AN EASY METHOD OF STARTING A BALKY HORSE.
Among the various bad habits which horses acquire there are none which more severely try the patience of man than does the habit of balking. Frequently a horse is quiet, kind, and a good roadster, but has this habit of occasionally stopping in the road. At such times the almost universal practice is to whip the horse, and sometimes most brutally, or the more sickening custom of procuring a bundle of straw or some shavings and setting them on fire under the body of the horse. Such kinds of treatment I utterly discard, and the reader will find, in another part of my book, that I give several methods which will prove effectual in eradicating this habit, only meting out sufficient punishment to secure obedience.
Below I give an excellent method of starting a balky horse, and one which will prove effectual, though it will not educate the horse to abandon the habit. When your horse balks get out of your carriage, walk up to him and commence kicking him with the toe of your boot under the fetlock joint, first one then the other, using the word “shoo!” loud and quick every time you kick. Then take your seat in the carriage and use the word as before directed, when your horse will start at once. This process diverts his attention and causes him to move on.
TO EDUCATE A BALKY HORSE TO DRAW IN DOUBLE HARNESS.
TO EDUCATE A BALKY HORSE TO DRAW.