HANDLING AND MANAGING TROTTERS. 275 



all cases. A grain of commonsense and practical good judg- 

 ment to meet the emergencies of cases as they occur is often 

 worth more than a pound of instruction by the wisest author. 



Trainers are too apt, I think, to jump to the conclusion that 

 colts and green trotters need weights, when the difficulties that 

 present themselves could be easily removed without resorting 

 to this artificial assistance. I agree with Trainer Marvin when 

 he says : " I need not enter into any argument to show that the 

 ideal trotter will trot barefooted, needing no balancing other 

 than what nature has given it ; and that the use of the shoe is 

 simply to protect the foot, after which every ounce of weight 

 has its detrimental influences. It may, however, become in 

 some cases necessary ; but the careful trainer should, in such 

 cases, endeavor to reduce and never in any case increase weight 

 until certain that nothing else will remedy the difficulty en- 

 countered. In case that you decide that it is best to put on 

 weights and find that they remedy the trouble, do not for a 

 moment think it will be always necessary to retain them ; but, 

 after a little while, commence gradually reducing it until you 

 get down, if possible, to an eight or ten-ounce shoe." 



If a horse is worked for speed at a rate that he can go fairly 

 and squarely, going clean without weight or boot, his speed will 

 naturally and gradually improve, and the final result will be 

 much more satisfactory than if you had resorted to artificial 

 appliances. 



Keep your trotter going square ; do not be too impatient if 

 he inclines to hitch in his gait or to become generally unbal- 

 anced ; take him back to a gait in which he can trot level and 

 square by natural training before experimenting too much with 

 his shoes. Other things being equal, the horse carrying the 

 least weight will go fastest, stay better, and last longer than 

 his weight-carrying rival. 



As to "jogging," its only object is to prepare the horse to 

 trot by emptying his stomach, limbering up his joints, warming 

 up his blood, and getting his whole organization ready for ac-^ 



