Horses know nothing about balking, only as they are brought into it by improper management, and when a horse balks in harness it is generally from some mismanagement, excitement, confusion, or from not knowing how to pull, but seldom from any unwillingness to perform all that he understands.  High spirited, free going horses are the most subject to balking, and only so because drivers do not properly understand how to manage this kind.  A free horse in a team may be so anxious to go that when he hears the word he will start with a jump, which will not move the load, but give him such a severe jerk on the shoulders that he will fly back and stop the other horse; the teamster will continue his driving without any cessation, and by the time he has the slow horse started again he will find that the free horse has made another jump, and again flew back, and now he has them both badly balked, and so confused that neither of them knows what is the matter, or how to start the load.  Next will come the slashing and cracking of the whip, and hallooing of the driver, till something is broken or he is through with his course of treatment.  But what a mistake the driver commits by whipping his horse for this act.  Reason and common sense should teach him that the horse was willing and anxious to go, but did not know how to start the load.  And should he whip him for that?  If so, he should whip him again for not knowing how to talk.  A man that wants to act with any rationality or reason should not fly into a passion, but should always think before he strikes.  It takes a steady pressure against the collar to move a load, and you cannot expect him to act with a steady, determined purpose while you are whipping him.  There is hardly one balking horse in five hundred that will pull true from whipping; it is only adding fuel to fire, and will make them more liable to balk another time.  You always see horses that have been balked a few times, turn their heads and look back, as soon as they are a little frustrated.  This is because they have been whipped and are afraid of what is behind them.  This is an invariable rule with balked horses, just as much as it is for them to look around at their sides when they have the bots; in either case they are deserving of the same sympathy and the same kind, rational treatment.

When your horse balks, or is a little excited, if he wants to start quickly, or looks around and don’t want to go, there is something wrong, and needs kind he treatment immediately.  Caress him kindly, and if he don’t understand at once what you want him to do he will not be so much excited as to jump and break things, and do everything wrong through fear.  As long as you are calm and can keep down the excitement of the horse, there are ten chances to have him understand you, where there would not be one under harsh treatment, and then the little flare up would not carry with it any unfavorable recollections, and he would soon forget all about it, and learn to pull true.  Almost every wrong act the horse commits is from mismanagement, fear or excitement; one harsh word will so excite a nervous horse as to increase his pulse ten beats in a minute.