48 HUMANE HORSE-TRAINING 



putting the shafts in the tugs. When tliis is done the 

 groom fixes the traces quietly and quickly. 



The quieter you are and the less people you have 

 interfering the better things will be. I never have more 

 than one assistant when I am first hitching a colt up, 

 and then my " groom " is sometimes a little girl of 

 twelve summers ; she is really much more reliable and 

 sensible than some of the men I have had round me at 

 times. 



When the colt is harnessed I lead him a little way, 

 then I give the command " Whoa ! " I get in the cart, 

 holding my reins, which have been in my hand all the 

 time : this is the safest place for them. The colt feels 

 strange, for it is his first time in the cart, and he gives 

 a plunge or a rear, and at the command " Get up ! " he 

 goes off in style, blowing his nose and prancing, for he 

 is full of youth. 



I remember quite well when I was a little boy of about 

 five years of age, how I went out into the stable one 

 morning and beheld a pleasant surprise — a sweet little 

 Shetland pony. It happened that my grandfather, a 

 very keen horseman, who was shooting in Scotland, had 

 seen a drove of Shetland ponies and decided there and 

 then to buy one and despatch it to me. He must have 

 forgotten that the pony was in its unbroken state, or 



