The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 17
sore, and when once a colt Las a sore mouth it is sure to
become hard-mouthed. When you have' accomplished
bitting and leading the colt, you next prepare a caversoon
and lounging rein. Make sure it will fit the colt without
hurting it, as this is a powerful apparatus intended to
confine the nose. This should be used very gently, as
instances have been known of the bones and gristle of the
nose becoming diseased irom harshly pulling the caversoon.
It must now be led round a ring oq soft ground, and
taught to walk and trot both ways and round also. Caress
it whenever it does right, and do not let it run round the
circle too long, as it produces giddiness. We next use it
to the roller, and afterwards to the dumb jockey. Thanks
to Mr. Black well, the old clumsy wooden jockey has
become a thing of the past, and his whalebone and gutta-
percha jockey, with their indiarubber reins, have done
away with the cruel unyielding side rein. These jockeys
are admirably adapted to teach the colt to bend its head,
and at the same time to insure the colt having a light
even mouth. When the colt has become tractable to all
its lessons, loose straps may be hung upon the jockey to
accustom it to the flapping of various parts of its harness,
and prevent it becoming restive. A few days will suffice
to teach it all it is required, and make it endure it
patiently, for as it finds that it is not hurt by them, it
soon becomes reconciled to them, and the more gentle and
kind we are the less trouble they give, for as they gain
confidence in us the more they will let us do to them,
Powell, in his work, published in the beginning of this
century, gives us the following as his system of approach-
ing a colt. I record it here, as it may be useful to those
B