52 TIIE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 



without tying him up, he was lucky to get away with the 

 loss of most of his clothes. Dutchman would take hold like 

 a bull-terrier, and shake till his hold came away. He was 

 also a kicker. In ordinary cases, I would not give much 

 for a horse of this temper for the performance of any thing 

 very great upon the course ; but like Flying Childers and 

 English Eclipse, both of whom, I am told, were ill-tem- 

 pered, and ill-formed in some points, Dutchman was "a 

 horse above ordinances." 



In handling the two-year-old trotter, then, the utmost 

 care, as well as gentleness and firmness, should be exer- 

 cised. In former times, it was not customary to handle 

 colts until they were five years old ; but experience has since 

 shown that they can very well be broken at two years old, 

 and can be got to trot at three. The matter depends not 

 upon the doing, but upon the manner of its doing. If the 

 breaker or owner finds that the young thing can trot a lit- 

 tle, and is always hankering to see him " do it again," or 

 do a little better, he will soon have one that can't and won't 

 do any thing worth his or anybody else's seeing. Progress, 

 to be good and safe, must be gradual, but it should be con- 

 tinual. There is no sense at all in working a colt along so 

 that he can trot well at three or four years old, and then 

 turning him out until he is five or six. He should be kept 

 at it gently, so as to hold fast all he knows at least ; and 

 this he is sure to do if not forced off his legs. 



When the colt has been mouthed, bitted, and lounged in 

 the lot, he will be led out upon the roads, and thus accus- 

 tomed to meet and pass vehicles, horsemen, cattle, and the 

 like. He is then to be broken to the saddle ; during which 

 process he should be ridden about the country roads, and 

 not kept out so long at a time as to become leg-weary. The 

 weight upon his back must be remembered ; and the rider 

 should often ease him by dismounting, and leading him. A 

 great deal less walking is now given to horses of all ages 

 than was formerly the case. When I was a boy, and riding 



