96 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



means of which an angler transfers the shy but gamy- 

 trout from water to land. Nor is it necessary to 

 mount a sulky in order to experience these delights. 

 Mr. Yanderbilt drove Maud S. and Aldine, harnessed 

 to his road wagon, a mile in 2.15^; at Cleveland, 

 some years ago, a four-in-hand accomplished the 

 same distance in 2.40; and a moderately fast horse, 

 a moderately light wagon, and a smooth road supply 

 all the necessary conditions for artistic driving. 



There is another function of the bit scarcely less 

 important, and that is to encourage and restore a 

 tired horse. When, at the end of a stoutly contested 

 heat, two trotters are struggling for supremacy, they 

 can be urged by the voice, reinforced either by the 

 whip or by the bit. A coarsely bred, sluggish animal 

 may, at this critical moment, require the lash, but its 

 application to a beast of any spirit is almost sure to 

 disgust and dishearten him. In some subtle way, 

 however, when the driver moves the bit to and fro 

 in the horse's mouth, the effect is to enliven and stim- 

 ulate him, as if something of the jockey's spirit were 

 thus conveyed to his mind. If this motion be per- 

 formed with an exaggerated movement of the arm. it 

 is called "reefing," and it sometimes appears, when 

 it is "neck or nothing," at the end of a heat, as if 

 the driver were actually "sawing" the horse's mouth, 

 whereas in reality, he is only giving the bit a loose 

 but vigorous motion therein. 



At this point, it might not be amiss to state the 

 conditions of a trotting race, for it is highly probable 

 that to some of my readers the following explanation 

 will not be superfluous. 



The race is over a mile track, almost elliptical in 



