296 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



I consider John Splan one of the best judges of pace 

 we have on the turf. As an illustration of this, I may 

 recall the performance years ago at Chico, California, 

 between Rarus and Goldsmith Maid. Splan and his 

 friends had bet that 2:17 would be beaten, but the first 

 heat the mare seemed tied up and only finished the 

 mile in 2:19^, Budd Doble declaring that she was 

 " wobbling all the time." After the next heat Doble 

 repeated this, when Splan said, "She has wobbled as 

 good a mile as ever she did in her life," and when the 

 time, 2:14|^, was hung out, it showed that he judged 

 the pace they trotted well. 



In speaking of training the colt I have warned the 

 reader against the fallacy of "teaching him to break 

 and catch," and I can only repeat here that what you 

 want to do is to teach the horse to trot without break- 

 ing. A steady horse, other things being equal, will 

 wear down the horse that " breaks and catches " 

 several times in a mile. Sometimes a horse seeks re- 

 lief in a break, but as to the ultimate benefit of " rest- 

 ing breaks " I am skeptical. During the war I was in 

 the cavalry service, and an old frontiersman taught me 

 if I had to ride all day the least tiresome way w^as to 

 sit still in the saddle. I could ride twenty hours in 

 one position, while a companion, shifting positions and 

 trying to rest himself, would thoroughly tire. So I 

 think the steady horse makes the mile with greater 

 ease than the one that engages in the rather violent 

 exercise of " breaking and catching." A driver of 

 judgment and experience will soon learn to detect the 

 signs of a coming break by \vatching the horse's head, 

 and there is the direction to keep your eyes in. It is 



