CHAPTEE IV. 



TEACHING TO TROT BOLTERS WINTERING HORSES BREEDING 

 FARMS, ETC. 



PRECEPTOR I can well appreciate the feeling you have 

 for that horse, and in place of considering- it mawkish 

 sentimentality, honor you for your gratitude to him, who 

 has done so much to retrieve your bad fortune. 



You are also worthy of credit for the pertinacity with 

 which you stuck to him, determined that he should make 

 a trotter. Patience is everything in our profession. Weeks, 

 months, even years are necessary to make the most pro- 

 mising proficient in this partly acquired gait. The swift 

 gallop of the race-horse is greatly improved by training. 

 Perhaps if they were run without any weight on them, 

 nature would be the only teacher they would require, but 

 the action that is necessary to carry the weight easily is 

 the result of practice. The swiftest natural trot any ani- 

 mal ever possessed is slow, indeed, compared with the 

 speed exhibited by Dexter or Lady Thome. If these two 

 "Topsawyers" had never been subjected to a thorough 

 training, their great speed would never have been known. 

 In fact, they might have passed their lives without either 

 being credited as even good travelers, by being placed in 

 a position that would have rendered fast traveling un- 

 necessary. 



When a particular family of horses have become cele- 

 brated for great trotting powers, almost every colt belong- 



