Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1916 — EDUCATION OF THE COLT [ARTICLE]

EDUCATION OF THE COLT

Never break his spirit by long wear isome drives, when he become* so •tired that his mind becomes so dulled i tini h« sees' hut dues not observe, Hind the same objects Inter, when seen j »uh.fri;.»h-eyes, become the cause of [ a runaway. When the colt training Is done as i It should be, eight or ten half hour j tuf-Hons given In systematic order will accomplish more, and put a colt in I condition to stai.,l more Bevere teats, than the haphazard go as you please t methods now commonly practiced can do in two years. The trainer should put his whole I mind on the work at hand, and strive . io keep the attention of the colt that he may get the idea of what is ex peeled of him. As soon as he gets the ’ j idea, repeat always in the Barne way 1 t"|,nt il he understands ETaTessons thor oughly. No one can do this correctly until he has his mind on his work, •md persOTes until he has gained the I end sought.* Whoever does this will find that he has enough to keep him \ busy without any other matter on hand. , There are several reasons why it Is not good policy to train a - colt by ‘ ! itching it by the side of an old horse. The old horse is slow in starting, and j plodding in motion probably, while 1 the young one is impetuous and lively. ! Soon the young horse, if It be very am Ntious becomes confused when the old one holds it back, and this confusion ends in balking. If the old horse starts before the colt this leaves your lines' slack and gives an opportunity for the colt to leap forward, and soon the habit ot bolting is formed, and the pleasure of u good steady driver forever vanishes. Tbete are very few old horses that are so free from bad habits that you would desire a colt to be just exactly like them. Whatever their peculiarities may be, they will be learned by the colt if compelled to endure v the same conditions. When a colt is trained alone, you have more of its attention than can be had otherwise. There should be nothing to divide his attention. Every attempt -should be ftiade to impress upon his mind that a certain signal means a certain action, and not al'ow that action to become confused with another signal.. A very common mistake is to attempt to train a horse to do tbo many things at a time. No horse and but few people, can comprehend more than one thing qj a time.