44 BREEDING OF 



It will be found that on account of great difference in 

 disposition, temperament, tractability, docility and in- 

 telligence, colts will require various means to educate 

 them to become useful horses. Some are naturally stu- 

 pid and difficult to teach ; others are very nervous, and 

 everything strange alarms them; others are stubborn 

 and perverse ; each requiring to be handled according 

 to its temperament and tendency. The two governing 

 principles with the handler should be kindness and 

 firmness. 



Begin to break the colt to the halter when a few 

 weeks old, and get him so that he will lead easily. 

 Bun the hands down over his legs occasionally and 

 after a time lift his fore feet one after another for a few 

 moments. In this way you will get him used to being 

 handled in various parts of the body without any fear 

 of his being harmed. Having done this, it will be a 

 great help to the horse-shoer when he is taken to the 

 shop to be shod for the first time ; and he should be 

 taken at a time when no other horses are around, or 

 only one or two, so that he will not be apt to get rest- 

 less and excited while waiting to be shod, for, on ac- 

 count of the strange noises made by the hammer on the 

 anvil, etc., colts are often wrought up to a high 

 pitch of excitement previous to the beginning of the 

 shoeing operation. It may be well to give spirited colts 

 a considerable amount of exercise before taking them 

 to the shop, to make them more tractable to the manipu- 

 lations of the horse-shoer. Neither should any colt be 

 placed in the stall alongside of a kicker, cribber, wind- 

 sucker, weaver, or horse with other visible vices, as they 

 are often imitated in an incredibly short space of time. I 

 have known a cribber placed alongside of another horse 



