24 SULKY COLTS. 



I could, until there was no inclination to pull or resist the 

 bit. This time I worked faithfully several hours to make 

 my point, but was completely successful. This horse was 

 of a nervous-sanguine temperament, a bright bay, medium- 

 sized eyes, forehead rather narrow, long from eyes to ears, 

 a good deal of white in the eye ; as a colt was gentle, 

 broke in easily (so reported), trotted quite fast ; from the 

 ambition and excitement of warming up in driving, pulled 

 so hard as to get away, and afterwards became perfectly 

 regardless of all control of the bit. Now I am able to 

 make horses of this habit, with rare exceptions, entirely 

 safe and gentle in from thirty minutes to an hour. The 

 point was simply to hang on, and repeat. 



SULKY COLTS. 



There is another type of extreme, usually colts, I fre- 

 quently find, which are apparently very bad, and which I 

 hate above almost any other horse to handle before a 

 class j and yet they are always sure to work in safely and 

 nicely by taking time and repeating the lesson. The colt 

 that will at first act nervous and excitable, when warmed 

 up will show a surly, mulish disposition, perhaps has 

 learned to throw himself down. I will refer to the best 

 case of the kind we had during the past year. When at a 

 little point in Maine, called Exeter, in September, 1876, 

 a. four-year-old sorrel colt, of medium size, was brought 

 forward by the owner, who proposed joining the class if I 

 would handle the colt. The colt seemed very nervous ; 

 was led by a big rope halter. The skin was torn in sev- 

 eral places on the hips and legs. When harnessed the 

 colt would lunge, and throw himself over backwards : he 

 \vould kick fearfully when an effort was made to handle 

 the feet, or shoe him. Bound to shoe him at all hazards, 

 they put him in an ox-frame, fastening him securely ; but 

 he struggled so violently that it was found necessary to 

 let the brute go without being shod. Both hocks were en- 

 larged, showing blood spavins, from the strain and reck- 

 lessness of his struggles. He would break his halter, or 

 pull himself down recklessly, when hitched. The colt, in 

 a word, was entirely unmanageable, and really worthless, 

 having resisted every effort to break him. I described in 



