LESSON SIX

If you expect to use your colt hitched double only, give him the first three lessons alone and the fourth may be given by the side of another horse that understands the commands and responds readily to them, the training being done practically the same as in single driving. If you have two colts, you are training to be worked together, give each the first three lessons alone. If the colts do not match well in disposition, much can be done in these first three lessons to make them behave just alike. Restrain the nervous one, and urge the slow one, so that when hitched together in the fourth lesson, they will have the same gait and respond to the commands at the same time. The fifth lesson should be given to the colts separately. It is well in the first few drives to change sides with the colts, so they become accustomed to being hitched on either side. Whether the colt is to be used for the saddle or driving he should have the first three lessons.

The fifth lesson should be given also if you want a safe tractable riding horse. After he has had these lessons, by placing your arms over his neck and gradually allowing your weight to bear upon him, first on one side and then on the other, you ought to have no trouble in getting on his back, either from a block or by the help of an assistant.

The training you have already given the colt will make it obedient to the bit and commands, "Whoa" and "Get Up," while you are on his back as well as driving him. Special instruction on handling a colt or horse bad to ride will be found in Book 6. Be careful not to ride a colt much while he is young. It is all right to make them gentle to ride, of course, but do not ride too long at a time or let a real heavy person get on.

LESSON SEVEN

Give him the regular colt training lessons 1, 2, 3 and 5, leaving out No. 4, then put on a saddle. Let your assistant put some of his weight on the colt's back. It isn't necessary for him to get into the saddle the first time he attempts it. Sometimes it is a good plan to put a sack with weights in it across the colt's back-anything to get it accustomed to carrying the weight of a man. Go cautiously and carefully about the work. Don't excite or madden the colt in any way. After a little it will permit your assistant to get clear in the saddle without offering any resistance whatever.

When you reach that point start the colt out very carefully. Only allow it to go a few steps then stop it and have your assistant get off. After allowing the colt to stand quietly for a few moments then have your assistant get in the saddle again-continue having him get on and get off a dozen times or more until the colt pays no attention whatever to him. You can accomplish all this in almost less time than it takes to tell it.

LESSON EIGHT

After the colt has been driven a few times, it is early enough to teach it to back. Have the harness on the colt, rein him up, but do not hitch him up at first. While he is standing, draw the left line tight, give the command, "Back," and follow immediately with a sharp raking pull with the right line. The colt will step back. Repeat the command and raking pull. Compel the colt to take several steps backward and then stop by the command, "Whoa." Repeat the pull and command, "Back," gradually decreasing the force of the lines until it backs at command without the pull of the lines.

The first attempt to back with a rig should be made with the driver on the ground by the side of the rig and an assistant behind. The assistant should pull back on the rig at first, in order to relieve the colt of the weight; gradually decreasing the pull each time, so that the colt will soon push back the entire weight of the rig. Then the driver should get in the vehicle and repeat the lesson.

HOW TO TEACH A VERY YOUNG COLT TO STAND TIED IN THE STABLE

LESSON NINE

It is sometimes necessary to tie a colt up in the stable at a very early age, but whenever this can be avoided do so. Use a strong, well fitting halter. Put it on the colt as carefully as possible. Finally tie it up for an hour or so then untie it and let it run. Do the same thing again the next day, and the next. About the third day while the colt is tied lead the mother out of the stall and into one near by and in sight of the colt if possible. Keep her and the colt separated for an hour or two. Keep on doing this for a couple or three days and the colt will be taught to stand tied without hardly knowing when or how it was done. This is much better than the usual rough, haphazard, way of forcefully tying the colt and without any warning or chance to get accustomed to the new condition of things, lead the mother out, leaving the colt to fight and struggle to get loose.

HOW TO HANDLE COLTS THAT HAVE BEEN WORKED OR DRIVEN AND HAVE FORMED SOME HABIT OR THOSE OVER TWO YEARS OF AGE

LESSON TEN

If your colt is under three years of age and knows the commands, even though far from perfectly, he should first be subdued if he has any sort of habit. His strength should be brought under control. He should be taught that YOU are master and that he MUST submit. While being subdued, the different commands should be impressed upon his mind, by the aid of some appliances that will be described later. In handling such a "colt" the true meaning of the commands, "Get Up" and "`Whoa," can both be taught in one lesson. A colt that is not confirmed in habit will only require a few minutes handling to make him as submissive and trustworthy as an older horse, which has had several lessons in subjection. The instructions given above also refer to the handling of colts UNDER two years of age (if they have been handled and spoiled) and to the handling of colts OVER two years of age if they have never been handled, and know their strength. While I have placed the dividing line between the educational and subjective treatment in the handling of "colts" as being two years of age, you will notice this does not always apply. The colt's NATURAL disposition must be taken into consideration. If he belongs in a good "type" or "combination of types" even though he is over two years of age and never was handled, the regular colt training lessons should be given to him, without any subjection whatever.

GENERAL REMARKS

If these lessons are followed in detail, you will have a well-trained colt, with no bad habits, and one that will have confidence in you and be under your control at all times. The colt ought now to be driven three or four times to fix the impressions already made. Impressions repeated become habits. A well broken horse is an animal with good habits, not one with reason. After three or four drives these habits will become so thoroughly fixed that the colt can be turned out any length of time, two years if necessary, and when taken up will be as much under your control as when you quit with him.

If you have carefully followed this system, lesson by lesson, and step by step, you need not fear that the third or fourth time you drive your colt, it will suddenly develop a new form of resistance and cause you trouble. Often you hear someone say after he had "broken" his colt in the usual haphazard way. "Why my colt went all right until the fifth or sixth time I drove him, when he suddenly scared at some fool thing and got away from me." The reason the colt ran away was because it did not have confidence in the driver and the meaning of the commands had not been firmly impressed.

No one of these five lessons should occupy more than an hour, and often can be finished in half that time, providing you have undivided attention of the colt. Succeed in gaining your point, however, before quitting any of the lessons. Never take your colt in the stall until he catches the point of the lesson. When he gets it, quit. There is nothing gained by working a wearied colt. One lesson a day is sufficient. When one lesson is given, it is better for the colt to have its own way the remainder of the day, so that what has been taught will be more lasting and the mind will be in shape far the next lesson.

Allowing an hour for each of the five lessons, and an hour for each of the three drives, you will have a well broken colt with eight hours' solid work. This would be impossible by eight hours in succession. Besides the fact of benefiting the colt by doing the work in eight different days, it ought to be recreation for you, and allow you to keep in an excellent mood, which is absolutely essential to success. You ought to get a colt so he will work equally well in a collar or breast strap. It is a very easy matter to do that. You can use him with a breast strap for a while, then change to collar and hames. Use him that way for a few days, then change back to the breast collar, etc.

It is not profitable to undertake to train a colt that is in poor condition. The more healthy and vigorous the body, the better will be the condition of the nerves and the brain to retain what you wish to teach. A dull, listless colt will be slow and sluggish in learning. A colt will remain in better condition for handling if kept in the barn on dry feed than if kept in pasture. Be kind to your colt at all times. Always make it your aim to prevent the wrong thing happening, rather than getting it out of the colt after it has happened. The proper use of the voice often tides the colt over a critical place. Words in a calm, confident tone often soothe excitement; words given in a firm, commanding tone often force the colt on when it is stubborn. Just as you do your best when surrounded by pleasant influences, so will your colt respond to kind words and caresses. Harsh words and the frequent application of the whip by an ill-natured driver, often use more of the colt's energy than all the training would do.

A colt trained by the methods you have studied will be worth much more than one not so trained. It will stand tests that others would not stand after three or four years driving. Counting the money value alone, you have spent your time profitably. Besides this you have a colt that is trustworthy and that will be a pleasure to use as long as it lives. You have trained it without injury to itself or yourself and it will repay you in honest, satisfying toil, and thank you in its best manner, for the opportunity to do so.