TRAINING THE TROTTER 313 



although the two men may be equally good whips. It is a certain fact, 

 moreover, that most good harness horses, and many saddle ones as well, 

 are by no means pleasant animals to handle, and have to be humoured 

 and studied in every possible way when at work, and consequently it is 

 no use trying to win prizes in good company with a horse which is not 

 upon good terms with his driver. 



Pace, no doubt, can be improved, and action also to a certain extent, 

 and therefore a reference may be made to the chapter on Training the 

 Trotter, in which information will be found regarding the methods 

 principally resorted to in America for increasing the speed of this class 

 of animal, and preparing him for his engagements. Assuming that an 

 animal is temperate, it is desirable that he should be brought into the 

 show-ring before the judge as fresh as possible; but if, on the other hand, 

 he happens to be of an excitable disposition, a good gallop if he be a 

 hack, or fast trot if he be a harness horse, an hour or so before the judging, 

 will benefit him if it can be arranged for. Time, however, should be 

 left for the animal to cool down in. Above all things, be the system 

 under which you prepare your show horses what it may, always try to 

 avoid conveying an impression of artificiality to the judges. Don't let 

 your horses come into the ring with their mouths full of iron, and wear- 

 ing martingales and bridoon bits, if you can help it. Many a judge, and 

 very properly so, would hesitate to award a prize to animals treated 

 thus; as he would naturally, if he were a practical man, arrive at the 

 conclusion that they were either useless without them so far as the carriage 

 of their heads is concerned, or else unmanageable beasts which could not 

 be trusted safely without such restrictions being placed upon their liberty. 

 That a superabundance of harness is not in the least degree necessary 

 to ensure success in the show-ring is proved by the fact that it is rarely, 

 if ever, that Mr. Butcher drives a horse which carries even a bearing 

 rein, and yet his successes have been so many as to be almost past 

 calculation. 



TRAINING THE TROTTER 



The sport of trotting is not one which has ever taken very deep root 

 in this country, nor is it in the remotest degree probable that it will 

 ever rival horse-racing, as the term is accepted by Englishmen, in the 

 estimation of the public. On the other hand, trotting is the great popular 

 sport of America, and therefore it is by no means to be regarded as sur- 

 prising that a few admirers of this gait are endeavouring to increase the 

 interest taken in it by their fellow-countrymen on this side of the Atlantic. 



