10 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



and I made another change, this time going with Mr, Isaac 

 Woodruff, brother of the celebrated Hiram Woodruff; and 

 he also seemed inclined to give me the benefit of his long- 

 experience, and showed me everything that he could in the 

 way of training and driving a trotter. I rubbed for him the 

 bay gelding Derljy, formerly called Dutchman. This was 

 the first horse that I had regular charge of to groom; and at 

 this point it will be of interest to young drivers and boys of 

 the present generation who have an interest in trotteis, as 

 well as some older heads for whom the same subject has 

 fascinations, to tell something of the old methods of taking- 

 care of a trotter. In those days there was no training of 

 colts, and the pre23aration of a horse for a race was some 

 thing that involved months of time, and a terrific strain, not 

 only on the constitution and legs of the horse, but on the 

 minds and bodies of everybody connected with him. It was 

 considered a work of art to bring a trotter to the post for 

 a race, and really in those days it was necessary to fit a 

 horse with more care than now, because a trotter was liable 

 to be called on at any time to go in any kind of a race — 

 either in harness, under saddle, or to wagon, and to do these 

 things at one, two, or three miles. In other words, the 

 trotter of my boyhood days was an animal from whicli not 

 only speed was expected, but versatility and a tremendous 

 amount of endurance. 



The way we used to handle an old-time trotter was about 

 like this : I remember very distinctly that Mr. Woodruff 

 was an early riser. About four o'clock was his usual 

 time, and to me that seemed something terrible. Our rou- 

 tine of work was this : First, the horse was given a light 

 feed of oats and his morning toilet made. Then he was 

 taken out and led by the halter for an hour, brought in, 

 groomed, legs rubbed, and then we had an early breakfast. 

 After that whatever work he was to do in the way of train- 

 ing he got then. They gave a horse a great deal more jog- 

 ging, and much more sweating under blankets and hoods, 

 and a far greater amount of work in various ways than is 



