LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 831 



horse is inclined to be sore and stiff in any way and hard to 

 warm np you will find that warm ai3x:)lications of stimulat- 

 ing liquor to the body and legs will have a very beneficial 

 effect. Standing a horse's feetjn warm water I have found 

 a very good thing. A great many horses after a severe heat 

 will get corded in their muscles. After this has hapi^ened 

 once it comes on very much easier the next time. If you 

 have a horse subject to this the more you keep him moving 

 about on a walk the lese liable he will be to be taken. 

 Blankets wrung out of warm \^'ater and laid across his back 

 and shoulders are very good at such times. The best thing 

 I ever tried for this is a quilt filled with hops. Have it 

 wrung out of hot water and laid across the horse's shoul- 

 ders ; this will often give relief when nothing else will. 

 Severe work at a high rate of speed when a horse is noc 

 conditioned for it is almost sure to bring on this state of 

 affairs. If you know your horse has a weakness of any 

 kind the safest plan is to always use a preventive, as they 

 say "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," 

 and I think in this case it is true. 



Be sure and be ready when the judges ring the bell for 

 the second heat. Don't keep the i3eople and judges wait- 

 ing for you as that gets everybody out of patience. If 

 anything should happen that you are obliged to have a shoe 

 removed or any other reason why you can not be there when 

 they ring the bell send word to the judges what the diffi- 

 culty is and ask them for time, which they will always 

 willingly grant. By this time you will liave your mind 

 made up whether you are going to try to win the second 

 heat or not. If you decide to go for the heat and you 

 should get a bad send-off or your horse make a break under 

 no circumstance persist in trying to win the heat. You may 

 win it but the chances are that if you do you will so have 

 pumped your horse out that it will cost you the race. In 

 driving a heat never forget that a mile is a long way for a 

 horse to go at a high rate of speed. If you brush your 

 horse a quarter or half at anything like the top of his speed 



22 



