EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 1 39 



stood his races well and is ever going to be any good, he 

 should be at this time ready to show it to you if you are 

 ready to see it. 



When the day of t]ie race comes, and you mean business, 

 it is well to see that your horse's shoes are in their proper place 

 and the right weight to suit him, your boots and harness in 

 good repair, and if your horse is nervous and excitable a good 

 plan is to take some very fine surgeon's cotton, which can be 

 obtained at any drug store, make a ball the size necessary, 

 and push it dovv^n carefully in the ear passage. Then make a 

 larger one and put over the first one. Do it carefully, so as 

 not to scratch or hurt the ear, or he will object to a repetition 

 of it the next time. This will deaden the sound of the whip, 

 voice or other noise made by contending drivers which may 

 cause your horse to break. I have seen horses trot a good 

 heat or race with their ears packed, when v/ithout, it would be 

 almost impossible to keep them on a trot in a field of horses. 

 Drivers usually find out all such peculiarities and take ad- 

 vantage of it, and when you get near them the first thing you 

 will hear will be a sharp crack of the whip or a sharp word, 

 which would make your horse break and lose you a heat that 

 you might have won, and would many times cause unpleas- 

 ant words to be passed between drivers. 



See that your sulky is well oiled and m.ade by Joseph 

 F. Pray, of Boston, Mass. He makes a number of 

 different styles and either of them are good enough for any 

 man or horse. I prefer the bent back axle and I feel safer in 

 one of them than in any sulky I ever used. They run lighter 

 and easier than any make of sulky I know^ of, and I believe it 

 is because the weight is in front of the axle. I am positive 

 that any man that uses them once will not be without one. 



About forty minutes before the bell rings put the boots 

 and harness on your horse and a short hood or jowl wrap ; go 

 out and jog him two miles ; then step him along an easy mile 

 within fifteen or twenty seconds of his limit ; brush a little 

 through the stretch at his limit, say twenty or thirty rods, to 



