and, above all, never exhaust him or get his mouth 

 sore. During this time it is well to pull a cart 

 or sulky, or something light, with shafts up to him 

 as if you intended to hook him up. He will soon 

 find that the rig is not going to hurt him and will 

 not be afraid ; and when hooked up, he wants to 

 be driven slowly and only a short distance, never 

 far enough to fret and tire him. You will find in 

 a short time he will take his work cheerfully. 

 After two or three weeks of this kind of work, drive 

 him out on the road about a mile, then turn ; if the 

 road is good, let him move a hundred or two yards 

 well within himself. After getting back to the track, 

 jog him around once, let him step the last 200 yards 

 at about three-fourths speed. His improvement will 

 be astonishing after two weeks of this work. Of 

 course, his work can be increased as he gets in condi- 

 tion, but I do not think it advisable to continue his 

 fast work too long. Always let up on him before he 

 gets tired of his work ; two or three weeks' let up will 

 do him a great deal of good. After he is taken up the 

 second time and jogged a week, he is ready to begin to 

 step along a little, as he has not been turned out long 

 enough for his muscles to relax ; and after he has been 

 started up two or three times, you will find he will 

 have more speed than when turned out. I think six 

 weeks is long enough to keep him at work this time. 

 Turn out again from ten to thirty days. Be governed 

 by conditions and the constitution of the colt. My 

 experience has been that it is not advisable to jog a 

 colt too much, as he is apt to get off his gait and 

 does not improve so fast as he does with short, lively 

 work. You can generally tell from the actions of colts 

 barefooted about the weight shoes he will need. I 



110 



