He learned to train horses at a very young age. It was clear he had a gift for horse training and made it his life's work.

Among almost countless things Beery could do with a horse, he taught them tricks. One of most amazing tricks he taught was teaching a horse to drive without lines. (In layman's terms, you have no long reins (known as lines) connected to horse. The only connection to horse is buggy hitched to horse) This trick almost defies belief!

Beery said this about driving a horse without lines: "While I do not advocate it as being a universally practical way of driving a horse, yet it is possible to so thoroughly train horse to certain signals that he can be controlled more reliably under excitement and in case of danger than it would be possible to manage him with bridle and lines."

Beery says there are a number of ways to teach this to a horse but suggests his method as most reliable.

In a nutshell, Beery first turned his horse loose in an enclosure about twenty-five feet square. He would walk in with a whip and teach horse to have confidence in him and not fear whip. (The horse is never whipped).

Once horse has learned to come to handler at command of "Come Here" and shows no fear of whip while it's gently waved over his head and body, and will follow handler all about ring, then you have laid a good foundation for further instruction.

Put horse away until next day where horse learns signals of whip.

"Here, Kitty Kitty..."

Unless they have been educated, new horse owners often think a horse is like a cat or dog. They figure if they tap their thighs and say, "C'mon,...C'mon,...C'mon..." horse'll will simply jump right in trailer like a happy dog or cat.

Mistake #2:

"Using Food As Bait"

Putting hay, grain, apples, or whatever at front of trailer to tempt a horse to step in and eat almost never works. If it did, it would be a fluke. I've seen horses lean forward to try and eat food but wouldn't step into trailer if their life depended on it.

Mistake #3:

"Forgetting To Hook The Trailer To The Truck"

Don't forget to hitch trailer to truck before getting a horse to go in trailer. If a horse steps into a trailer that moves around unforgivably, you will have a harder time getting that horse in later. He'll remember it - especially if this is horse's first time.

Mistake #4:

"The Classic Tug Of War"

Here's scene. Man (or woman) pulls lead rope to desperately drag their horse into trailer. Horse weighs 10 times more than man or woman and has far more strength than man or woman. Final score of this battle is: Human - Zero...Horse - Won

Mistake #5:

"Going Trail Riding Before Horse Is Good At Loading In A Trailer"

I've seen it time and time again. People go trail riding and when ride is over horse won't get back in trailer. Amusingly, horse owner comments, "Dang horse, he got in their last month". Remember to get your horse to practice this so it gets fixed on his brain.