o Handle a Mule Colt._--Owners and raisers of mules should pay
more attention to their habits when young. And I would give them this
advice: When the colt is six months old, put a halter on him and let the
strap hang loose. Let your strap be about four feet long, so that it
will drag on the ground. The animal will soon accustom himself to this;
and when he has, take up the end and lead him to the place where you
have been accustomed to feed him. This will make him familiar with you,
and increase his confidence. Handle his ears at times, but don't squeeze
them, for the ear is the most sensitive part of this animal. As soon as
he lets you handle his ears familiarly, put a loose bridle on him. Put
it on and take it off frequently. In this way you will secure the colt's
confidence, and he will retain it until you need him for work.

Speaking of the sensitiveness of the mule's ear, a scratch, or the
slightest injury to it, will excite their stubbornness and make them
afraid of you. I have known a mule's ear to be scratched by rough
handling, and for months afterward it was with the greatest difficulty
you could bridle him. Nothing is more important than that you should
bridle a young mule properly. I have found from experience that the best
way is this: stand on the near side, of course; take the top of the
bridle in your right hand, and the bit in your left; pass your arm
gently over his eye until that part of the arm bends his ear down, then
slip the bit into his mouth, and at the same time let your hand be
working slowly with the bearings still on his head and neck, until you
have arranged the head-stall.

It would be a saving of thousands of dollars to the Government, if, in
purchasing mules, it could get them all halter and bridle-broken.
Stablemen, in the employ of the Government, will not take the trouble to
halter and bridle-break them properly; and I have seen hundreds of
mules, in the City of Washington, totally ruined by tying them up behind
wagons while young, and literally dragging them through the streets.
These mules had never, perhaps, had a halter on before. I have seen
them, while tied in this manner, jump back, throw themselves down, and
be dragged on the ground until they were nearly dead. And what is worse,
the teamster invariably seeks to remedy this by beating them. In most
cases, the teamster would see them dragged to death before he would give
them a helping hand. If he knew how to apply a proper rem