yi INTRODUCTION". 



coming within reach of the everyday horseman at a modest 

 price, and embodying what science has taught as authoritative 

 upon these subjects, has been published. A few elaborate 

 treatises, beyond the range of the practical horseman in scope 

 of information, and quite beyond his reach in price, have 

 appeared, of the benefits of which he has been unable to avail 

 himself, because by far too scientific for his use, or too expen- 

 sive for his purse. 



The present volume is believed to do for this class of read- 

 ers what no other single book on the horse and racing, has 

 ever attempted to accomplish. Its range of information 

 embraces terms relating to the horse ; his exterior conforma- 

 tion and uses as an animal for riding and driving ; to the track 

 or race course ; the sulky and track vehicles ; the harness ; the 

 driver and rider; to equestrianism; the trotting and racing 

 turf ; the racing and trotting rules ; laws of the States in their 

 relation to horses, tracks, and racing ; the phrases and catch- 

 words of great drivers and riders ; terms used in the veterinary 

 art so far as they relate to the locomotory organs of the horse, 

 and to general soundness, vices, and faults ; wdth the folk-lore 

 of horses, old sayings, and useful general knowledge of an his- 

 torical and practical character. While numerous books are 

 ready at hand to aid the student and practical craftsman in 

 the arts, sciences, literature, the special processes of mechanics, 

 printing, botany, gardening, and the textile arts — the vast body 

 of intelligent horsemen has been, heretofore, without any single 

 book, presenting in a comprehensive way, the historical, scien- 

 tific, legal, and practical features of their business. In short, 

 this book attempts to do for them, and for the gigantic indus- 

 try which they represent — the horse-breeding, racing, and trot- 

 ting business of the United States — what the numerous readers' 

 handbooks, dictionaries of phrase and fable, dates, general allu- 

 sions, common things, scientific handbooks and trade glossaries 

 do for students of art and literature, and skilled workers in 

 the arts and industries. The sources of information have 

 embraced the entire range of horse literature as represented in 

 the incomparable collection in possession of the Boston Public 

 Library ; files of sporting and tui'f journals and magazines of 



