and as soon as you have the shafts square over him, let the person on the
opposite side take hold of one of them and lower them very gently on the
shaft bearers. Be very slow and deliberate about hitching; the longer time
you take, the better, as a general thing. When you have the shafts placed,
shake them slightly, so that he will feel them against each side. As soon
as he will bear them without scaring, fasten your braces, etc., and start
him along very slowly. Let one man lead the horse to keep him gentle,
while the other gradually works back with the lines till he can get behind
and drive him. After you have driven him in this way a short distance, you
can get into the sulky, and all will go right. It is very important to
have your horse go gently, when you first hitch him. After you have walked
him awhile, there is not half so much danger of his scaring. Men do very
wrong to jump up behind a horse to drive him as soon as they have him
hitched. There are too many things for him to comprehend all at once. The
shafts, the lines, the harness, and the rattling of the sulky, all tend to
scare him, and he must be made familiar with them by degrees. If your
horse is very wild, I would advise you to put up one foot the first time
you drive him.


HOW TO MAKE A HORSE LIE DOWN.

Every thing that we want to learn the horse must be commenced in some way
to give him an idea of what you want him to do, and then be repeated till
he learns it perfectly. To make a horse lie down, bend his left fore leg,
and slip a loop over it, so that he cannot get it down. Then put a
circingle around his body, and fasten one end of a long strap around the
other fore leg, just above the hoof. Place the other end under the
circingle, so as to keep the strap in the right hand; stand on the left
side of the horse, grasp the bit in your left hand, pull steadily on the