318 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



dry, and lie may sweat off the flesh a good deal faster than 

 you want Mm to. Under those conditions I invariably clip 

 a horse, and the result has always been perfectly satisfac- 

 tory to me. I clipped Johnston, Rams, Fanny Wither- 

 spoon, Mambrino Sj)arkle and a host of other horses that 

 have been successful on the turf. After locating your 

 training ground and getting your horses in shape to work, 

 you must be controlled entirely by the dispositions, physi- 

 cal characteristics and other peculiarities of the animals 

 which compose the string, and also what sort of races you 

 expect to trot them. If you are going to trot them races of 

 mile heats, three in five, or if you have a star performer 

 and are going to give some exhibition miles, you vv'ill natu- 

 rally treat them differently. A great many people give their 

 horses all their work to a sulky. I do not. Every man 

 should have in his stable two different weights of road- 

 carts; one strong enough to give work on the road with, 

 and the other lighter to use on the track, for the reason 

 that it takes the weight off' the horse' s shoulders and back, 

 and if his legs are weak or sore, it will naturally relieve 

 those parts. I have used various different carts in this 

 work, among them that manufactured by W. S. Frazier & 

 Co., of Aurora, 111., and have found them the best, they 

 being durable, with good running action, and easy on the 

 horse. Other drivers have expressed the same views to me. 

 I do not believe it is necessary to give horses as much 

 walking and jogging as they often get. In preparing a horse 

 for mile heats, si)eed is, I think, the element to be sought 

 after. When you have hardened your horse's legs and 

 body by road work you commence his work on the track. 

 Be sure that you have a good track to w^ork him on, and 

 above all things do not work him at a high rate of speed in 

 the mud. I have seen men take a horse out two days before 

 his race and work him in the mud, and when the day of the 

 race came and the horse had no speed they wondered what 

 ailed him. As good a man to copy after in this respect that 

 I know of, is Gen. John E. Turner. Some people, seeing 



