The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-04-26
Editorial NOtings.

In regard to "pulling" horses, we
are indebted to Canadian friend for
some useful remarks, written by Alfred
H. Pope, of Huron Lake, Mimi, for
the London (Eug.) Field. We believe
that there are many readers of this de-
partment who will thank us for repro
ducing them, as follows: -" The majority
of people appear to endeavor to cure
the fault without any attempt being
made to ascertain the cause, which Is
generally, if not always, assumed to be
sheer cussedness' The result is an
increase of the trouble, caused by the
use of the very patent bits and rigging
employed to check it. 1t may be true
that, by their great leverage and power
of gagging horse, they prevent the
animal pulling upon drivers arms as
severely as he did without them; but
for all that, the horse is still pulling
his hardest, fighting the patent con-
trolling bit even more earnestly than
he did his old bit, fretting himself to
death, if at all high spirited, and, if not,
sulkily 'bogging on his new bit, and,
in either case, fast becoming more dis
agreeable and unsafe to drive than he
was before If horse fights bit, we
may be sure that he is not contented,
and 80 long as he is not contented be
will never trot fast on the track or make
a pleasant roadster. In nearly every
case rank puller, either in harness or
under the saddle, has been made what
he is by abuse in some form or other.
Colts when first broken never pull;
they are, indeed, generally afraid to
take any hold of the bits put into their
mouths by unthinking colt-handlers.
And right here is where they get their
lesson in pulling. If breaker is ignor-
ant enough to put common, sharp,
broken suaffle into colts mouth, he
will be fool enough to whip him into
flying up against the bit in the hope of
getting away from the whip. When
horse pulls people say that he is hard
mouthed'; little reflection and think
ing over the real causes of pulling
would show that, instead of being hard
mouthed, or, in other words, insensible
to pain, it is because he is in constant
fear of having his mouth hurt, either
from sharp bit or by being yanked'
by an ignorant driver, that he contracts
the habit of pulling. In breaking trot-
ting colts, plain leather bit is the only
one used here in the northwest by the
majority of trainers. Such bit cannot
possibly hurt them, and consequently
they readily take hold of it from the
first without being driven against it
by the whip. In breaking big colts
other mechanical means are used to
control them, rendering pulling with
main force upon a sharp steel bit I'M
necessary, for all who have ever trained
trotting race-horses know how much
depends upon their possessing fine
sensitive mouth. When a newly-pur-
chased horse is found to be puller, or
one that has been a pleasant family
horse suddenly takes to pulling, an ex-
animation of his mouth should be made.
Possibly his teeth want dressing, and
some of their sharp edges may have
lacerated his cheeks, making his mouth
sore, or some weed in the hay may have
pricked his cheeks and set up irritation
in the mucous membrane of the mouth.
Pulling on one side of the mouth more
than on the other is nearly always
caused by sore mouth. Checking a
horse too high up with the bearing rein
will make horse fight the bit, and so
drive badly. That checking has been
overdone is easily determined by the
horse shaking his head up and down
while standing and snatching at his bit
when being driven. If such high
checking is persisted in, the horse will
ultimately hog on the bit, and be.
come puller or a restless, tidgety, I'M
reliable brute. The use of sharp curb
bits is also fruitful source of pulling
in horses. Some driving horses pull
with their mouths wide open, the
tongue over the bit, and the lower jaw
screwed sideways. These faults can
be cured by using a nose-band, buck
ling it over the chin directly below the
side of the Bit"
Mr.. POPE, after these manifestly
sensible observations, gives the fol-
lowing instances of the success of a
common sense treatment ofsuch horses