He-Goats and Coat-Carriages. 257 



especially from those of the opposite sex, for a week or so 

 after ; and it is also advisable that the animal should 

 have fasted for ten or twelve hours previously. Although 

 the operation is a very simple one and easily performed, 

 it should not be attempted by an unpractised hand. The 

 services of a shepherd, or someone accustomed to operating 

 on lambs or pigs, can generally be obtained, but it is 

 better to employ a veterinary surgeon. 



Coat- Carriages. 



He-goats that have been castrated are, when full- 

 grown, very useful for drawing carriages, and as they 

 possess great strength they are well-fitted for the purpose. 

 The goats that are seen at seaside resorts, however, are 

 generally either females which are worthy of a better 

 treatment and should not be put to such a use or else 

 they are under-sized, half-grown, wretched specimens of 

 the other sex that are quite unequal to the task they have 

 to perform, being objects of pity rather than admiration. 



All goats may easily be taught carriage work, and will 

 learn to obey the voice and rein as well as ponies. Their 

 education should, however, be commenced at an early age, 

 in order to get them thoroughly under control. The two 

 principal requisites in their training are patience and 

 kindness. These creatures are capricious in the extreme, 

 at times appearing to refuse to perform what is required 

 of them through pure whimsicality, which is better 

 remedied by kindness and coaxing than by any applica- 

 tion of the whip, as the latter only frightens them and 

 makes them less tractable afterwards. 



The trainer must begin by making his goat lead well, 

 putting a bit in its mouth and the harness on its back, 

 but not attaching it to any vehicle. This is, perhaps, the 

 most troublesome and difficult part of the undertaking, as 

 the animal does not at first quite understand what is 



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