Uncle Adam and the Colt

There was a colt, which every time he heard anyone coming, he ran away. One afternoon, Uncle Adam came to where the pony was, but it just lowered his head, kicked up his hooves and galloped away.

Every time Uncle Adam got near him, the colt raced across the field. And his mother galloped with him and stayed by his side.

But Uncle Adam knew a lot about horses. So he jus’ went and leaned against a fence post and whistled gently to himself, never looking at the pony or his mother.

The colt saw Uncle Adam and he heard him whistling. However the pony jus’ lowered his head and nibbled grass.

Uncle Adam didn’t move and kept on whistling. Curious, the colt moved closer, nibbling some grass nearer to Uncle Adam.

But still Uncle Adam didn’t move and he kept on whistling. Then after a while he walked out of the field the way he had come and went away.

The next day he came back, and he stood there whistling and he gave the mother horse a cube of sugar. The third day when he came, he walked over to the mother horse and put a halter over her head and gave her another cube of sugar.

Then Uncle Adam led her around the field, and the pony followed after, close to his mother’s side.  After a few times around the pasture, he let the mother go and walked away, paying no attention to the colt whatsoever.

Uncle Adam returned a fifth day and a sixth, giving the mother a cube of sugar and walking her around the pasture, with the pony close to her side. By this time the colt was feeling more comfortable with Uncle Adam’s presence.

On the seventh day, Uncle Adam returned and instead of offering the mother a cube of sugar, he offered it to the pony. The little horse gladly accepted, and from then on he freely followed Uncle Adam around the pasture.

It was then Uncle Adam knew it was time to start training the colt to be a working ranch horse.