Breeding and Management of Horses on a Farm. 529 
conviction that a sufficiency of good and nutritious food throughout 
every season of the year is absolutely essential to obtain this end. 
The idea of suffering young stock of any kind to shift foi- them- 
selves throughout the winter, and merely to subsist upon straw 
and a little hay, under the supposition that the flesh they pick up 
in the summer will compensate for the previous stint they have 
endured, is absolutely preposterous, and however good they may 
turn out when full grown, there can be no question that with more 
nutriment they would have been better. With respect to horses, 
let the farmer scan carefully the proportions of our racers at three 
years old, and then ask himself by what means such a develop- 
ment of their frames and muscular powers has been brought about. 
If he suppose that they have not had corn from the age at which 
they were able to eat it, he deceives himself egregiously, and if he 
wish to rear similar stock, he may be assured that a liberal allow- 
ance of good food is, in one particular and a most important one, 
the principal means to attain his object. 
At the age of two years, or a little more, the young colt should 
be handled and accustomed to the control of man. For this pur- 
pose it is a good plan to make him wear a headstall while at grass, 
by which he may the more easily be caught and held while he is 
patted and caressed, has his feet raised, is gently rubbed with a 
whisp of soft hay, and in other respects habituated to the man who 
looks after him. On no occasion should he be in the slightest 
degree frightened or coerced, such treatment being the surest way 
to spoil his temper or render him timid or fractious. The man 
who has the care of him should therefore be of a kind disposition, 
well accustomed to the charge of horses, and one whose temper is 
not easily ruffled. The first lesson a young colt should receive 
should be simply that of suffering himself to be led about with a 
long rein attached to the headstall, so that, if at all ungovernable, 
or given to start at different objects, he may have plenty of room 
to throw himself about, which can never be the case when led by 
a halter, to which the man who leads him is obliged to hang when 
he shows temper or fright, in order to prevent his escape. After 
a few days he may gradually be taught some of his paces by being 
lounged in a circle with great care and gentleness, being ever and 
anon coaxed and patted, so that he may acquire confidence in his 
master. The object at this period being more to accustom the 
young colt to obedience than absolutely to break him in, his lessons 
should never be very long nor at all fatiguing ; and when he is 
once rendered thoroughly docile, he may be again turned out, and 
occasionally taken up for a few hours during the day for the pur- 
jiose of repeating his lessons, lest he should forget what he has 
learned, and become wild and ungovernable. At three years old 
the business of breaking-in should commence in good earnest, 
