286 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



Repeat this programme the following week, and up 

 till Wednesday of the week before the race. That day 

 he will be worked out a couple of miles, on Thursday 

 will get a light jog, and on Friday three or four fast 

 quarters — and be sure he has his speed. If he has, and 

 is well, you are ready for the fray on Monday. The 

 object of the course of work he has been given is to 

 condition him to carry his speed full miles and yet not 

 to dull any more than possible the line edge of the 

 speed we worked up to in our brushes. I have found 

 that after a horse loses part of his speed it comes back 

 slowly. He should not have work enough to dull his- 

 speed, drill him down, or take the vim out of him. 

 Keep him feeling good. A horse never gets track-sick 

 until he is abused — overwork is abuse, though it may 

 not be intentional abuse — and as soon as he shows 

 track-weariness, and loses the ability and the desire to 

 brush as fast and strong as ever, the note of warning I 

 have already sounded so frequently is in order again : 

 Ease up, for you are overdoing it. 



The preparation, like every other detail in the train- 

 ing, needs, I need not say, discriminating judgment. 

 No rule can be laid down to suit ever}^ horse. The 

 above course is not meant as a rule always to be strictly 

 followed. It simply outlines the general plan on which 

 we prepare our horses. At every stage of training 

 and preparation the trainers judgment must come to 

 his aid, and guide him as to what to do, how far to go, 

 and when and how to do it. Just as horses differ so 

 must the application of a system be elastic. 



Few trainers do much jogging, leaving that to the 

 boys ; but I will say that I would always rather do my 



