The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-03
Colt Training.

Editor Watchman.-The exhibition given
recently byJ w. Davis at Hotel Low stable
shows the difference between right and
wrong methods in handling colts. The colt
exhibited bore the reputation of being a
" bad one" before being handled by him,
and any one, think, having seen her pre-
vious performances and witnessing the do
cility with which she submitted to the
treatment to which she was subjected by
Mr.. Davis, will speedily come to the conclu-
sion that even the worst OF them can be
transformed into serviceabe horses if
rightly handled, and that the art of colt
breaking is of much greater importance than
is usually attached to it. We often hear it
said of some horse, " He would have been
good one but was spoiled in breaking" and
of others that SC he Tugs on the Bit" won't
thing hits his heels he will kick and run
away" etc, nearly all of which can be
credited to injudicious handling when
breaking. or course, some will form bad
habits after having been well broken, either
through accident or carelessness of the
driver, and sometimes even through play
fulness of the colt; but, If rightly handled
and thoroughly subjected to obedience when
broken, they are less liable and much more
easily controlled than when broken in the
old-fashioned manner, trusting to luck,
fatigue aud severe treatment rather than
humanely teaching them what they ought
training requires special faculty, fully as
much as any other profession, and very few
not in the business ever think what is re-
quired to make a successful cOlt-trainer-
With all the different shades of tempera
ment and disposition known to exist in the
equine race, it requires patience, persever-
ance and innumerable different methods
1t has been demonstrated that the treat
ment that will make one colt kind, gentle
and serviceable, will spoil another of diff
ferent character, and Uice versa, and in most
cases those the most easily spoiled by
wrong treatment in breaking are the ones
which possess the most ability and endur-
ance. For instance, the class known
in this vicinity as " Peters colts"
are naturally of a suspicious dispo-
sition, being nervy and high'spirited,
and, although they do not appear to want
to injure the trainer, they feel confident of
their ability to take care of themselves and
trust only to their own powers for protec-
| ton. Consequently, they require altogether
different treatment than do members of
themselves and being of more trusting
disposition, like the Wilkeses, for example.
And again, we have the Normans, slower
in movement and more sluggish in tempera-
ment. And so on through the whole list
of the many different families, requiring in
| the trainer a quick sense of observation
and an innate ability to instantly perceive
| Just what is required in each individual case.
When the large number of horses in daily
use is considered, subjecting the lives of
their owners and drivers to risk, as we'll as
the lives and property of others, this sub
ject assumes Importance. How often we
see men who are jealous for the welfare OF
their families watchful for their comfort
and careful of their health, and yet who
daily allow them to risk their lives riding
after horse that is perfectly safe " sc
long as nothing unusual occurs; but should
a holdback strap come unfastened, or some
thing hit its heels, runaway and smashuI
would be almost certain! How many cases
we read Of and how many cases we know
of, where few dollars paid to an to eff
cient trainer would have averted some
serious disaster
GEORGE w. SAMPSON, JR
Bradford, VT, December 80, 1898.