HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 195 



our colts in like manner, and to the same extent? I 

 hold, therefore, that the muscles of a colt's back and 

 loins can be easily and greatly developed by the impo- 

 sition of weight ; beginning, say, when he is two years 

 of age, and continuing the practice until maturity. 

 Many horses naturally somewhat weak at these points 

 could be brought, in a few years, to be above the 

 average capacity by a judicious treatment of weighting. 

 So far as I have experimented in this direction, the re- 

 sult has been eminently successful, — precisely what one 

 would expect, from the circumstances of the case, it 

 would be. This I know, that, even in a few months, 

 the muscles of the back and loins can be enlarged and 

 brought out, so that the improvement in the steadi- 

 ness of the animal's gait, and his power to stride, are 

 perceptible even to the driver's eye. 



Many horses " tangle up," and go to pieces, because 

 the muscles of the back are too weak to put the neces- 

 sary control upon the framework and the legs. Every 

 horse "breaks" in the back before he "breaks" in the 

 leg; that is, the unsteadiness of motion — which, when 

 it has passed a certain limit, is communicated to his legs, 

 causing him to change his gait from a trot into a run, in 

 order to save his balance — begins in the back. As long 

 as a horse can keep his back-bone in a straight line, he 

 is all right. His loss of control over himself springs 

 from a muscular weakness at that point. One reason 

 why a horse should never be pulled so that he is 

 doubled up, is because, when so doubled up, he cannot 



