CHAPTER X. 

 BREAKING YEARLINGS. 



As in July and August the yearlings will be " running 

 out " day and night, care must be taken, when they are 

 " taken up " to handle, that the boxes they occupy are well 

 ventilated with top doors, windows, and ventilators wide 

 open, or an epidemic of " coughing " may delay operations 

 and final departure, and perhaps spoil what would otherwise 

 have been a profitable sale. 



With regard to the advisability of keeping entire 

 yearling colts in separate enclosures or in batches, it is 

 difficult to give a really definite opinion. Neither plan is 

 quite " ideal." Splints, curbs, and ricked backs are fre- 

 quently the result of the whole-hearted wrestling bouts in 

 which a party of generously-fed colts constantly indulge 

 when running together. At the same time these early 

 " battles " may ensure equanimity when the colts find them- 

 selves in a big jostling field at the starting gate. On the 

 other hand, the isolated colt may, from idleness and 

 monotony, acquire the serious vices of crib-biting and self- 

 abuse, and in an unruly crowd at the starting gate be 

 inclined to be unduly " touchy " and calfish. Black Arrow, 

 Polar Star, White Eagle, Minoru, Prince Palatine, and 

 Royal Realm are products of the isolation system, as 

 are, I think, Ormonde, Orme, and Flying Fox. 



The yearlings having been brought from the paddocks, 

 the first step will be to put cavessons on them before taking 



