HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 223 



bring out, and which must, therefore, receive the grand 

 preparation, his true course is to commit him to the 

 charge of some experienced trainer and driver, to 

 whose opinion and advice every thing relating to the 

 animal should be referred. I have written rather in 

 the interest of the breeder, and of that large, and, I am 

 glad to say, rapidly-increasing class of gentlemen who 

 own, and love to drive, the trotting-horse. Among 

 these I am happy to be numbered as a companion. I 

 hold that no healthier recreation or innocent amuse- 

 ment is open to the business and professional men of 

 America than this of driving speedy horses. It gives 

 relaxation to the mind, breaks pleasantly and impera- 

 tively in upon the prolonged strain and tension of 

 anxious thought, begets and nourishes a spirited but 

 harmless rivalry, and compels a delightful and profit- 

 able companionship with Nature. I know, that, in the 

 minds of some, prejudices exist against men of pro- 

 fessed piety indulging in such an amusement. To own 

 a fast horse opens up before their prophetic vision 

 truly awful contingencies. It is needless to say that I 

 do not, to any considerable extent, share in this anxiety. 

 I have never discovered any law in nature, or injunc- 

 tion in revelation, which makes it a duty for a good 

 man to own and use a poor specimen of any species of 

 animals. I see no reason why such a person should 

 have none but homely birds in his cages, black sheep in 

 his flocks, lean kine in his fields, and lazy horses in his 

 stables. The fact is, a good man has a right to the 



