HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 161 



ceed step by step, advancing no ilister than your 

 pupil's success justifies. Hurry here and now, and 

 you will ''make a nest of it," as the phrase is. During 

 these harness- exercises^ as they might be called, accus- 

 tom the colt to pressure against the breast and shoulder 

 by tying long cords into either side of the collar ; and, 

 by pulling gently, cause him to brace himself, as he will 

 naturally do, against you. This gives him the idea of 

 draiving weight somewhere behind him ; and, by permit- 

 ting him to pull you along, he will soon grow to feel 

 that he can imll any thing. By this you will, as it 

 were, teach him to draw a wagon promptly from the 

 start, before you have ever hitched him ahead of one. 

 A colt so educated will never "balk," or refuse to 

 " go " at the word, if the weight behind him is not 

 beyond his strength; because the signal to go, and 

 the habit of pulling, have been already taught him. 

 At this point, also, he should be taught to hack. And 

 here let me urge the trainer not to pull him backward 

 bodily by main force, as I have seen trainers and gentle- 

 men do. " Backing " is to a horse loalking backward., — 

 an unnatural and awkward way for him to move. He 

 was not made to go that way, and does not understand 

 it ; and hence, very naturally, resists it. In order to un- 

 derstand how awkward and incomprehensible it is to 

 him, put a stick into your child's mouth that is some 

 eighteen months old, say, and pull the little thing back- 

 ward for a few steps. I pray you not to take offence at 



this illustration : I seek only to impress upon you the 

 11 



