THE TROTTING-IIORSE OF .iMEIilCA. 399 



will see some of our fastest trotters do this. In order to 

 avoid it, let the horse, when being formed for a trotter, take 

 a good lope or two when he makes a break before you try to 

 catch him. Should you find, that, without being pulled, 

 he has a tendency to come back into the breeching when 

 he breaks, touch him with the whip at such times, and 

 teach him, that, whatever else he may do, his main business 

 is to go right ahead all the time until you pull him up. 

 In catching a horse in a break, the driver must do it princi- 

 pally with one rein. Some chiefly use the oif rein, some 

 the near rein. It is not material which, except in this, 

 that some horses catch more readily and easily on one than 

 on the other. This, as regards any particular horse, is only 

 found out by observation and trial. It is always to be done 

 with one rein. A dead pull on both reins will not bring 

 a horse to his trot ; but, if his head be pulled slightly round 

 to one side and upwards, he will grab for his trot immedi- 

 ately. 



The movement of the reins to be somewdiat like that 

 which is effected by the turn of the wrist, in shifting the 

 bit, to keep the mouth lively and call for another eflbrt when 

 the trotter is doing about his best. Tliere is, however, 

 more pull on one rein ; for, in the shift, the action is merely 

 momentary, besides which in the catch there is to be a yield- 

 ing of the other rein. The driver is not by any means to 

 let go of the head with one hand, while trying to catch the 

 horse in a break with the other ; but he must give with the 

 opposite hand just about as much as the horse's head must 

 come to one side to catch his trot. The catching pull is not 

 to be a yanking, jerking pull : if it is, the horse will sheer 

 otf, and lose a great deal by the swerve, — perhaps cross, or 

 run into somebody. It is to be a quick, firm, but not 

 violent movement. To do it well, and to learn to do it just 

 at the right time, will be worth your while ; and practice 

 will enable you to learn it if you will follow these direc- 

 tions. 



