STABLING A COLT 233 



there is scarcely one useful suggestion or caution recom- 

 mended throughout its pages, in reference to breaking 

 or handling colts, which has not been known to horse- 

 breakers and grooms in Great Britain for centuries past. 

 Still, we will follow Mr. Rarey step by step, and accompany 

 him, as requested, through "his whole task of breaking." 



We are now told " how to stable a colt without trouble," 

 and the information under this head would excite the 

 risibility of any stable-boy — videlicet i — " The best way 

 to do this is to lead a gentle horse into the stable first, 

 and hitch him, then quietly walk around the colt, and let 

 him go in of his own accord." Well, I suppose ninety- 

 nine horse-breakers or grooms out of a hundred have 

 adopted this course from time immemorial, as the most 

 easy and sensible plan of getting a colt into a stable, and 

 I believe no man of common understanding would think 

 of running after and trying to frighten the colt by shouting 

 or raising his arms. We are then instructed, " As soon 

 as he is in, remove the quiet horse and shut the door." 

 Most people in this country would have sufficient sense 

 to shut the door first, lest the colt might feel disposed to 

 walk out again sans cSremonie, and remove the quiet 

 horse afterwards, for John Bull knows tolerably well that 

 old saying about one bird in the hand being worth two in 

 the bush ; and when he gets hold of a wild horse, or any 

 wild animal, he takes pretty good care to place his prize 

 in a place of security, from which there is no exit through 

 door or window. 



Mr. Rarey proceeds next to inform us, " This will be 

 his (the colt's) first notion of confinement, not knowing 

 how he got into such a place, nor how to get out of it." 

 To this condemnatory reflection on the colt's intellect I 

 must demur, for although in Mr. Rarey's supposition 



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