overdose
of it. When one of those lies down
get upon his head and neck and make
him stas there. He VIII soon want to
get up, but hold him down, keeping
his head fat on the ground and hold
ing it there. If you are strong and
determined you can keep him down,
although it will be lively work for
awhile. But don't give up. Keep him
there till he is tired out and gives up.
If it takes all day, and night too.
When he gives up he knows that he is
and that you are stronger
than he. He will no. be likely to put
himself in a position that will giveyou
A chance tn hold him down
Whatever the trick or vice the
horse may have, it will generally do
no good to whip or treat him harshly.
It only exasperates him and makes
him more obstinate, and perhaps even
furious. Treat the horse kindly and
if you wish to reclaim
aim.-N. Y. Examiner.