BREAKING AND TRAINING OP COLTS. 233 



slowly, allowing him to feel of it with his lip or smell of it, if 

 practicable for him to do so, and this fear vanishes. 



By thus gently managing him he soon places confidence in 

 you, and a gentle word from the driver will induce him to 

 move on past the object. It is as essential for the high-bred 

 road horse to have confidence in his driver as for the driver to 

 have confidence in him. 



Many who claim to be familiar with the business of break- 

 ing and training colts neither understand the nature of the 

 colt nor the best method of subduing or training it. A 

 blooded colt is a highly sensitive and intelligent animal, quick 

 to learn, having memory of certain things equal to that of the 

 human family, and with an intuitive knowledge that cannot 

 be explained or understood. A coarse, rough man. knowing 

 next to nothing of human nature, and still less of the nature 

 of the horse, is no more fit to have the handling of colts than 

 one whose education is acquired on the street and the saloon is 

 fit to teach a district school, or the devil to preach Chris- 

 tianity. 



From the first, insist that your colt walks fast, for in the 

 majority of horses this is a most important gait. A bright, 

 brisk walking gait will be of supreme importance in the horse 

 of the future, and unless the colt is taught its worth it will 

 never know it. Our horses, like our children, are largely what 

 we make them by education ; and if the colts are allowed to 

 drag along with heads down and move in a snail-pace, careless 

 manner while being educated, they will, in many cases, be in- 

 clined to continue it later on. 



Style and beauty of motion do not always spring spon- 

 taneously, but are in many cases the result of careful, system- 

 atic training — breeding, of course, having its full share to do 

 in this case. 



As A is the first letter in our alphabet, so is "whoa" the 

 first- letter in the alphabet of the colt's education ; teach him to 

 properly understand that one word as being most essential of 

 all words to be used in his education. Never allow a colt in 



