MAKING SPEED. 



33 



Chapter 3 — "Making Speed." 



RAINERS are not agreed on 

 when to commence with a colt 

 to "make speed." Some train- 

 ers do considerable speed work 

 in the fall, right after breaking, 

 but the majority wait till the 

 spring of a colt's yearling form. 

 In these articles we are assuming that a colt is 

 being trained for the futurities. 



In the last chapter our colt had been broken to 

 drive. After breaking the colt should be jogged 

 until it is accustomed to all strange sights and ex- 

 periences. This jogging does not call for any 

 speed. 



But sooner or later the time comes for speed 

 work, or "making speed." The old way was to 

 drive a colt for a certain distance, say half a mile, 

 at a slow gait, and on each succeeding occasion 

 drive him a little faster. This system is still in 

 use but has been superseded to a great degree by 

 the "brush" system as introduced by Gov. Leland 

 Stanford and made popular by the success of the 

 colts trained at Palo Alto Farm by Charles Mar- 

 vin. Marvin is often credited with having intro- 

 duced the brush system of training but in his 

 book he tells us that it was in use when he be- 

 came connected with the famous California estab- 

 lishment. 



