Fig. 4.—First loop in forming a rope-halter. Fig. 5.—Second step.
The rope employed should be soft, and not too thick, so as to allow the knots to be made with facility.
The reader will observe, that this halter which I have devised, is only an improvised adaptation, which need not take half a minute to make, of the ordinary rope-halter. I have no doubt that others, prompted by necessity, like myself, have hit on this rough-and-ready method; although I have never seen a halter made in quite the same manner as I have described.
Haltering a loose Horse.—Let us suppose that the animal is in some suitable enclosure, such as a yard, loose box, or small paddock; for it is almost needless to say, that if he were at liberty in the open, and averse from being captured, no man unaided could possibly catch him. The first thing to do is to make the rope-halter—as described in the preceding part of this chapter—if one be not at hand, and then to get the horse to stand quietly in some convenient corner. We may make him move, or stop, as may be required, by gently working a long pole held in the hands across the body, alternately, behind and in front of him; and, having got him into the proper position, we may induce him to stand steady, as I have found by experience, by touching him on the neck, and then rubbing it with the end of the pole. I have hardly ever known this to fail in its object. Horses, almost always, like having their necks scratched. As soon as the animal will stand still, while his neck is being “gentled” with the stick, the halter may be put on the end of the pole by a couple of turns (see [Fig. 6]), while the free end of the rope may be twisted once or twice round the pole, to prevent it hanging down too low. The operator will now take the pole, with the halter then rigged on to it, and will endeavour to bring the crown-piece of the halter behind the ears, without frightening the animal; while holding the end of the pole a little above
Fig. 6.—Rope-halter on pole, ready for use.