56 EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 



twelve quarts of oats a day, or within twenty-four hours, when 

 other men could not get them to eat more than five or six 

 quarts in the same time. It is very necessar}' that the horse 

 and the groom agree and we all know that must be brought 

 about by kindness. I have seen horses that would seemingly 

 follow their groom through fire and would be lonesome and 

 uneasy as soon as the man was out of his stall or out of his 

 sight, would prick up his ears and seem so glatl when he came 

 back, would come up to him and smell him all over, and would 

 want to kiss or lap him with his tongue and demonstrate affec- 

 tion in every possible manner. On the other hand, in some 

 cases the horse would be scared to death, seemingly, would 

 fly to the other side of the stall and fairly tremble out of fear 

 that he was going to get a kick or cut of a whip for something. 

 Many times that horse would bite or kick that man every 

 chance he got, because he had abused him, and revenge is 

 sweet even to a horse. On the other hand, where there is an 

 affectionate understanding between horse and groom, no 

 amount of provocation, by fright or otherwise, would be suf- 

 ficient to make that horse do any harm to his groom in any 

 way. This applies to the driver as well as the groom. I be- 

 lieve many a good horse has been ruined and thrown away 

 from ignorance and bad handling on the track, in an attempt 

 to make speed by brute force instead of kindness and study- 

 ing the horse's disposition, as there are no two horses tem- 

 pered just alike more than people. There are ver\' rare cases 

 where a horse will not improve some instead of going back if 

 he is properly handled and trained. As I have said before, no 

 two want training just alike. As a general thing a man who 

 drives a horse had better not have much to do with him in 

 the stable, a^ a horse knows the difference ; that is to say, 

 don't like to have the driver handle him or rub him in the 

 stall. I have seen cases where the groom could do anything 

 that could be done with the horse in the stall — make a perfect 

 pet of him. When the driver would attempt to go in the stall 

 the horse would pitch at him like a cross dog. I have had 



