272 Next to the Ground 



within reach, though they may drop the nibble 

 as soon as cropped. 



A shy colt is much easier broken than a 

 tame one. A pet colt, in fact, nearly always 

 turns out to be a stubborn and ill-tempered 

 horse. They are the hardest of all to break. 

 Patsy insisted that was because the breakers 

 did not reason with them, as she herself did 

 with Light-Foot, but she could not bring her 

 father round to her way of seeing it. So she 

 was forced to content herself with salting the 

 pretty fellows, and teaching them to come at 

 her whistle to the fence and eat apples from 

 her hand. Sometimes that made Light-Foot 

 jealous enough to charge down upon the knot 

 of youngsters and chase them away. Light- 

 Foot was the least bit a vixen, but Patsy could 

 catch her anywhere — unless the mare saw the 

 bridle. Then she ran, tossing up contemp- 

 tuous heels, though after a while she let herself 

 be cornered, caught, and bridled. 



