186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



fair price is offered, the colt should be sold, unless it may 

 be desired to keep it for breeding purposes. The owner 

 should take pains to find out the quality of his colt pro- 

 spectively, which he can usually do by watching him at his 

 play, while following the dam ; and as he grows older he 

 should be gradually trained to the harness and a light hitch, 

 until old enough to do some work ; but he should never be 

 put to long-continued, exhaustive work until matured. The 

 ordinary light work of the farm is, I believe, the best kind 

 for training a colt, for working beside a steady horse teaches 

 hkn to be steady and reliable, and exercises all the muscles, 

 and is far better than standing in the stable or driving on 

 the road continually. In this way the disposition and good 

 qualities of a colt will gradually display themselves, and the 

 owner will be able to form a very good idea of the future of 

 the colt. 



If he has the appearance of being very fast, there is danger 

 of ruin, — not to the colt, but to his owner. He should 

 stoutly resist all temptations to place him in the hands of a 

 trainer, to develop, for as soon as he begins he will find 

 expenses have begun ; hopes of a large sum of money will 

 be continually held out as a bait, and continually will the 

 expense accumulate, until the colt has eaten himself up, and 

 the owner is fortunate if he has not eaten the farm and 

 stock besides. The farmer should be a breeder, and con- 

 fine himself to that ; and, when a colt goes out of his hands, 

 let it be an actual sale, with its fair equivalent in money. I 

 would advise him to sell his best colts, if possible, where 

 they will be trained for all they are worth. If he has the 

 dam at home, and more colts following along, the chances 

 are that the colts will be looked after, and the price will 

 increase as his colts prove valuable ; but on no account 

 whatever should he develop them himself. A wealthy 

 breeder that is farming partly for profit and partly for 

 pleasure may do as he likes ; but with the ordinary farmer 

 the colts may be used to pay the mortgage, or as easily used 

 to add to it. There is a great deal of pleasure in raising a 

 good colt or two each year, and watching them develop ; 

 many a dream, too, will flit through his mind as he sees him 

 now and then with arched neck and distended nostrils leading 



