436 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



you noticed that the first colt, which did not go the quarter 

 quite as fast as the other, did the last forty rods of that 

 quarter in twenty seconds easily, and was full of trot when 

 you j)nlled up, you would feel differently. For some unac- 

 countable reason you started off very slowly with the first 

 colt and with a watch in your hand did not take notice that 

 when you i^assed the furlong pole it was thirty seconds, 

 while your slower colt had got there in twenty-four seconds. 



This will teach you a -lesson. To succeed in this line of 

 business as well as any other everything must be carefully 

 gone over, looked into and digested. This very instance will 

 illustrate it quite plainly. You are M'ondering which is the 

 fastest colt; and one of them is showing a forty clij) any day 

 while the other one is about eight seconds slower. If the 

 colts are growing and doing first rate, don't act stale, are 

 gaining in speed a little all the time, and are square in their 

 gait, it is well enough to keep them going; but if they are 

 getting unsteady and mixed, let up on them for a couple of 

 weeks, b}^ turning them out to grass, continuing their oat 

 rations, but in less quantity. You need a fresh colt not a 

 stale one for August, and there is nothing gained by work- 

 ing them so much as to get them disgusted. Drive them out 

 on the road occasionally, which affords a change. You will 

 find a smooth j)iece somewhere; turn them around and let 

 them start for home at their best clip. They will enjoy it 

 and learn to go fast from their own inclination, and you get 

 at the object sought for better than by urging them. The 

 colts use their own way and go with a free, open stride, 

 which is so much admired when they are turned loose. They 

 are young things yet and want fun, and it is recreation for 

 them to have a change of drives. 



If possible keep the colts where they can see one an- 

 other; they will be more cheerful and brighter, thrive better 

 and make better horses, from the fact they do not get lone- 

 some and sour, and of course a cheerful, contented horse 

 drives better and is safer than a gloomy, morose one. Bear 

 in mind that some day vou may want to sell this animal to 



