NEW WAY TO EXEKCISE HORSES. 361 



PRECEPTOR. At this season of the year I much prefer 

 the animal to pick it himself. He chooses that which 

 suits him the best, and there are no flies to annoy him. 

 In extremely hot weather, or when the flies have become 

 troublesome or in the fall, when the juices are diminished, 

 I would give it in the stable. 



PUPIL. Why, I know a man who took advantage of the 

 flies to assist him in exercising. Last July and August 

 there was a great deal of rain, making the track and roads 

 very muddy. This man had a couple of promising colts, 

 and during this muddy time he would tie them in a small 

 yard for two or three hours every day, and let them 

 " fight flies " by way of exercise. He told me this himself, 

 and took much credit for the invention. 



PRECEPTOR. I wish I could have tied him in an Arkansas 

 swamp, for the same length of time, and let the gallinip- 

 pers and musquitoes make him dance to the music of 

 their shrill pipes. If his treatment in other particulars 

 was akin to this, he must have ruined his colts. 



PUPIL. He was at. first very successful in developing 

 their speed, and a month or two previous I thought the 

 two colts were the best I had ever seen. But the fly ex- 

 periment was not a successful one, as they could not trot 

 as fast in the fall as they did in the early part of the 

 season ; but there were other points in his treatment 

 fully as inimical to improvement as the one I have 

 mentioned. 



PRECEPTOR. If he had other notions similar to that, it 

 was no wonder, though I have seen men that knew very 

 little of training very fortunate in obtaining speed from 

 horses. This is no argument against trying to learn all we 

 can, but only shows what fortuitous circumstances will 

 accomplish. It will now occupy the remaining time for 

 you to get through with the colts you have to drive this 

 afternoon. I may be here in a day or two, and perhaps 



