is afraid of a man.  He has seen those intrusted with their care beat and abuse the older ones, and be very naturally fears the same treatment as soon as a man approaches him.  Most persons intrusted with the care of these young and green mules have not had experience enough with them to know that this defect of kicking is soonest remedied by kind treatment.  Careful study of the animal’s nature and long experience with the animal have taught me that, in breaking the mule, whipping and harsh treatment almost invariably make him a worse kicker.  They certainly make him more timid and afraid of you.  And just as long as you fight a young mule and keep him afraid of you, just so long will you be in danger of his kicking you.  You must convince him through kindness that you are not going to hurt or punish him.  And the sooner you do this, the sooner you are out of danger from his feet.

It may at times become necessary to correct the mule before he is subdued; but before doing so he should be well bridle or halter-broken, and also used to harness.  He should also be made to know what you are whipping him for.  In harnessing up a mule that will kick or strike with the forefeet, get a rope, or, as we term it in the army, a lariat.  Throw, or put the noose of this over his head, taking care at the same time that it be done so that the noose does not choke him; then get the mule on the near side of a wagon, put the end of the lariat through the space between the spokes of the fore wheel, then pull the end through so that you can walk back with it to the hinder wheel (taking care to keep it tight), then pass it through the same, and pull the mule close to the wagon.  In this position you can bridle and harness him without fear of being crippled.  In putting the rope through the above places, it should be put through the wheels, so as to bring it as high as the mule’s breast in front, and flanks in the rear.  In making them fast in this way, they frequently kick until they get over the rope, or lariat; hence the necessity of keeping it as high up as possible.  If you chance upon a mule so wild that you cannot handle him in this way, put a noose of the lariat in the mule’s mouth, and let the eye, or the part where you put the end of the lariat through, be so as to form another noose.  Set this directly at the root of the mule’s ear, pull it tight on him, taking care to keep the noose in the same place.  But when you get it pulled tight enough, let some one hold the end of the lariat, and, my word for it, you will bridle the mule without much further trouble.

In hitching the mule to a wagon, if he be wild or vicious, keep the lariat the same as I have described until you get him hitched up, then slack it gently, as nearly all mules will buck or jump stiff-legged as soon as you ease up the lariat; and be careful not to pull the rope too tight when first put on, as by so doing you might split the mule’s mouth.  Let me say here that I have broken thousands of four