138 EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 



out on the track, and as you walk back have him drop off his 

 check and sponge his mouth out. That will many times quiet 

 a horse down and cool him off, and he will turn around and 

 go at it with new vigor. If you should be rash and hit him 

 a sharp cut with the whip or jerk him with the reins, or speak 

 in a loud voice, chiding him, you might frighten or make him 

 angry, and he would not get over it in a month. The scrip- 

 tural quotation, " Soft words turneth away wrath, and 

 grievous ones stireth up anger," may be applied to horses as 

 well as people. In all of this work your horse should be cared 

 for between heats the same as in a race. Give him a few 

 mouthfuls of ^rass or a little wet hay or other nourishment 

 which will pacify him and he A\'ill cool out better. 



If you must give your horse a fast mile to the limit of 

 his speed, it is not safe to do it within two weeks of his race, 

 as you might pull him apart in some way so that it would 

 take that time to recover. As your race draws near shorten 

 and sharpen your work and the majority of them will go the 

 route out better than they would with longer and stiffer work. 

 Between your working days, in the morning, hitch your horse 

 to a road cart or skelton wagon, leave his check easy or take 

 it off entirely, and let your man jog him off on the road two 

 or three miles, not over four at the outside. Towards evening 

 let your boy give him a walk of twenty or thirty minutes on a 

 grass plat, if convenient, and give him plenty of grass to eat 

 if he wants it. 



In repeating your horse it should be done about two or 

 three o'clock in the afternoon, the usual time of races, as it 

 accustoms them to the temperature of that time of the day. 

 If you have only one important event in view you should 

 take more time to prepare your horse, as he will recjuire stiffer 

 work to prepare his muscles and reduce his flesh to be ready 

 to go the limit o.f his speed without injury, whereas in prepar- 

 ing for a campaign we would, the first race, expect to go easy, 

 though they do not always get it ; the second race a little 

 stronger, and about the third one, if he is healthy and has 



