136 EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 



hay rather than annoy him with a muzzle. If he is very 

 hearty give him plenty of hay and he will eat less straw, and 

 only put on the muzzle the night before a race or stiff work. 

 We should always look to the comfort of our horses and a 

 leather muzzle placed over his head on a hot day or night 

 must be a torture, and the wire one is no good except to chafe, 

 as he can eat through it. There are exceptions, as there is oc- 

 casionally a gross feeder, or pig, as he might be called, and it 

 would be necessary to keep on a muzzle, as he never knows 

 when he gets enough, and you could not get him emptied out 

 and ready in a week for fast work. In such cases, I think it 

 better to bed with pine shavings, if convenient. 



Commence his work moderately, do not try to reduce his 

 flesh too quick, for his races will take that off fast enough as 

 the weather gets warm. You have probably been giving him 

 seven or eight miles a day on the road as slow work. When 

 your track gets good and you commence to give him a little 

 fast work, shorten up on his jogs. Three to four miles a day 

 is suf^cient for the average horse when they are in training 

 and trying to make speed. When you have a horse that it is 

 necessary to give him eight or ten miles a day to level up his 

 head and make him stay on a trot, he will be short lived as a 

 race horse, and the owner's finances will not show a very large 

 increase. I have reference here to a horse that is gaited and 

 has shown a fair amount of speed. I have seen many young 

 horses that were double gaited and had acquired many bad 

 habits, as hitching, hobling or taking too strong a hold of the 

 iron when 1 started them up, and it would be necessary to 

 give them long, stiff work to square them up in their gait or 

 to overcome some bad habit tlic}' have acquired. This should 

 be done in the winter or spring, so you will have time to let 

 them up and rest out before it comes time to gi\'e them fast 

 work on the track to try to improve their speetl. When you 

 commence to work )-our horse on the track go cas}- with liim 

 well within himself; tlo not allow him to rush off and break. 

 If he is able to trot in 2:;J0 his first mile in the spring should 



