COLT TRAINING. 11 



confidence in him. Hence the first lesson we give the 

 colt is simply to teach it to have confidence in us and 

 that we are its best friend and don't intend to hurt it. 



FIRST LESSON. 



Turn it loose in an enclosure about twenty-five 

 feet in diameter, (I prefer a barn floor or a large car- 

 riage house, having vehicles and all obstacles removed.) 

 take an ordinary buggy whip in your right hand, and go 

 into the enclosure with the colt. Snap the whip a few 

 times; the colt will run to get away from you; when 

 it finds it is penned up and can not get away, it will 

 then look to you for protection. Then approach him 

 quietly; if he turns his heels to kick 3'ou or run away 

 from you, give him a crack with the whip around the 

 hind legs; follow this up until he will keep his head 

 toward you; then throw the whip under the left arm 

 and step forward and caress him on the shoulder ; hand- 

 ing him a little oats, com or apple, will assist greatly 

 in winning his confidence. (However, I prefer to use 

 nothing but caresses on the point of his shoulder.) 



Let me also insist on the value of patience, from 

 the very beginning of training a colt. Start out with 

 the determination to keep cool yourself, whatever the 

 colt may do. 



It is to be expected that in his ignorance of what 

 you want of him, he will try your patience, but what of 



