now TO TRAIN A COLT. 213 



close of the heat, and which make the race, even when 

 they are evidently overmatched, uncertain until the 

 heat is actually finished. How many times Flora Tem- 

 ple, under the skilful management of Hiram Woodruff, 

 would wrench victory from the grasp of defeat by this 

 peculiarity of movement and power! I know a stallion 

 — not on the course, and thus unknown — that possesses 

 this power to a wonderful extent. No matter how fast 

 he is moving : there is always another link in him that 

 he can let out if necessary. I have seen him gather 

 himself for one of these rushes, and, when called on, 

 send himself through the air like a bullet from a gun. 



I wish, at this point and in this connection, to make 

 several quotations from Hiram Woodruff's " Trotting- 

 Horse of America," — a book filled with much interest- 

 ing knowledge and advice, and which, reader, if you do 

 not own, you should purchase at once ; and I do this 

 because his views are in close accordance with mine, and 

 because they are expressed with great simplicity and 

 accuracy. Speaking of the management of the colt, he 

 says, — 



" When you come to drive him, it should be with a 

 light, firm hand. The reins should be handled nicely 

 and gently. The driver can manage the colt without 

 any jerking or pulling and hauling, if he keeps cool, 

 thinks of what he is about, and uses proper care and 

 patience. The mouth is now fine and sensitive ; and it 

 ought to be kept so, because this is the great organ of 

 communication between a good driver and the trotter, 



