THE HORSE: ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT . 1 17 



is done the animal soon begins to look upon you as its 

 friend, instead of its enemy. This should be done every 

 day while the colt is being broken in. The unfortunate 

 part of the business is, people expect too much from young 

 horses all at once. We call it breaking colts in, but I 

 think it should be called educating them to do their duty. 

 A young horse wants teaching one thing at a time. First, 

 it should learn to walk nicely, and then to trot. After it 

 can trot properly, a collar should be put on with hames 

 in, so that the traces dangle down a little way and 

 keep touching him, at the same time he should be 

 spoken to kindly. The next thing to do is to tie some 

 ropes on the traces, and some one should run behind, 

 about six or seven yards away, to hold the ends. By doing 

 this the traces touch the sides of the horse, and when it 

 goes round the ring the traces should be pulled well on 

 one side, so that they will rub against the horse. The next 

 thing is to put a saddle on him, and a crupper to hang 

 down. If the horse is quiet with that he can be cruppered, 

 that is to say, the tail may be put through the crupper. 

 The fore foot should be held up, so that he cannot kick, 

 while a second man cruppers him. If the pupil runs well 

 in harness, it can then be put in the cart, but of course 

 great care should be taken. Before he is put in the 

 cart he should have a bridle with blinkers on, otherwise 

 when the wheels begin to go round it often startles the 

 horse. When this is done, while the colt is standing 

 quite still, the cart should be gently drawn up to him, 

 and at the same time give him a little corn, and speak 

 kindly to him, diverting his attention as much as possible. 



