The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt by Walter Farley Page A

letter came with the late afternoon mail during the middle of the colt’s second week. Eagerly Tom took it from the mailbox in the upper road. But before opening the letter, he turned to look at the barn set far below him. Across the waving fields of tall grass he could see a corner of the paddock, and there, sprawled in the sun, lay the colt.
    He opened the envelope and began reading Jimmy’s large handwriting.
    Clearfield Fair

July 10
    Dear Tom
,
    I couldn’t have asked for anything more than a colt, and I’m so glad everything worked out okay. I sure understand how you must have felt, and George says he does, too
.
    I only got your letter today because George and I are now at the Clearfield Fair, and your letter was forwarded back home before reaching us here
.
    Now I’m going to tell you what to do until we all get back to Coronet. It’s not much you have to do, Tom, but it’s very important. I can’t tell you how important it is
.
    First thing you have to do is to win the confidence of the colt. Make sure he learns he has nothing to fear from you. Handle him all you can. Get him used to having your hands running all over him and picking up his feet. The more used to it he gets the easier it’s going to be later for all of us
.
    I want you to get a halter. A soft web one is best if you canget it. Put it on him now, so he can get used to it. It’ll also make it easier for you in catching him when he’s in pasture. I want you to start leading him around in a few weeks, first behind the mare, and later away from the mare. You’ll need help, so maybe your uncle will give you a hand. But I want you to be leading the colt, remember that
.
    He might give you a little trouble at first, Tom. He might not like being led about and not being allowed to go his own way. You got to be patient with him. I know you will be, and that’s why I turned over the mare and now the colt to you. Most men, and that includes myself, don’t have the patience we had when we were your age. That’s why I believe the colt will do better in your hands than mine or anyone I know. You’ll have to work slow, teaching him one thing at a time. When you first try to lead him, let him go his own way, if he has a mind to. Don’t fight him. Just go along with him, until before long you’ll find that you’re guiding him and he’s going along with you. But it may take days or weeks, Tom, and that’s what I mean when I say you got to have patience
.
    I don’t mean that you shouldn’t have a firm hand with the colt. He’s got to learn obedience and he has to learn it early in life or else he’ll be a rebel later. And when he gets to be over a thousand pounds it’s a terrible job trying to make him unlearn any bad habits he picked up as a youngster. I’m simply saying that you can teach him obedience by winning his confidence and having him learn willingly just as easily as anyone can do it by force. And the results are a million times better! I’ve seen too many people try to knock obedience into a colt by giving him the rough treatment. They say it’s faster, and they’re right. But what they forget is that they usually break the colt’s spirit, too. And when that’s done you’ve killed what may have been a fine horse
.
    I didn’t mean to go on for so long, Tom, but I did and I’m glad I did. Do what you can with the colt, and if you can bring him back to Coronet in September knowing how to be led and having full confidence in you, I’ll be a very happy man
.
    Just one other thing, and that is I want you to give the colt all the oats he wants as soon as he starts stealing any from the mare and shows an interest in grain. Crushed oats are better than whole oats, for remember he’ll only have milk teeth in a coupleof weeks and he won’t be able to do a good job of masticating his food
.
    George and I did pretty well at