THE COLT'S TRAINING 87 



to eat " will be done away with and he will be in 

 better shape for weaning when the time comes 

 for it. 



In this latter operation I need hardly say that 

 separating the mare and colt by the length of a 

 stable or the area of a barn-yard where, though 

 out of each other's sight, they can still hear and 

 recognize each other's voices is, of all ways, the 

 worst. It is an unhorsemanlike performance and 

 subjects both mare and colt to a great deal of 

 needless uneasiness and worry. The way com- 

 monly followed by good horsemen is to place them 

 at once so far apart that they can not, by any 

 possibility, hear each other's cries. On a great 

 many farms, however, either from lack of suitable 

 buildings or some other reason, this is not prac- 

 ticable. 



A method that I have found very satisfactory in 

 a great many cases is to use the mare frequently 

 during the last week or so that the colt is with her, 

 leaving him at home, so as to gradually accustom 

 them both to separation. Then I wean by 

 putting the colt in a box stall immediately ad- 

 joining the mare's, where he can see her and even 

 touch noses with her through the bars. In this 

 way, though prevented from sucking, he still has 

 her companionship; neither of them is exactly 

 suited with the situation, but they find it at least 



