CALIFORXIA CLIMATE. 255 



then difficult to keep the system of the horse in train- 

 ing riglit. The blood becomes heated, and the whole 

 organization in a condition in which so slight a thing 

 as a " hit " or brush ma}" cause a break-down. The 

 feet become dried, and, though some theorists believe 

 that a horse's feet should be allowed to dry up and 

 contract, I have found my horses go lame whenever 

 they w^ere allowed to drift into that condition. I have 

 known good trainers to start out in the spring in Cali- 

 fornia with large stables of horses fit and well, and 

 have them all go wrong. Our tracks are hard and 

 flinty, and this, in addition to the natural and obvious 

 truth that when the system is feverish and disordered, 

 it is unable to throw off even slight troubles, accounts 

 for the fact that a larger percentage of horses "go 

 wrong" in California, in smnmer, than anywhere else. 

 Our greatest advantage here is that we can work 

 longer, and w^ork at any season — but for that very 

 reason many horese are overworked. I have no desire 

 to underestimate the natural advantages of this beauti- 

 ful State, but I object to all the credit for what we 

 have done — which is mainly due to the blood we have, 

 and our methods of training — being given to " climate.'* 

 "With the same material I could do at least as well 

 in the East ; and if I owned Electioneer and thirty 

 or forty selected mares, and wished to breed and 

 train horses to break all records, I would locate in 

 Kentucky or Tennessee in preference to California for 

 that purpose. 



With regard to our grasses we have no advantage 

 over the sections I have named. Alfalfa I have not 

 had a very wide experience with, and such as I have 



