HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 197 



gling up," can be easily perceived by tlie merest novice. 

 But we were speaking as to how to strengthen the back, 

 rather than how to watch it give forth the signs of 

 unsteadiness ; and to this point let us now return. 



We have discussed the influence of weights in de- 

 veloping the muscles of the loin and back. We would 

 now allude, briefly, to what might be called the in- 

 fluence of up-hill exercise ; by which I mean the trot- 

 ting and running of colts or the horse, under training, 

 up sharp declivities. This is Nature's method of 

 development. Running through all her educational 

 processes, you find the element of opposition. She 

 makes her birds to fly against currents of air as often as 

 with them. Her fishes must contend with tides and the 

 swift opposition of rapids ; while the noblest of the 

 species must practise their powers, often for days at a 

 time, in vain, in the spirited attempt to jump the oppos- 

 ing waterfall. Surely we can discern the wisdom of 

 this arrangement ; for we can see that only by such a 

 process can the highest structural development be 

 attained. Turning now from theory and analogy to 

 observation of data^ this we know, — that horses raised 

 in mountainous districts and hilly sections have better 

 lung-development, and are stronger in the loins and 

 back, than those raised in the flat meadows of the low- 

 lands. The character of the atmosphere may, in part, 

 account for the improvement in the lung-structure ; but 

 nothing save the fact, that horses raised in such 

 localities are compelled, by the necessities of their 



