CHAPTER IV. 



How TO Hitch Colts to Road Cart— How to Drive Colt the First 

 Few Times — When to Let Up on Your Colt — Protect with 

 Boots— Winter Treatment of the Yearling Colt. 



Now your colt is ready to hitch to a road cart to see if 

 you can develop any speed. The best cart is probably manu 

 factured by Bradley & Co., of Syracuse, N. Y., a cut of which 

 in the back part of this work, with other specialties, is shown. 

 They have agents in most every town in the United States, if 

 no agent is near you, any order sent direct to the manufactory 

 would be honored at once. It is light and cheap, and I con- 

 sider them the best cart for the money in the market. Hitch 

 him far enough away from the cart so that the hocks or tail 

 cannot hit the cross bar or dash, also have the britchen very 

 loose so he will have room to extend himself. If you are in 

 a village go up one street and down another, as the colt heads 

 towards the stable he will naturally be anxious to move along, 

 then let him go for a brush, say for twenty or thirty rods, not 

 to exceed forty. Then talk him back, not pull him ; use a 

 light rein so as not to get his mouth sore : after going a few 

 rods slow, if he again desires to brush let him move along 

 about the same distance as before, and if he is fresh and not 

 tired, let him go around the block again and repeat as before. 

 If you are not in a town go up the road and head him towards 

 home ; you should not in these first few lessons force him to 

 go at speed going away from home unless he is full of life and 

 spirits and wants to go, thus it would be much better to let 

 him have his head and move along than to pull him and take 

 him back, as there are no natural pullers, they are all learned 

 the trick by bad driving, heavy handed people, and is one of 

 the worst habits a horse ever acquired. A horse will learn it 

 easier than he can be broken of it. Why I speak of going 

 around the block or up the road is because I favor road work 



