332 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS, 



that is as far as you can naturallj'^ expect liim to go. If 

 you do not give liim a breathing speR he will either break 

 or slow up, two things you want to avoid, I think the 

 safest plan is to keei3 a little jDOwer and reserve speed in 

 your horse until the last struggle, then drive him in a man- 

 ner to try and get his very best effort, and the chances are that 

 by this time your oi)ponents ary pretty well trotted out, and 

 if you do not win you will have the satisfaction of knowing 

 you have made the very best effort under the circum- 

 stances. If after you win a heat or two in a race and 

 find your horse distressed and no other horse that looks 

 dangerous has two heats, be sure and lay your horse up for 

 one heat at least. You will be surprised what a relief it 

 "will be to him, and if he is anything like a game horse he 

 will come back with renewed vigor and make 'a good fight 

 for the money. 



In scoring your horse you can save him a good deal by 

 keeping a sharp lookout for what the chances are for get- 

 ting the word. Never score him any more that is absolutely 

 necessary. If you score a horse fifteen or twenty times, as 

 X have often seen done, it will distress him more and tax 

 his strength to a greater extent than it would to trot a 

 heat. Be very careful in a heat about going out wide on 

 the turns. If one man has the pole and the other is out in 

 the middle of the track and goes around both turns of a 

 mile track in that position the X)ole horse would have five or 

 six yards the best of it, which would give him the heat to a 

 certainty, barring accident. I think it much safer to trail 

 around the turn and take the chance of getting through on 

 the straight side. . Never run into an opponent willfully or 

 do any thing to him that you would not be willing to have him 

 do to you under the same circumstances, but if anyone un- 

 dertakes to crowd or interfere with you in a wrongful manner 

 do not have any delicacy about trpng to make him take his 

 place. I consider it a very bad thing for a driver to get a 

 rex)utation of allowing people to push him about, as there 

 are always plenty of men willing to take advantage of you 



