246 HOESE POETEAITUEE. 



elevated, and gave my reasons at the time for estimating 

 it above the common one. It is hardly necessary for me 

 to state that I would prefer a horse that needed no extra 

 appliances to trot at his fastest gait, and if I had an ani- 

 mal that would go under all circumstances better without 

 check rein, martingale, or blinders, I should certainly not 

 put them on him. But, unfortunately, for one animal of 

 this kind, there are very many that need all these applian- 

 ces, and it will be a matter requiring much study and fre- 

 quent experiments, to know the best manner of applying 

 them, to meet the exigencies of each particular case. 



Fast trotting depending so much on the education, the 

 first lessons are of the greatest moment in determining 

 the habits of a horse ; therefore, if we accustom him to a 

 high check when we commence, the chances are that he 

 will always need its support ; or, should we teach him. that 

 a heavy pull is an absolute necessity, when he is trotting 

 fast, then the short martingale is an essential part of the 

 harnessing. The tension is steadier, and remedies, in a 

 measure, what Harry Hieover would call "bad hands." If 

 one could retain the natural delicacy of the horse's mouth 

 during the long time the training of trotters requires, a 

 great point would be gained. The admonitions of the bit 

 would be sooner obeyed, and this powerful monitor would 

 have a tenfold greater effect. Fashion and Miss Foote 

 two of the greatest mares on the American turf were as 

 easily placed in their races as though they were reasoning 

 beings, permitting their riders to take every advantage the 

 changing scenes of a four-mile contest afforded, and I am 

 positive in my belief that they would not have won half 

 the races they did, if they had been pulled at till all feeling 

 in their mouths was gone. Launcelbt, a brother to the 

 celebrated Touchstone, was the very reverse, and his great 

 powers as a race horse were almost rendered nugatory 

 by his determination to run away, only restrainable by a 



