ANDY AND I. 269 



The preliminary preparations — harnessing, saddling, 

 etc. — for the race itself are conducted in the paddock, and 

 the "warming-up" is done on the way to the post, a cer- 

 tain number of minutes being allowed for that purpose. 

 In the paddock there is a noticeable scarcity of blankets 

 and other supposed necessities of a trotting equipment. 

 The horses were walked without covering, and there was 

 an entire absence of bandages and leg washes. The boots 

 appeared to be of American manufacture, were neat and 

 well-fitting, and that was about the only thing of trotting 

 equipment which seemed to be used with the same intel- 

 ligence and to the same extent as in America. 



The crude actions of the grooms and trainers in the 

 handling of the horses, plainly indicated a lack in the busi- 

 ness of that familiarity so universal with American pro- 

 fessionals. An American artistic "swipe" would be dis- 

 gusted with their bungling, and, as he would express it, 

 "shoemaker work." As an illustration of the crude meth- 

 ods in vogue, I will cite one instance, which was undoubt- 

 edly an exceptional one, inasmuch as the colt in question 

 had quarter boots on his hind feet, presumably used to 

 perform the scalping boot functions. There was a small 

 black three-year-old French-bred trotter in third event on 

 the card. At least two hours before his race came on 

 the colt was saddled and booted. His rider mounted and 

 during the whole period continued riding him in the ring 

 of the paddock until called for his race. The rider 

 weighed probably one hundred and seventy-five pounds, 

 and seemed oblivious to the evil effects which were 

 bound to result from such treatment. Of course the colt, 

 although well thought of, could show nothing of his well- 

 known speed in the race, and his backers and admirers 

 could not account for the poor showing. The veriest 



