HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 273 



Track-sick. A term used to denote that almost inde- 

 scribable unwillingness of a horse to respond to his driver when 

 in training. It does not always result from being out of con- 

 dition, but is more often due to overwork and injudicious 

 training, being esiDecially common wdth young colts. As a rule- 

 it is advisable to give but very little driving on a circular track 

 before the age of three years. 



There can be nothing but harm come of working a jaded, failing, track- 

 siclv and spiritless colt.— Training the Trotting Horse, Charles 

 Marvin. 



Track-work. Fitting for races. 



Trailing'. When a driver is known to be following 



around the course during a heat, close to the leading horse, he 



is said to be ''trailing." 



In tlie third heat 1 trailed until we turned into tlie homestretch, at 

 whicii point I swung tlie Chief well to tlie outside, and when I gave 

 him liis head the white-faced fellow made short work of the others. 

 —Life with the Trotters, John Splan. 



Trainer; Training-. One whose profession it is to 

 train and tit horses for track purposes ; the art of fitting a 

 horse for races. The trainer was formerly a person w ho trained 

 grooms privately for gentlemen who kept horses, and the jock- 

 eys and drivers grew up from lads who lived with them. With 

 the vast increase and importance of the turf business within 

 the past twenty-five years, the demand has been great for a 

 class of persons of peculiar ability and having characteristics 

 specially fitting them for the care, training and driving of trot- 

 ting and race horses. This demand has developed in America 

 some of the most famous drivers the world has ever seen ; and 

 in the greatest races horses have been driven by men of con- 

 summate genius and ability. While in many cases trainers 

 have come up from stable boys having a natural love for horses 

 and driving, it is trae that the most successful trainers are 

 those who are well educated, know something of the anatomy 

 of the horse, understand the veterinary art, have a special fond- 

 ness for horses, and are good judges of human nature. The 

 art of training a horse for the turf is one of the highest in the 

 whole animal economy. No specific rules can be given for it, 

 so much depends upon the breeding, age, constitution and 

 peculiar characteristics of the different animals which the 

 trainer handles. The general care, feed, shoeing, amount of 

 work, rubbing, bandaging, conditioning — all vary with the 

 individual, and must become a special study with the trainer 

 in each case. Little upon these points can come from books — 

 most must be based on repeated experience. 



There is as much difference between training a 2 :10 and a 2 :20 horse, as 

 there is between sharpening a razor and an ordinary jaclc-knife; 



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