Part 6

Kindness, petting, coaxing with a lump of sugar, carrot, apple or other dainty sometimes succeeds with a balky horse when harsh measures fail. Cruel procedures should be discountenanced and punished and among these the worst trick, perhaps, is to start a fire of paper, straw or brush under the balker. Sometimes all that is necessary is to distract the animal’s attention by pounding lightly with a stone on the shoe of a fore foot, by tying a cord around the leg under the knee, or by holding up one foot for a few minutes.

When a horse balks, one way of curing him is to remove the harness, put on a halter, pull his head around to his side and tie the halter rope in a slip-knot to a strand or two of the tail hair, so as to keep the head well toward the tail. Then he is forced to walk around in a circle until he staggers and is ready to drop, when the rope may be loosed and the horse will be likely to behave and remember the lesson for some time.

Some horses balk by lying down and refusing to budge. If the four feet of such a sulker are “hog-tied” together and he is abandoned and allowed to remain tied for an hour or two, he will usually be thankful to get up and go on when set at liberty.

One owner broke a balker by working him on a mower for a few days with his tail tied to the singletree tight enough to take part of the strain. After that he would pull by the tugs without having his tail tied.

The “guy rope” plan is sometimes effective. A small rope is tied around the horse’s neck and a half hitch taken with it on his lower jaw. A husky man then pulls steadily upon the rope and the horse will usually start forward with a lunge. If not a confirmed old balker he may give up the standing habit if treated in this way a few times.

Light, rapid switching across the nose with a light whip sometimes starts a balker, but severe whipping has an opposite effect.

The writer once was called to see a draft work-mare that was “down” in an Irish teamster’s yard and refused to get up. The poor brute was surrounded with whips and sticks that had been broken over her back, and her body was covered with welts from the whipping. The neighbors thronged around to see what would happen when the “Doctor” tried his hand at a job which had baffled their attempts. Examination of the pulse showed a normal condition and the membranes of the eyes gave no indication of sickness. After the mare’s head and neck had been patted and stroked for a few minutes, and she had been spoken to kindly and gently, she got up at once when the halter was pulled upon and the word of command given. Then she followed the veterinarian about the yard like a dog, recognizing him as her only friend, and ever since that teamster has said, “Sure that mon has the power iv healin’ in his hands!” Whereas, the abused mare only needed and wanted a little kindness and coaxing.

Here is a cure for balking recommended by E. A. Gerrard: “In order to break a balky horse it is necessary to have the appliances, though the first requirement is a cool head. Next you will want a steady horse to hitch with the balky one, together with a strong hopple strap, a rope and a covered swivel pulley, and a good harness and wagon with a long tongue, though one of ordinary length will do.

Fasten your pulley on the end of the tongue so that it will work free; put the hopple on the balky horse’s hind ankle, next to the tongue, and tie the rope in the hopple ring. Now run it through the belly-band, up through the pulley and back to the end of the doubletree on the side of the balky horse, and tie it fast. See that your horses are standing even, making the rope snug, so that the horse can stand easy. Take off your stay chains, sever the line from the terrets on the balky horse, get into the wagon, gather your lines so that you can have control, keep cool, and wait half a minute; then speak to the team and start the steady horse. As he starts he pulls his end of the doubletree forward and draws on the wagon, the other end of the doubletree going back, pulling the rope through the pulley and lifting the balky horse’s foot. He tries to put his foot down and in doing so he takes a step.

Say, ‘whoa!’ and stop your steady horse. Do not let the balky horse make more than one step. Now sit still for half a minute, then start again, stopping as soon as the first step is made, by the same process. Sit still for another half minute, then repeat. Each time you will have taught your horse that when you told him to go he had to step.

Now if you are a horseman get down, go to your horse’s head, pat his neck, tell him he is doing well and that he will be the best pulling horse on the place. Then try him again. If he is very anxious to go at the word, let him make six or eight steps, then stop and sit quiet for half a minute. Gradually increase the distance you allow them to go each time, not forgetting to stop long enough to allay any excitement before starting again. When you have driven half a mile be sure you are back at the stable, take your horse out, have a bottle of strong borax water at hand and bathe his ankle for five minutes where the hopple rubbed it.

On the next day hitch up with the balker on the other side of the tongue. With most balky horses two lessons will prove enough; often one will answer. But if the horse is old he may forget in two or three weeks, if rested much, so you will need to keep your appliances ready and put them on at the first sign of balking.

There is little danger of a horse forgetting if he is worked with the same mate and driver; therefore if you want a perfect job you will do well to change the driver and the mate while the lesson is fresh.”

Mr. F. H. Osburn, of Benton County, Indiana, is the author of the following method of handling a balky mare:

“I had a good true horse to put beside this mare, one which I knew could pull two such as she. Then instead of putting a stay chain to my true horse I put on what I call a stay rope, looping it around the balky mare’s tail, drawing it up short and tying it to the other horse’s hame ring. Whenever I spoke to my true puller something else had to come although the balky mare was not very hasty to respond for the first few lessons. We now have her convinced and I drive her single, ride her when driving cattle, can use the cattle whip over her, and she pays no attention to it. At times she runs idle for a week or ten days, but she never gives me a minute’s bother when I use her again.”

Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker.

Various methods have been proposed from time to time for stopping a horse from kicking in the stall. Here are several gleaned from various sources:

Strap a piece of chain, about 18 inches to 2 feet in length, to the horse’s pastern so that it will fly back and hit him each time he kicks. A trace or stay chain will do.

Pad the sides of the stall thickly with hay or straw kept in place by sacking. When the horse kicks at this and does not hear the sound of his foot striking the boards, he will be scared and quit kicking.

Buckle a leather surcingle around the horse’s body back of the fore legs and to it fasten a small double pulley placed under the belly. Now place straps with buckles on them on each of his legs below the fetlock joint, having a ring in each strap. Take ½ inch rope, tie to the ring on one front foot, run it up through the pulley, back to the hind foot on the opposite side and tie, then do the same with the opposite feet. Leave the rope long enough for the animal to step. When an attempt is made to kick, the pulley raises the front feet. Use this in the stable until the kicking habit is cured.

To cure a barn kicker pack an ordinary grain bag tight with hay or straw and suspend it from top of the stall by a rope or strap, so that it will swing free from the side of the stall and near the place the horse strikes the boards when he kicks. When kicked the bag will swing back and hit the horse on its return trip, and he will climb into the hay mow, if he can. If the horse kicks with both feet, hang a bag on each side.

Tie the kicking horse between swinging partitions whether in a single or box stall. The partition kicks back each time it is kicked by the horse.

An “Old Timer” writing in the Breeders’ Gazette, suggests the following plan for a pregnant mare that is a bad kicker:

“Have a collar made of 1½ inch first-class heavy harness leather, long enough to go around the mare’s neck at the point where the collar fits, with 1¾ inch ring at the breast, then get a strap 1½ inches wide, the full length of a side of harness leather, cut tapering to 1 inch or less at the tip of the light end, with 1¾ inch ring in the other. Then get a 2½ inch strap just long enough to go around the pastern of the hind foot with ¾ inch ring in each end. Have the edges of this strap slightly champered. Slip the collar on the mare’s neck, put the short strap around the pastern of the left hind foot, the thin long strap through the rings on the pastern, then through the ring on the end of the long strap, and slip up snug and tight: next, run the strap between the fore legs and through the ring in the collar on the neck. Now draw it up snug when she is standing in her natural position and secure it with a slip-knot so that it can be easily removed when necessary.

There will be no excitement about this, and no punishment. It does not interfere with the mare’s lying down or getting up; all it will do for her will be to prevent her from kicking, simply because she cannot, and she will soon learn to live in peace with her stable mates. We have used this for many years without a failure, and we would be pleased to have all humane horsemen use it in preference to a long chain or heavy swinging block or padded stall.”

Secret Tricks in Horse Trading.

Secret of Shutting a Heaver.

Heaves or broken wind more commonly perhaps than any other unsoundness, offers opportunity and necessity for skilful handling by the trickster in horse dealing. There are numerous plans for the temporary relief of this disease, and so skilfully is the work done that often it is not suspected or discovered under twenty-four hours following a purchase. The “patient” receives no bulky food and all feed is wetted. Sometimes ammonia water is used in sprinkling the hay, and the observant buyer may detect this by the odor. Lime water or a solution of baking soda also is frequently used. An examination of the bit may show that it has been “medicated”; and allowing the horse to drink all the water he wants will be likely to disclose the heaves when he is made to gallop or pull a load. A pint of whiskey well diluted with water given as a drench also will be likely quickly to offset the effect of drugs.