338 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 



is the want of exercise. A horse that is used to being ex- 

 ercised every day, if made to stand still for any great length 

 of time and overfed would be more or less liable to conges- 

 tion and other difficulties. Some horses are troubled with 

 swelling of the legs. Here I think the bandage is more 

 useful than in any other place. Have some mild, cooling 

 lotion, keep your bandages wet with ice water, and have 

 the legs moderately rubbed by hand. I think this treat- 

 ment will go as far toward keeping the legs in a normal 

 condition as anything that can be done. If a horse is in 

 first-class condition and sound every way he can stand a 

 heap of railroad travel. To show how little efi'ect it will 

 have on some horses, I took Rarus to California the fall of 

 '78 and in less than forty-eight hours after he arrived there 

 trotted him an exhibition in which he went the first mile 

 in 2:14 and repeated in 2: 14 J. I think you want to be care- 

 ful about giving your horse any rapid work shortly after 

 coming ofi* the cars. I find there is more danger of their 

 becoming corded in the muscles after a railroad trip than at 

 almost any other time. Remember also that a horse gets a 

 certain amount of work in a car, the constant motion of the 

 train acting upon the muscles will sometimes key a horse 

 up more than a severe day' s work. If you have your horse 

 in good condition, trot him a race once a week, ship him 

 from one town to another, you will find there is no possible 

 chance of his being short of work. The season I had J. Q. 

 I trotted him from Detroit to Hartford, and the fastest 

 working mile he got in all that time was 2:35. I occasion- 

 ally brushed him through the stretch a 2:26 gait, and with 

 that kind of work he made the star performances of his 

 life. In warming a horse up for a race and joii find him 

 sore or tied up from any cause, don't be afraid to give him 

 a couple of slow heats. If you have a horse that has a 

 habit of throwing his head in the air when he breaks, or at 

 other times, do not make the mistake of putting short 

 martingales on him, or, what some people use at times, a 

 standing martingale. With his head checked up with an 



