159 



But this is a diversion. What I started out to tell the 

 people of the present time was how a man trained a horse 

 for a heat race when it was necessary for a trainer to thor- 

 oughly understand his business. I do not mean to say that 

 the trainers of the present time are not good men, but I de- 

 sire to convey the impression that they are wedded to short 

 distances and that there are not many of them who would 

 know how to exactly go about fitting a race horse for a long- 

 distance race. Of course, there are a few, and they are 

 good men, who have had experience in that line. The same 

 methods are not used in the new school as were used by 

 those of the old. But in the event of a return to the long 

 distances it will be absolutely necessary for the trainers of 

 to-day to inform themselves on the very matters which I 

 am discussing here. 



We will take, for example, the case of a trainer taking 

 one horse to train for a stake event that is four months off. 

 Let us assume the horse to start in this race has just been 

 taken up out of the pasture. He is brought to the track or 

 training quarters, and the first care of the trainer must be to 

 see that the stall is comfortable. It must have plenty of 

 ventilation and there must be a nice window in it. This win- 

 dow must be sufficiently high to prevent a draught on the 

 horse, so as not to give him a cold or bring on any disease 

 resultant therefrom. Everything must be clean and there 

 must be no ill aroma, for this is a disease producer as well 

 as any other cause. This horse must be handled as carefully 

 as a child. 



The first day, upon arriving at the training quarters, the 

 horse may be walked about the track. It may be at a time 

 when there are flies, or his feet may need protection to pre- 

 vent them from becoming injured by stamping or anything 

 of that order. Therefore, on the second day he should be 

 shod. Now, this is not always the case, for his feet may not 

 be in such a condition as to require it then, but it should 

 not be long until this is done. 



You have now provided comfortable quarters and seen 

 to your horse's feet. These are the salient points up to this 

 time, and your horse is ready for training. If he comes in 

 from the pasture very gross or big in flesh, he should not eat 

 over ten quarts of solid grain per day, one-third of it corn. 



