42 THE TROTTING-IIORSE OF AMERICA. 



horse is capable. I do not myself admire those horses 

 which are more relied upon to win for aptness in breaking 

 and running a little when in a tight place, than for down- 

 right, speed and bottom at a fair trot; but, as I have said to 

 gentlemen who have complained that such was -the case, 

 the remedy is sufficient, if the judges will fearlessly apply 

 it. If the judges did this, we should soon hear no more 

 about drivers " learning horses to break." I think that the 

 pride of our art in training and driving is to teach them to 

 maintain their trot, and not to break. If the horse may 

 break and run, I can easily see how it may be beneficial to 

 teach him to break ; but if, when he breaks, he is to be im- 

 mediately pulled to a trot, or pulled up, I think it will be 

 better to teach him not to break. 



My remarks in this chapter are merely prefatory, as will 

 be seen. Indeed, we must jog along gently with this matter 

 until we have got through certain preliminary work, and put 

 the fast trotter into regular training. I purpose, then, to 

 take a firm hold of the reins, and increase the speed until 

 the parties interested in the performance think that w r e are 

 going along fast enough, and can stay the distance, even 

 though it be three-mile heats. It must, however, never be 

 lost sight of by the reader, in the course of this work, that 

 I am a practical man, one mainly governed by the teach- 

 ings of experience, and therefore not inclined to the laying- 

 down of mere theories in regard to the training and general 

 treatment of horses. If I had had less to do with them for 

 nearly forty years, I might be more positive in my asser- 

 tions than I now intend to be. Between the outward forms 

 of such trotters as Dutchman, and Peerless, or Flora Tem- 

 ple, there is a vast difference ; and between these types, 

 more or less nearly approaching the one or the other, the 

 variety of form is immense. I have been led to believe 

 that the constitutional differences, including temper, dispo- 

 sition, and that intangible but very potent quality called 

 pluck, are as numerous as the varieties of form. Now, in 



