WHERE COLTS REQUIRE ROUSING. Ill 



and hold him with one steady dead pull, and let him 

 lounge and stride along as he likes. This of course 

 makes him lean more on the hand, throw more weight 

 on his fore parts, leaving, as I may term it, his hind 

 legs behind him, till he is at last brought to be as 

 slow as a top. It may be said, how can he get slower 

 if he goes the same pace as the other horses ? He 

 cannot get to go slower in his regular gallop, because 

 the boy must, if he can, keep his place in the string, 

 and so long as he does so, he will be allowed to ride 

 him : but though he does keep him in his place SOME- 

 HOW, he brings him into that WAY of going, that, 

 when wanted to race, he can go very little faster. I 

 allow that if it is found he cannot get him along, 

 another boy will be put up ; but then the mischief is 

 done. If such a colt had at first been ridden by a 

 strong experienced boy, or, what would have been 

 better, a very light man, he could have roused him 

 along, got at his head the moment he began to bore 

 with it and lean on his fore quarters, and, when he 

 found him beginning to dwell in his stride from want 

 of bringing his hind legs into work, would have set 

 to with him at once, and though it very rarely occurs 

 that a horse should be struck in his exercise, with 

 such a horse, or even colt as this, a stroke or two 

 with an ash plant under his flanks may be quite ne- 

 cessary. " Young ones should never be frightened 

 or even flurried," is a very proper maxim, and in 

 nineteen cases in twenty a correct one ; but such a 

 young one as I have described wants flurrying and 

 frightening too, or he will both flurry and frighten 

 his owner when he comes to race. 



I was no little surprised last year at seeing something 

 like a case in point carried on even to a race-course. I 



