xliv LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE. 



to drill the holes in the foot exactly corresponding with those in the 

 metal, though this is easily done by using in the first place a Morse 

 drill, the same size as the hole in the weight, and by giving it a turn 

 or two the center is marked for the smaller. Drive that screw home, 

 having been careful to give the pi^oper angle, and then put in the 

 other hole. 



I have no desire to induce people to use any particular pattern of 

 weight. My preferences are not offered as a guide for others to fol- 

 low, and it may be that there aj« drawbacks that I have failed to 

 discover. 



Meager as this appendix is in suggestions, and though I am loth 

 to present it in the shape that I do, my i-eadei-s will coincide with 

 me that it is better than to mislead with opinions which have no 

 firmer basis than the wildest conjectures. That immense benefits 

 have followed the introduction of toe-weights is beyond question ; 

 that the ill effects have been reduced at .least ninety per cent, by a 

 more intelligent use is also certain ; that the advantages have far 

 overbalanced the drawbacks I implicitly believe, and the trainer of 

 trotters who does not make use of them in some cases is either very 

 fortunate in the pupils he has, or is behind the times. 



When colts are doing well, going squarely, improving in sj^ed as 

 I'apidly as a reasonable man can desire, my advice is to let well 

 enough alone. When the reverse is the case, and there is a tendency 

 to hitch, singlefoot, pace, shorten the stride, etc., tiy Aveights, light 

 at fii-st, heavier if these do not correct. But it also must be borne 

 in mind that every ounce is additional strain on the muscles and ten- 

 dons, and oftentimes in the training of trotters, a.s in other pursuits, 

 "the more liaste the less speed." 



The "side-weight" question is even more troublesome to me than 

 that which pertains to the fore-foot, and further than to give the 

 result of a few expei'iments, and the reasoning which these have led 

 to, I will not go. Nearly twenty years ago I wrote that the action 

 of the forelegs was more under the control of man than that of the 

 hind, and this assumption I still hold to be coxTCct. In common with 

 a large majority of men of the present day who have paid a good 

 deal of attention to the trotting action, I have changed my views, in 



