This will give him the idea of raising
his head to loosen the bit, and then you can draw the bitting a little
tighter every time you put it on, and he will still raise his head to
loosen it; by this means you will gradually get his head and neck in the
position you want him to carry it, and give him a nice and graceful
carriage without hurting him, making him mad, or causing his mouth to get
sore.
If you put the bitting on very tight the first time, he cannot raise his
head enough to loosen it, but will bear on it all the time, and paw, sweat
and throw himself. Many horses have been killed by falling backward with
the bitting on, their heads being drawn up, strike the ground with the
whole weight of the body. Horses that have their heads drawn up tightly
should not have the bitting on more than fifteen or twenty minutes at a
time.
HOW TO DRIVE A HORSE THAT IS VERY WILD, AND HAS ANY VICIOUS HABIT
Take up one fore foot and bend his knee till his hoof is bottom upwards,
and merely touching his body, then slip a loop over his knee, and up until
it comes above the pasture joint to keep it up, being careful to draw the
loop together between the hoof and pasture joint with a second strap of
some kind, to prevent the loop from slipping down and coming off. This
will leave the horse standing on three legs; you can now handle him as you
wish, for it is utterly impossible for him to kick in this position.
There is something in this operation of taking up one foot that conquers a
horse quicker and better than any thing else you can do to him.
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