BLIKDEKS IK BEEAKING COLTS. 249 



troublesome to harness as when fresher. I put a blind 

 bridle 011 him, when not another strap would he permit 

 to touch him, nor would he allow a hand even to be placed 

 on his neck. We took the bridle off, and replaced it with 

 an open one, when we found him no more trouble to har- 

 ness than colts usually are. He bounced about when first 

 driven 011 the track, yet it was not long before he became 

 reconciled to the hold-backs and breeching dangling about 

 his quarters. After several days' practice with the har- 

 ness on, I thought it time to put him in the shafts. He 

 became perfectly frantic at the approach of the sulky. 

 When we pulled it along in front of him, he would rest his 

 nose on the seat, perfectly fearless in that position ; yet 

 the moment he was brought before it he became as wild 

 as ever. 



Quite a time elapsed before we attempted to put him in 

 the shafts again, practicing him daily by leading him 

 alongside and behind the sulky. When we did, we got 

 him in without a great deal of bother ; I did not think it 

 advisable to fasten him further than merely placing the 

 points of the shafts in the loops, a man on each side hold- 

 ing him by the bit, and with the other hand keeping the 

 shaft in its place, so that, should he become frightened, we 

 could push the shafts back, and he would be free. He 

 walked very quietly for a couple of hundred yards, and I 

 was congratulating myself that the worst was past, when, 

 without any warning, he bounded as furiously as though 

 he had been struck a severe blow with a whip. We held 

 on, thinking after a leap or two he would become tranqui- 

 lized ; but seeing him lay back his ears on his poll, and 

 being fearful that he would kick, we shoved the sulky back. 

 We again resumed leading him near the sulky, and I made 

 up my mind that when we attempted to hitch him again, 

 I would fasten him to the sulky, as I thought we had 

 made a mistake in not doing so before. So I strapped up 



