158 EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 



discard his methods and adopt mine ; but I do say that what 

 it has accomplished justifies me in giving it to the world as 

 an improved sysic^n of training young horses to trot, and that 

 its study can certainly not fail to prove beneficial to every 

 trainer, breeder and horse owner that is not too wise to learn. 

 In my judgment there is no man so thorough a mas.ter of his 

 profession that he cannot learn from the successful experiences 

 of others. 



A great deal has been written for and against colt trot- 

 ting, and I have observed that the controversies have been 

 conducted much on the same lines as the discussion on breed- 

 ing from performing sires and dams. As a rule those who 

 have opposed breeding from developed stalli.ons, are those 

 whose favorite horse failed to win honor on the turf ; and as 

 a rule the breeders and trainers who have' failed to produce 

 colt trotters, are sure that early training is " dead wrong." 

 For my own part I know that it is possible to train a colt for 

 speed from his yearling form to maturity with none but bene- 

 ficial effects. Four colts out of five that have suffered from 

 early training, have suffered because they were improperly 

 and injudiciously handled. There are a good many men who 

 can successfully handle a mature horse, and there are still 

 more who can drive a horse well after some one else has made 

 a trotter of him ; but the men capable of intelligently and 

 properly educating colt trotters are as scarce as 2:15 horses. 

 We are all too anxious, and many a colt has been a victim to 

 the driver's impatience to accomplish in a week what should 

 not to be attempted in two months. To listen -to the general 

 clamor against colt training, one would imagine that aged 

 horses never were known to break down. All horses gifted 

 with natural speed have not the quality to train on ; and such 

 a horse will " go wrong " before he reaches the limit of his 

 speed capacity, no matter when he is trained. And if he 

 goes wrong as a two-year-old he will be a good deal cheaper 

 failure than if he breaks down as a ten-year-old. If a horse 

 has not the capacity and quality to make a good performer 



