38 CARE AND TRAINING OF TROTTERS. 



can win races. It is of no use to condition your 

 horse to go mile heats, if you haven't first got the 

 speed to beat somebody else. You will see, then, that 

 the Palo Alto system proceeds on the logic of the 

 author of the recipe already quoted for cooking the 

 hare: First catch your hare. We aim to first de- 

 velop the speed, and after that to condition the horse 

 to carry it. The merit of this system of training in 

 short, sharp brushes lies in the fact that it is the 

 quickest and most effective way of at once toning up 

 and hardening the muscles, and bringing out a high 

 rate of speed — of teaching the colt to trot fast." 



Marvin's book was published in 1890. We 

 have always considered it unfortunate that he did 

 not publish a revised edition before his death, be- 

 cause he changed a number of his methods before 

 his death. However, he never discarded the 

 brush system explained above. 



Marvin's book was widely read — especially 

 by owners, who tried tn pass along their absorbed 

 knowledge to their trainers, with sometimes laugh- 

 able results, so that the term "Marvin-book- 

 trained-owners" became quite common. As time 

 flew by Marvin's book and other contemporaneous 

 works became out-of-date. There was a call for 

 a modern treatise on the subject of training trot- 

 ters, which we are endeavoring to fill by the pub- 

 lication of this book. By combining the ideas of 

 practically all of the varioiis authorities on the 

 subject, we hope to escape the criticism which 

 has been heaped on past effort. 



Special care should be taken at this period of 

 a colt's life to see that it has plentjr of water, 



