292 TALES OF THE TURF. 



don't feel like trying to trot, making him trot does more 

 harm than can be estimated; and it is this iron-clad sys- 

 tem' that fills the land with hitchers and hobblers and spoils 

 hundreds and hundreds of promising youngsters that 

 would, under more intelligent education, be shining lights 

 on the turf. I'm sorry to say it seems to be the pre- 

 vailing system, with many trainers who have reached the 

 point of being great race drivers. 



Go to Pat Shank's place any time and you will see 

 speed — young speed. This colt and that one are brought 

 out and harnessed ; the harness may not be so expensive 

 nor the vehicle so bright and clean, but the youngster 

 that pulls it can step, and step like a "mechanic." There 

 will be a woeful poverty of hopples and spreaders 

 and this and that new-fangled patent devilish device for 

 torturing youngsters, that have been spoiled by over- 

 work, and should be forgetting the evil results of their 

 mistreatment in pasture fields ; the mane may not be braid- 

 ed with ribbons and the colt covered with boots — worth 

 more in many cases than the animals wearing them — but 

 when Pat clucks to him he squares away with the even 

 one-two-three-four stroke that is music to a horse-lover's 

 ears. 



Under his tuition Oliver K., 2:16^, learnt his first 

 idea of speed; Gray Dave, 2:2234, "stepped some" for 

 the first time; Newton B., 2:17%, received his prelim- 

 inary education ; Keokee, 2 :20%, went through her prim- 

 mer ; Wyandot, 2:19^, won a bare-footed two-year-old 

 — his first race ; Oakhurst, 2 129^4 ; Hersey, 2 \2yy 2 ; Men- 

 dicant, 2 132, and many others started their education on 

 Pat Shank's half-mile track and under his cunning hand 

 proved that almost any trotting-bred colt can, by intelli- 

 gent treatment, be educated to trot. 



