500 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. • , . 



The colt must be kept from the vices which curse and ruin 

 so many horses ; or, if he has unfortunately fallen into any 

 of them, he must be broken of them^now in his tender 

 years, before his habits become strengthened and inveterate 

 through long continuance in them. The man who, having 

 much to do with horses or colts, has not learned that they are 

 the creatures of habit, has studied his business to but very 

 little purpose, if he has studied it all. Bad habits must be 

 either broken or prevented, and here, most emphatically, the 

 stock-raiser will find it true that "an ounce of prevention is 

 worth a pound of cure." It is much easier to keep the colt 

 from ever acquiring ugly tricks than it is to break the mature 

 horse of any settled vice. 



If the work of educating the young colt be neglected, no 

 subsequent pains will be likely to liiake good the deficiency. 

 As "youth is the seed-time of life," and the favorable time 

 for improvement, so is the colt's age the proper time for be- 

 ginning the instructions to be imparted to the horse. The. 

 colt of three or four years, unbroken and untamed, is like the 

 youth who has never known parental control. What igno- 

 rance do we find in both — what indolence, what obstinacy, 

 what impatience of restraint, what rebellion against govern- 

 ment, no matter how mild and judicious ! Is not this the 

 history of many horses and of their vices, such as backing, 

 shying, kicking, rearing, running away, breaking the halter, 

 continued restiveness, and others of similar character ? The 

 farmer does, indeed, pay dearly for his neglect in regard to 

 training his young stock. 



Every farmer should likewise consider within himself what 

 each of his colts is best suited for, what place the young ani- 

 mal shall be destined to fill ; and, as soon as this point is set- 

 tled, he should go to work at once and conduct the whole 

 process of training with a view to the especial purpose se- 

 lected. All this, too,, can be done at a very early age better 

 than later. It may be laid down as a rule that the colt is 

 susceptible of training for whatever service is desired of him, 

 and that no failures would occur if his peculiar adaptedness 



