90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Every breeder should be fond of association with animals : 

 he should be a judge of form, health, and improvement, and 

 he should understand how to handle them. There are no 

 secrets in the horse-business that men of average intelligence 

 in regard to animals cannot at once master. Quiet, patient 

 ways, with low voice, and gentle but strong hand, will teach 

 a colt all that he needs to know. There are men in every 

 New-England neighborhood who can break colts safely to 

 harness, and by persistent, careful practice, fit them to stand 

 quietly, to stop at the given word, and to be way-wise on 

 any roads. In my county of Worcester, there are commu- 

 nities where they take great pride in educating oxen ; and I 

 have seen, at Worcester and at Franklin County cattle-shows, 

 steers trained to an incredible point of intelligence and do- 

 cility. Boys tftat can train a steer to walk a chalk-line, and 

 to go on his knees at the word of command, can do wonders 

 with horses ; for the horse enjoys the companionship of 

 man, responds at once to kindness, and, next to the dog, has 

 the quickest intelligence of any of our domestic animals. 

 Horses for profit must be sold young, unless they earn their 

 living every day. Leave speculation to jockeys and dealers ; 

 sell when you have a customer ; sell whenever a reasonable 

 profit is offered to you. The best time to sell is before the 

 colt is foaled, to some one who is in love with the dam : the 

 next best time is when the foal is weaned. To the common 

 eye, all weanlings will make fine horses ; and the price of a 

 weanling generally pays more profit than the breeder ever 

 has offered to him again. When your colt is past two, every 

 hour that you delay to sell is " burning daylight." Early 

 maturity is one of the great advantages in thorough blood ; 

 and no man can afford to breed from any family that is slow 

 in maturing. 



If horses are kept on the farm because they are thought to 

 be improving, or useful in work, they are liable to accident, 

 and they are usually injured in the feet from some of the 

 diseases that are incident to shoeing. Our greatest folly in 

 our management of horses is in submitting their feet to the 

 clumsy handling of a stupid, ignorant, and often drunken 

 mechanic, to have him shod. I will not here contend that 

 horses should not be shod at all ; because shoeing, though an 

 invention of barbarians, is, when carefully used, an assist- 



