LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 369 



peculiarity is something that many trainers have to contend 

 with in shipping horses long distances. My experience has 

 been that in taking horses from here to California, they in- 

 variably do better. They can go faster and stay longer at a 

 high rate of speed in that climate than they can here. A 

 horse will take more work with a very much less feed and 

 still keep plenty of flesh. These are matters of a great deal 

 of importance, particularly with a delicate horse. In bring- 

 ing a horse from the Pacific coast to the East, I think that 

 the hot nights we experience here affect them more than 

 any one thing. 



In California, no matter how warm the day, when night 

 comes a horse is always comfortable with a blanket on, and 

 you could not if you tried reduce the flesh on him there as 

 fast as it will sometimes come off here in spite of all you do 

 to prevent it. This I think brings on a weakened condition 

 of the animal and he loses all chance of being anything like 

 successful. Doble brought Occident to this country with 

 the reputation of being a very fast horse, and he never was 

 able to make any use of him, so badly did he lose his form. 

 On returning to California, he again regained it, appar- 

 ently from no other cause than the effects of the climate. 

 In high countries we have another condition of affairs. In 

 Denver, my horses never seemed to lose their flesh or their 

 appetites, and always felt well and ate well. They would 

 have plenty of speed, but after going a short distance at a 

 high rate would seem to swell up, act very much dis- 

 tressed in their wind, and some of them would bleed at the 

 nose. Some horses never get used to the rarified air of a 

 mountainous country, and others it does not seem to dis- 

 tress so badly. When I had Sweetser in Denver he could 

 not pace a mile in 2:35, while Rarus seemed to be affected 

 less by the climate than any other horse I ever saw, as he 

 made considering the circumstances and surroundings, a 

 first-class performance. 



Doty, another native of California that I brought to this 

 country, was a horse with a good deal of speed but not very 



