118 HOKSE POETRAITUEE. 



of a hotly contested race at a pace that he knows is not 

 his fastest, still the want of condition is not so apparent, 

 and a horse will make a very creditable performance 

 trotting, when one in the same condition would fall im- 

 measurably short of his true form on the racing turf. 

 My idea is, that horses are oftener got out of condition 

 from injudicious sweating than all other causes combined; 

 and it certainly devolves on any one who intends to prepare 

 horses for fast work to master this part of the subject, 

 and become as familiar with the necessity for sweating 

 and the effects of it as patient study and thought will 

 permit. 



PRECEPTOR. All fast work has a sudorific tendency, 

 which can be either augmented or diminished by means 

 within our reach. A horse that does not sweat after suf- 

 cient exercise is in a very bad plight, as much as those 

 that perspire very freely with little exertion. One is said 

 to be burned or baked, the other washy. I can only say 

 that I am pleased that you realize the importance of this 

 part of training, and shall look for mutual benefit when 

 we come to discuss it. The morning has so far been pro- 

 fitably occupied with the shoeing and stable arrangements, 

 we will now go to dinner, and while we enjoy the repose 

 of our usual post-meridian smoke, I will listen to the 

 continuation of the breeding department, and will give 

 you a history of how I became a " trotting trainer/' I 

 have neglected mentioning a very dangerous instrument 

 we left hanging so quietly on a hook, one that we cannot 

 possibly get along without ; and as it is too late at present 

 to give it the attention its merits and demerits deserve, I 

 will postpone the subject till your horses require its use, 

 which I hope will not be the case till we prepare them for 

 their first sweat, unless there happen to be a gross feeder 

 among them. I allude to the muzzle. 



