36 CARE AND TRAINING OF TROTTERS. 



With these preliminary remarks we will pro- 

 ceed to take the yearling to the track for a speed 

 lesson on the brush system; but first let us warn 

 the driver not to start in speed work until the colt 

 is properly hardened and "legged up" for the 

 coming ordeal. Inasmuch as Marvin was the great 

 exponent of this system we will quote his own 

 words : 



"Colts need practically no jogging, yearlings cer- 

 tainly none whatever. Of course no colt or horse 

 should be worked soon after a meal. You will find 

 the yearling (although ^a trifle nervous) ready to work 

 as soon as you get him on the track. Start him up 

 at a good, fast jog for about ISO to 200 yards. Then 

 turn slowly, giving him time to get his breath, and 

 let him brush back a little faster. After going about 

 the same distance, stop again, turning slowly, and 

 send him back again, this time carrying him right up 

 to his clip at some point of the brush, preferably near 

 the end of it. In all his work, especially when the 

 brushes are sharp, be careful to let him get his wind 

 at each turn, and after this sharp brush that I have 

 just described give him a little longer to breathe than 

 you did before. Now straighten him out and brush 

 him up the stretch again about the same distance, 

 going up to his clip about the last of it, and that will 

 be enough work for that day. 



"Take him in where no cold draft can blow on him, 

 and take off the harness and boots. Give him a swal- 

 low or two of water, rub him off lightly, and let the 

 boy walk him a little, then put him in his box and 

 leave him undisturbed, so that he can lay down, as a 

 colt youngster will, and rest. 



"As I have said, young colts require little jogging 

 and no sweating or scraping. Young animals do not 

 take on fat Internally like matured ones, and there is 

 in fact no superfluous flesh in this rapidly growing 

 period. The colt requires not to be reduced, but 

 rather to be made stouter and stronger. Physicing, 

 sweating and scraping are just the things no colt can 



