PBIVATE TKAINIXG TRACKS. 79 



in her movements. You have acted judiciously in not 

 tugging at her, as with her resolution she would have 

 been desperate in her efforts to get rid of the torture of 

 the bit. We will " bide our time " with her, and my word 

 for it, she will well repay for the probation. 



There is no doubt but the short turns of the half-mile 

 track had a good deal to do in teaching May the pro- 

 voking dog movement you speak of. These half-mile 

 courses are the bane of many a good trotter, and unfit as 

 they are for a horse that has acquired his gait, they are 

 still worse to teach a colt that, as yet, does not know how 

 to handle his feet. In making private training tracks, 

 there is not much necessity for paying great attention to 

 grading. So that the surface is smooth, the undulations 

 may be beneficial, and the work that is generally put in a 

 half-mile track would make one double the length. Neither 

 is there any need of emulating the courses where many 

 horses are expected to start in a race ; and if a man were 

 to offer to build me one for nothing, I would restrict it to 

 a width so that there would only be room for two horses 

 to trot abreast. The advantage of a narrow track is that 

 you are compelled to teach your horses to recover from a 

 break without being swung over a width of forty feet. 

 This capacity for catching the trot without deviating from 

 a straight line, is of vital importance in a race, giving im- 

 mense advantage over a horse accustomed to be snatched 

 and yawed all over the track. On almost every farm fit 

 for breeding purposes, there is ground sufficient to get a 

 mile, provided the maker is not afraid of going up and 

 down moderate elevations and depressions. It is imma- 

 terial about the distance being exactly the mile, and 

 should be governed by and adapted to the configura- 

 tion of the ground. The best form is to have the sides 

 straight and parallel, connected by a semi-circle at the 

 ends ; the curve as easy as can be got, the outside raised 



