When about a year or eighteen months old, their tails ought to be cut, as the hair will then grow stronger and thicker. From two years old the colts should be put with the horses and the females with the mares; without this precaution, the colts would fatigue and enervate themselves. At the age of three years, or three years and a half, we may begin to make them tractable; they should at first have a light easy saddle, and wear it two or three hours every day; they should also be accustomed to have a snaffle bit in their mouths, and to have their feet lifted up and struck, to habituate them to shoeing; if designed for coach or draught horses, they should also wear a harness. At first a curb should not be used; they may be held by a cavesson, or leather strap, and be made to trot on even ground, and with only the saddle or harness on their bodies; and when they turn easily, and willingly follow the person who holds the leather strap, the rough rider should mount him and dismount again in the same place, without making him move, till he is four years old, because before that age the weight of a man overloads him[A]; but at four years he should be made to walk or trot, a little way at a time, with the rider on his back. When a coach horse is accustomed to the harness, he should be paired with a horse that is thoroughly broke, putting on him a bridle with a strap passed through it, till he begins to be used to his duty; after this the coachman may try to make him draw, having the assistance of a man to push him gently behind, and even to give him some blows to make him do it. All this should be done before young horses have changed their food, for when once they are on grain or hay they are more vigorous, less tractable, and more difficult to break. [A] This assertion of our author will meet with little credit in the present day, when daily practice proves they may be completely trained while rising three years, and have sufficient strength to enter the lists on the course before they are four.