108 THE TROTTING-UORSE OF AMERICA 



Therefore, the trainer must be vigilant as the work goes on 

 from day to day ; and, if the slightest symptoms appear to 

 indicate that the limit has been reached, the horse must be 

 eased. Experience, judgment, and skill are imperatively 

 demanded at this juncture ; and, where they do not exist in 

 fair degree, it will be the best course to keep on the safe 

 side, and be sure that the horse is well within himself. It 

 is true that he may not be up to the keen edge of which he 

 is susceptible ; but there is no remedy for this except at the 

 risk of overdoing him altogether, which risk is great in such 

 circumstances in any hands but those of a skilful and 

 watchful trainer. It will not do to carry on until the horse 

 is off his feed, dull in the eye, and his coat begins to stare, 

 because the game is up when this is the case. The point 

 at which his work ought to have been eased is passed, and 

 it will take some time of nice handling and gentle work to 

 get behind it once more. 



In five or six days, or a week after the first trial, the 

 horse will be fit to be tried a mile, if he has been doing 

 well. It being found that he is " all there," this will com- 

 monly be sufficient for a mile race. Even if the race is 

 two miles and repeat, it will sometimes be best to avoid 

 further trial. It depends upon the condition and character 

 of the horse and the state of his legs and feet. If he is 

 known to be a stout one, and his legs are all right, another 

 trial may be had prior to the two-mile race ; and in this the 

 horse may be repeated. But if the speed is there, and the 

 trainer is satisfied with the condition, it will be safest to 

 take a good deal on trust rather than insist on its exhibition 

 before the race. If the trainer knows his horse, he will 

 have a safe rule to go by ; if he does not know him, he must 

 rely, to a considerable extent, upon his own judgment ; for, 

 when the horse is not known to be stout, there is all the 

 more danger of giving him too much in the trials. The 

 torse that is fit to trot mile-heats, three in five, in which 

 the heats may be broken, is able to trot a two-mile race, so 



