272 HANDLING AND MANAGING TROTTERS. 



If the horse comes to the " scratch " out of condition, and, 

 in consequence, loses the race, then the swipe usually gets all 

 the blame for this state of affairs. 



"Without doubt the talent necessary to be a successful 

 trainer and developer of trotters, especially youngsters, is more 

 rarely found than is the same amount of ability as a driver in 

 races. 



Another consideration is that a man who has thus been 

 eminently successful rarely, if ever, fails to be a good driver in 

 races ; whereas some of the most renowned " knights of the 

 sulky " are far from being in the front rank of the profession 

 or art of carrying animals from the primary school to the 

 graduating classes. 



It may seem singular to those not intimately acquainted 

 with the training of fast harness-horses that there should be 

 any hesitancy in accepting advice from persons who, by study 

 and experience, are fully qualified to give it ; but those who 

 have had such experience will agree with me that very many 

 trainers, and some drivers as well, appear to regard suggestions 

 as an implication of ignorance and resent it accordingly. 



It more frequently happens, perhaps, in this business than 

 in most others that a young man engaged in the capacity of 

 trainer or driver gets what is sometimes called "big-head," 

 which, when it attacks its victim with severity, is a most stub- 

 born disease, and in some cases is incurable, but usually 

 succumbs to study and experience. 



I have known young men engaged a single season, perhaps, 

 in the capacity of handling the trotter, that in their own esti- 

 mation knew more about the trotting horse from beginning to 

 end than those much more advanced in years, and who had 

 made this subject a life-long study. 



As to the early training of the trotter, unless you are par 

 ticularly anxious to give your colt a record at an early age, 

 notwithstanding all that has been written and said to the con- 

 trary, I maintain, as heretofore stated in Training for Speed, 

 Chap. XXIX, that early maturity means early decay. I would 



