CHAPTEE XXIX. 



TRAINING FOR SPEED, 



High-bred and high-mettled most easily educated — Where to give lessons — 

 Early development of speed — Watch temper and disposition — Short 

 brushes — Don't overwork — Skeleton wagons — The mouth — Pulling 

 — The check. 



" To those who catch the cadence 

 Of the rise and fall of sound, 

 There is music in the patter 

 Of the hoof upon the ground." 



HOESES can be educated to the extent of their under- 

 standing as well as children, and can be as easily man- 

 aged or ruined by bad management. 



Horses of high mettle are more easily educated than those 

 of less or dull spirits, and are, consequently, more susceptible 

 to ill-training. 



The training of the trotting horse should really be com- 

 menced from the time he is handled as a young colt, and what- 

 ever encourages his tendency to make the trot his best way of 

 going should be a part of his training; and therefore the 

 "natural to trot" should be improved from the very first. 

 After the colt is thoroughly broken to drive singly he is ready 

 to receive his first lesson in trotting. 



Such lessons may be given him on tfcte track, street, or 

 road, where smooth and level; the track is by far the best 

 place, it being more level, and usually much safer than either 

 the road or street ; yet a good road will answer when a track 

 is not conveniently accessible. 



I would never advise the training of a colt for the race 

 course before it is two years old, and it then should be handled 

 steadily and carefully by a trainer of judgment, for however 

 well they may have been kept from birth, and however well 



(236) 



