80 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE 



short lessons daily, but half an hour is generally long enough at 

 first. Avoid physical contests. The strength of the trainer is less 

 than that of the colt, and once the latter learns the fact, he has 

 learned a thing dangerous to all who handle him. It makes little 

 difference whether harness training is given singly or with another 

 horse at first. It should be both ways before it is finished. The 

 horse selected as mate for the youngster should not be a dead- 

 head, but as well suited in gait and temperament to the pupil as 

 may be. 



DEVELOPMENT is consistent with profitable use, and the 

 colt may be made to pay his way with work performed after he is 

 two years old, provided he is well- grown and proper judgment is 

 used in regulating the work to his capacity. Long hours, hard 

 drives or heavy draft are not suited to the youngster. They tend 

 to stunt his growth and break his spirit, both fatal to the best final 

 product. On the other hand, short daily drives or light farm work, 

 generally increasing as the youngster's muscles and appetite for 

 work increase, not only do no harm but stimulate the appetite and 

 promote the growth, so that in the end you have a well-grown, 

 well- trained, seasoned horse, instead of a soft, flabby, green colt, 

 which can only be made fit for hard use by months of careful 

 handling and conditioning. 



Many horses are not unlike colts in respect to their powers of 

 endurance. There is a vast difference between the horse in daily 

 use, with muscles hardened and turned for heavy draft or hard 

 drives, and the one that has stood in the stable on full feed in idle- 

 ness. In the spring farm horses commonly are short of work and 

 need to be gradually seasoned with easier tasks before the hard 

 daily labors of tillage begin. 



Carriage horses that are little used are not fit for long, hard 

 drives. A fat horse and one in hard flesh are very different ani- 

 mals. It is comparatively easy to fat up a horse inured to hard 



Condition porsders are unnecessary if your horses are fed right and properly 

 exercised. 



