HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 207 



and he is not at all likely to make a fast trotter, if to 

 trot he must always have his weight upon the driver's 

 arms. There have been some fast trotters and stayers 

 that were hard pullers ; but they would have been 

 better horses but for that fact. Still it is to be remem- 

 bered, that, when going fast, the colt or horse will often 

 want to get his head down, and feel the bit sensibly. 

 He will not, in nine cases out of ten (or can not, which 

 comes to the same thing), do his best without it. The 

 object of the driver should then be to support him with 

 as little pull as possible, but still to support him. The 

 horse with a good mouth will always feel the di'iver's 

 hand ; and, when the latter is as skilful as he ought to 

 be for the handling of the first-rate fast trotter, he may 

 play upon the rein with a touch like that of a harper 

 upon the strings, and the horse will answer every touch 

 with the music of the feet and wheels. 



'' On the other hand, if, when the colt takes hold of 

 the bit, the driver does nothing but hold on like grim 

 death to a dead darky, it soon becomes a pulling- 

 match between them : and before the colt is of age to 

 trot fast, and stay a distance, his pulling has become 

 a vice of the most troublesome and mischievous de- 

 scription ; his mouth has become so callous, that he 

 pulls a wagon and driver along by the reins instead of 

 the traces; and, by the dead drag between him and the 

 man behind him, he loses a great deal of the power 

 that will be wanted to sustain him when the pinch 

 comes." 



