INTRODUCTION. Til 



tills country and England; an extended correspondence with 

 well known turf authorities in the United States, and wide per- 

 sonal acquaintance among practical horsemen, breeders, and 

 trainers. 



It is interesting to note to what an extent the horse indus- 

 try and turf business of the country has invented its own 

 language — a language expressive, unique, and peculiar ; one 

 which until now has existed beyond the realm of literature, 

 because it has had lodgment only in the general practice and 

 rugged brains of trainers, drivers, stablemen, and others who 

 have had to do with horses all their lives. So far as the author 

 is aware, the present volume is the first attempt to embody in 

 collected form the technical vocabulary of the track and its 

 equipments, the fraternity of drivers and riders, and the large 

 body of intelligent gentlemen practically interested in horses, 

 driving, racing, and trotting. Hence the book has been com- 

 piled from original information obtained on the turf and in the 

 stable, as well as from the horse literature of two centuries. 



The author wishes to say further, that the book is not an 

 English dictionary, a book on stable management, a cyclopaedia 

 about horses, a treatise on breeding, a trotting register or year- 

 book, a work on veterinary practice, or on the training and 

 driving of horses — and yet there is something in it under each 

 of these different headings. In memoirs of horses, it includes 

 only the five or six representative or foundation animals in 

 England and America ; and no one family or individual is 

 given prominence in preference to another. It contains no 

 expression of opinion that can by any possible construction 

 provoke controversy or lessen the value of the facts presented ; 

 nor does it discuss theories of breeding, training, or manage- 

 ment. It floats no advertisement of breeder, track or vehicle. 

 The terms pertaining to equestrianism are not generally those 

 of the schools devoted to fancy riding, but those of practical 

 horsemanship. Many terms pertaining to the English turf are 

 included, because our ow^n turf history is founded upon that of 

 the mother country, and because the intelligent driver or eques- 

 trian wishes to be well informed upon all matters relating to 

 turf history and practices, whether in his own country or 



