EDUCATION OF THE COLT 97 



the lesson. He will yield much quicker this time ; 

 and if the rule is faithfully followed, it rarely re- 

 quires more than three or four lessons to make 

 his obedience both prompt and implicit. 



Remember that, as a general thing, the colt 

 does not fail to do your will from any inherent de- 

 sire to oppose or defy you, but because he does 

 not understand what you want. The whole thing 

 is new and meaningless to him. The average colt 

 will do cheerfully what you want him to, provided 

 only that it is made clear to him what it is, and 

 also that he has nothing to fear. But there is so 

 much difference in colts, both in natural docility 

 and in quickness of perception, that all cannot 

 be handled alike, and if you have a colt that seems 

 rather stubborn and slow to understand, your 

 cue is to require but very little of him at a time — 

 and stick to that little till you gain it. Then, at 

 the next lesson, require a little more. Indeed, by 

 following this rule — little by little, one thing at a 

 time and oft-repeated lessons — you may often 

 break a rather refractory colt in less time than 

 you could a more promising pupil if cruder meth- 

 ods were to be used. 



The first step in the education of the colt is 

 bitting. In this matter some strange notions 

 seem to have got afoot and some weird and curious 

 machinery for carrying them out. I remember, 



