To the same end it is well to hang bridles in their stalls so that while they are still colts they may become accustomed to the sight of them and the sound of their clanking as well.  When a colt has learned to come to an outstretched hand you should put a boy on his back, for the first two or three times stretched out flat on his belly, but afterwards sitting upright.  The time to do this is when the colt is three years old, for then he has his full growth and is beginning to develop muscles.

“There are those who say that a colt may be broken at eighteen months, but it is better to wait until the third year.  Then is the time too to begin to feed him that mixture of grain in the milk which we call farrago, for this is very good for a horse as a purgative.  It should be fed for ten days to the exclusion of all other food.  On the eleventh day and until the fourteenth you should feed barley, adding a little to the ration every day for four days and then maintaining that quantity for the ten days succeeding:  during this period the horse should be exercised moderately, and when in a sweat rubbed down with oil.  If it is cold a fire should be lit in the stable.

“As some horses are suitable for military service, some for the cart, some for breeding, some for racing, and others for the carriage, it follows that the methods of handling and looking after them all are not the same.  Thus the soldier chooses some and rears and trains them for his particular use, and so in turn does the charioteer and the circus rider.  Nor does he who wishes a cart horse choose the same conformation or give the same training as to a horse intended for the saddle or the carriage:  for as the one desires mettle for military service, the other prefers a gentle disposition for use on the road.  It was to provide for this difference of use that the practice of castrating horses was inaugurated, for horses that are altered are of a quieter disposition:  they are called geldings, as hogs in the same state are called barrows and chickens are called capons.

“As to medicine for the horse, there are so many symptoms of their maladies and so many cures that the studgroom must have them written down:  indeed, on this account in Greece the veterinarians are mostly called [Greek:  hippiatroi] (horse leeches).”

Of mules

VIII.  While we were talking a freedman came from Menas and said that the sacrificial cakes were cooked and every thing ready for the sacrifice—­that whoever wishes to take part had only to come.

“But I will not suffer you to go,” I protested, “until you have fulfilled your promise and given me the third chapter of our subject, that concerning mules and dogs and shepherds.”