HANDBOOK OF THE TUKF. 117 



books, meaning the very choicest and finest bred of the ani- 

 mals in the stud. 



Hard Mouth. When a horse has a confirmed hard 

 mouth it is regarded as a serious vice. 



Harem. A term applied to a collection of brood mares. 



Harness. The working-gear, or tackle, of a horse, to 

 connect him to a sulky or vehicle. It consists of the following 

 parts : Crown-piece ; cheek-piece ; front ; blinds ; nose-band ; 

 bit ; curb ; check ; throat-latch ; rein ; breastplate ; martin- 

 gale ; trace-tug ; trace ; saddle ; turrets ; belly-band, (girth) ; 

 turn-back, (ba<jk strap) ; crupper ; breeching ; breeching-strap ; 

 hip-strap. Track harness weigh from seven and a quarter to 

 twelve pounds, all complete, the average weight being from 

 eight to nine pounds. 



Harness Meeting-. A race to sulkies. 



Harness Turf. A term used to denote the trotting turf 

 as distinguished from the running turf. 



Harro\irs, for dressing or finishing the surface of a track. 

 Track harrows are made in two forms — square and triangular, 

 of the best wagon timber, and generally twelve feet on each 

 side. The square harrows are made of three pieces one way, 

 and four the other, each of two by four inch material. In 

 each of the four cross-pieces are thirty teeth, or one hundred 

 and twenty in all. Within the outer frame of the triangular- 

 shaped harrow are braces forming a smaller frame of the same 

 shape, but exactly reversed from the larger or outer one, the 

 points of the smaller one being at the centre of the outside 

 pieces. The outside pieces of this harrow are two by eight 

 inches ; and the inside pieces two by four inches. In the out- 

 side pieces are three rows of teeth, one hundred and four teeth 

 to each piece ; and in the inside pieces are two row^s of teeth, or 

 thirty teeth to each piece, making a total of four hundred and 

 two teeth. These teeth are 60-penny, forged, steel wire nails, 

 six inches long, set so firm in the frame work that they may be 

 adjusted to depth as required, the general rule being to have 

 them so set as to make channels one-half an inch apart, and 

 from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch deep on the face of 

 the track. When more than one harrow is used with the same 

 team in dressing a track, as is usually the case, they are drawn 

 diagonally, so that one will not follow directly behind the 

 other, but behind and outside of the other ; hence once around 

 the track will dress a section of from twenty-four to thirty- 

 six feet of its width. Such a triangular harrow as is described 

 will weight 300 pounds. 



