Treatment of Young Horses. 15 



makes it a willing and useful servant, or spoils 

 it altogether, by making it a vicious, worthless 

 brute. No horse was ever born vicious ; it is 

 not in his nature, and if he ultimately becomes 

 so, it is the result of bad management. I do not 

 wish my readers to understand that I infer that 

 all horses are of the same temperament. Far from 

 it. There is as much difference in the temper of 

 the horse as man : some are fiery, others sullen 

 and malish; some very intelligent, others dull or 

 stupid ; but with kind, gentle treatment, all will 

 become in a degree kind. The teaching of a colt 

 should commence at its mother's side, by the 

 attendant constantly caressing it, and passing his 

 hands gently down its legs and over its body, 

 using kind words to it at the time. 



The colt should never be entrusted to boys or 

 thoughtless men, for they are sure to play with 

 him, and it is this that ultimately makes the colt 

 become a vicious horse. Hundreds of horses are 

 spoiled in this manner. The colt is teased until 

 he either kicks or bites his tormentor, then he is 

 unmercifully beaten, and ever after it looks upon 

 man as its natural enemy. Imprisonment with 

 hard labour is not too severe a punishment for 

 the scoundrel who teases a colt, for by so doing 

 he causes the animal to be more or less ill-used 

 the whole of its life, it being frequently necessary 

 to resort to cruel usage to insure the safety of 

 men who look after vicious horses. As a proof 

 that the horse is not naturally vicious, we find the 

 most docile of animals the progeny of vicious 

 sires. As an instance, Chanticleer was the most 



