Part 8

It may be asked: Is there not some other means of a less heroic nature, that may be resorted to, to overcome this disagreeable habit? There is no doubt that thoughtless, careless, ignorant and unintelligent handling and management of horses, especially of young ones, makes many pullers. Sensitive, nervous, courageous horses are predisposed to this fault, and there are some in which it is almost impossible to prevent the development of it.

Some horses, whose mouths have become irritable from pulling, will be very much benefited by “turning out” for two or three months. Keeping the bit out of the mouth for a length of time allows that organ to heal and freshen up, until it may regain something like its normal condition; but much care must be exercised when they are again put to work, otherwise they will soon relapse into their former habit of pulling. No matter how much care is exercised with some horses, that may almost be called natural pullers, they will develop the fault, and any measures adopted to overcome it are fruitless, and all that can be done is to seek measures of control, such as proper bitting and the use of burrs. Many pullers are quite valuable horses, and their owners are loth to lose their service, or even to part with them for a good price, on account of the good qualities they possess.

The use of burrs, like everything else in the management and control of horses, should be done with discretion. Bits and bearing reins can be made instruments of torture, just as much and more than burrs, if not intelligently used. The apparently simple matter of placing the bit in the proper position in a horse’s mouth is one subject to great abuse, and is the cause of much suffering. It is no exaggeration to state that fully one-third of the horses one sees on the streets in New York City have not got their bits in the proper position in their mouths. How frequently one sees horses with their mouths partly open, tongues dry and projecting more or less from their mouths, due entirely to bits being placed too high in them. Much of the pulling is due to this error in bitting, as is also the unsightly fault of tongue-lolling.

No practical person advocates not using bits, although on account of the ignorance and lack of intelligence and skill in the manner in which they are used, they are the cause of more suffering than all other causes combined.

There are some pullers that burrs do not benefit much, and they are sometimes used on horses unnecessarily. They are occasionally used on horses that do not pull, but have acquired the habit of pulling out in double harness. A much more rational and effectual way of overcoming this fault is to drive the horse on the other side.

Transcriber’s Note:

Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Misplaced hyphens were removed; one final stop missing at the end of a sentence was added. “It it” change to “It is.”