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 JOHNA.SEAVERNS 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
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 :'S,>*W^ 
 

c^.^^...r^' 
 
TRAINING 
 
 THE Trotting Horse 
 
 A NATURAL AND IMPR0\':ED METHOD OP 
 
 EDUCATING TROTTING COLTS AND HORSES. BASED ON 
 TWENTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE. 
 
 By CHARLES MARVIN, 
 
 Supenntendeiit of Palo Alto Farm, Menlo Park, California. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 J^^OURTH EDITION. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 LESLIE E. MACLEOD, 
 
 EDITOR OF THE CHICAGO HORSEMAN. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA : 
 
 THE MAEVm PUBLISHING COMPAISTY, Ltd., 
 Franklin, Venango Co. 
 
 1893. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1890 by 
 
 MAHVIN PUBLISHING CO., Ltd., 
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 [all rights reserved.] 
 
 Chas. D. Sibley, Peinter, 18 Rose, sjtrhet, New York. 
 
TO THE 
 
 Honorable Leland Stanford, 
 
 TO WHOSE GENIUS, THQICGHT AND ENTERPRISE THE SYSTEM OF 
 
 TRAINING EXPLAINED HEREIN IS MAINLY DUE, THIS 
 
 WORK IS DEDICATED AS A SLIGHT TOKEN 
 
 OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE BY 
 
 The Author. 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Although the title page of this book is perhaps a 
 sufficient preface, a word as to its origin and prepara- 
 tion is due the reader. 
 
 For pubhshing tlie book no apology is required. 
 Whether it will fill a '' long-felt want" or not is for the 
 public to decide ; but that the want exists no one can 
 doubt. 
 
 What the Palo Alto system of training has accom« 
 plished is the best guarantee of its excellence. The 
 system under which are developed animals to break 
 the world's record at all ages, from one year old to four 
 years old, speaks for itself. In common with many 
 others, I have long recognized in Charles Marvin the 
 greatest of trotting-horse trainers, or perhaps I should 
 say educators. He seemed peculiarly the genius of 
 his profession. His friends reasoned that a book on 
 training was wanted — and who so fit to write it as the 
 master trainer ? Mr, Marvin is a modest man, and it 
 was only in deference to the repeated urging of his 
 friends that he consented, with the assistance of an 
 editor, to undertake the work. 
 
VI EDITOR S PREFACE. 
 
 In January, 1889, I visited Palo Alto for the pur- 
 pose of assisting Mr. Marvin in the preparation of the 
 material for this work ; and remained with him three 
 months studying his methods by day, and writing from 
 his dictation for several hours each evening. 
 
 In preparing the book for the press the aim has been 
 in the simplest and most faithful phrase to record Mr. 
 Marvin's ideas, mstructions and explanations in his 
 own plain manner. The endeavor has been to write a 
 book in such simple and clear English that ever}^ stable- 
 bo}^ who aspires to be a trainer may read understand- 
 ingly ; and at the same time we hope that the breeders 
 and the most intelligent trotting-horsemen of all classes 
 in the land wnll find in its pages something of interest 
 and of instruction. 
 
 An apology is due the public for the delay in pub- 
 lishing the work, and I wish to say that for that delay 
 I am alone responsible. The work of preparing the 
 material for the press was many times greater than I 
 anticipated, and was a labor, but a pleasant one, under- 
 taken in connection with other duties that of them- 
 selves should sufficiently employ one man's time. Time, 
 like the horses, seems to go faster in California than 
 elsewhere. I cannot recall any period in life more 
 pleasant than the three bright, delightful months of 
 congenial work, congenial companionship and congenial 
 surroundings at Palo Alto, and the daj^s flew by on 
 hurrying wings. Still the "raAv material" gathered 
 
EDITOK S PREFACE. VU 
 
 in that time was quite voluminous, and the work of 
 editing it called for an expenditure of time and labor 
 which, I presume, no one can appreciate who has not 
 tried his hand at the " making of books." 
 
 I have to here cordially and thankfully acknowledge 
 the assistance kindly afforded me by Mr. Ariel Lathrop 
 (the manager of Senator Stanford's vast interests in 
 California) in placing at my disposal plans, drawings, 
 and other material for use herein. 
 
 In the hope that this book may be welcomed into 
 the libraries of the trotting-horse breeders and trainers 
 of America, it is submitted to the public, not without a 
 sense of its imperfections, nor yet without confidence 
 that in it will be recognized sufficient merit to assure 
 it a place among standard works on the trotting-horse. 
 
 L. E. M. 
 
 ISTew York City, April, 1890. 
 
IX 
 
 LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRIN" SIMPSOIST. 
 
 The following interesting letter is from the author 
 
 of "Tips and Toe-Weights;" "Horse Portraiture," 
 
 etc., and breeder and trainer of Anteeo, 2:16J, and 
 
 Antevolo, 2:19J. 
 
 Oakland, Cal., Feb. 7, 1890. 
 Leslie E. Macleod, Esq. 
 
 My Deak Sir : Agreeably to your request, I send tliis sliort 
 • etter, in relation to mv opinion of Cliarles Marvin as an edu- 
 rjator and driver of trotters. It is always a pleasant task to me to 
 write words of commendation wlien there is merit to warrant 
 eulogistic phrases, and that Mr. Marvin presents a case exactly to my 
 mind, those who are as well acquainted with him, his methods, 
 and, above all, his strict honor and integrity, as I am, will concede. 
 
 Personally, the acquaintance dates from Mr. Marvin's residence in 
 California, though before I left the East, now nearly sixteen years 
 ago, I had received letters which gave me an insight into his character 
 and his ability as the handler of trotters. 
 
 It will not be out of place to rehearse how that knowledge was 
 obtained. In 1873, I was employed, by Charles Schvv-artz and A. S. 
 Gage, to take charge of Dexter Park, which those gentlemen had 
 rented of Messrs. Sherman and Tucker. During the early summer 
 I received several letters from the owner of Smuggler, giving full 
 descriptions of the horse, his rapid improvement under the charge of 
 Marvin, in fact, a minute account of whatever would be likely to 
 interest a purchaser. As a "token of good faith" he offered to 
 deposit, to my order, whatever funds were required for the expenses 
 of the trip, remuneration to whoever made the journey, and if the 
 truth of his statement was not fully endorsed by the facts, the funds 
 
X LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. 
 
 provided should be drawn upon to cover the whole outlay. He par- 
 ticularly referred to the trainer as a man worthy of the fullest confi- 
 dence, and that this certificate of good character would be signed by 
 all who were intimate with him. 
 
 I was so strongly impressed with the evident candor of the writer 
 that I urged Messrs. Schwartz and Gage to join me in the purchase. 
 The price at that time was $6,000, and there was a good chance to 
 " win him out " at the meeting, which was to be held in July. There 
 was a partial agreement, and I was preparing to make the journey 
 when something came in the way, and the preparations for the meet- 
 ing, at which $40,000 were **hung up," engrossed my attention, and 
 the idea of purchasing was abandoned. 
 
 He was to show 2:30 or better, and only a few weeks previous to his 
 first letter he was far behind that figure. Writing from memory I cannot 
 state positively what the improvement was, though it certainly demon- 
 strated that there were the best of grounds for believing that he was 
 destined to become a very fast trotter. The history of Smuggler is 
 so well known that there is no necessity for amplification, further 
 than to call attention to the fact that Mr. Marvin took him when he 
 was regarded of "little account," and carried him through the whole 
 of his education until he reached the summit of the temple of equine 
 fame. 
 
 I hold that the talent necessary to be a successful trainer of 
 trotters, especially youngsters, is more rarely met than the same 
 amount of ability as a driver in races. And there is another point 
 worthy of consideration, that a man who has been eminently suc- 
 cessful as a teacher rarely, if ever, fails to be a good driver in races, 
 whereas some of the renowned knights of the sulky are far from 
 being in the front rank of the profession, or that part of it which 
 consists in carrying animals from the primary schools to the first 
 place in the graduating classes. There is a great deal of nonsensical 
 talk, and not a little arrant humbug in the learned disquisitions 
 which are heard when race-driving is the topic. 
 
 The jangle of words indulged in on such occasions would be amus- 
 ing were it not that insidious comparisons, and, at times, malicious 
 attacks are made by men who have small knowledge of the business, 
 although their dogmatical assertions mislead people who are not con- 
 versant with trotting affairs. Mr. Marvin is unquestionably a driver 
 of the highest class, and it would be eminently a work of superero- 
 gation to present long arguments to prove that he possesses that 
 faculty. 
 
LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRX SIMPSON. XI 
 
 It may be considered equally useless to lay so much stress on 
 his handling colts, as nearly every "best record" has been made 
 by colts that he has trained, and driven to that record. The word 
 " nearly " can be cancelled as in the foregoing sentence, as 
 yearling, two-year-old and three-year-old are to his credit, as the last 
 year of colthood, four years old, is a dead heat for place, and that he 
 will "break the tie" in 1890 is just as certain as anything of that 
 nature can be foretold. Nothing so convincing as success. Argue 
 as we may, present evidence piled upon testimony to prove that 
 results should never have followed the practices which brought the 
 desired return. Success is mightier than theories, however plausible. 
 But granting that the proof of both educating ability and race-driv- 
 ing ability in Mr. Marvin, as shown by the records, is so strong that 
 a mere statement is all that is necessary, it will be in keeping to 
 consider the elements which entitle him to the rank I have conferred. 
 The case instanced, that of Smuggler, is a good beginning ; his sub- 
 sequent victories overshadow that, and, as there is constant pro- 
 gression on his part, it is manifest that he has been educating himself 
 as well as the renowned colts which have been his pupils. 
 
 Although I have never questioned Mr. Marvin on this point, from 
 what is known it is a fair inference that the system formerly pursued 
 was similar to that in vogue, and which was practiced by the best 
 trainers of the period. 
 
 At Palo Alto there were startling innovations, "established 
 methods " ruthlessly cast aside, and in place of pursuing systems, 
 endorsed by such a number of professors that only a shadow of a 
 minority questioned the practices, new ideas prevailed, Mr. Mar- 
 vin had sense enough to understand, and wisdom to follow advice 
 which had the backing of sound sense. It may seem singular to 
 those who are not intimately acquainted with the training of horses, 
 especially fast harness-horses, that there should be any hesitancy in 
 accepting advice from owners, or other qualified persons, but those 
 who have had the experience will agree with me, that very many 
 trainers appear to regard suggestions as an implication of ignorance, 
 and resent it in some way. I have frequently heard the Palo Alto 
 system of training commented upon by trainers, and by those which it 
 takes a good deal of courtesy to include in that list, and the latter 
 named class particularly prone to denounce the departures. 
 
 As an illustration of the prevailing dislike to " obey orders," when 
 the management of horses is the theme, during Mr. Marvin's absence 
 
Xll LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. 
 
 in the East it was found necessary to put hurdles across the track to 
 compel that the work should be limited to short brushes. That Mr. 
 Marvin was not imbued with such silly notions was fortunate all 
 around. Fortunate for Governor Stanford to get a man who could 
 understand what he wanted done, and with ability to execute ; 
 fortunate for himself by being placed in a position where his talents 
 could be shown ; fortunate for the horse interests of California, and, 
 for that matter, for the whole country, by introducing methods of 
 management which had been tested by the only true formula, years 
 of patient, indefatigable work. Results have not been confined to 
 " beating the record " so frequently. Nor has the limit been reached 
 when the many races he won are brought together. Horses bred at 
 Palo Alto are prominent in every State Avhich pays much attention to 
 the breeding of fast trotters. Celebrated at home and abroad, for 
 qualities which are prized by purchasers, they find ready sale at 
 prices which, a few years ago, would have been regarded as far 
 beyond the value of any horse. And these values have not been 
 confined to a few of the produce of sires and dams still owned at Palo 
 Alto. 
 
 Fifty-one thousand, fifty thousand, twenty thousand dollars, and 
 with a number more, ranging from five to twenty thousand dollars, 
 money actually paid, is the best proof of their market value. Large 
 offers reported are delusive. It is easy to make offers which have 
 prearranged refusals for a basis, and which carry small influence 
 with close observers ; but money paid and animals transferred pre- 
 clude all ideas of humbug, and is a stamp of merit which rabid 
 jealousy cannot successfully impugn. 
 
 Next to Governor Stanford, Mr. Marvin must be credited with 
 bringing about this result. As stated j^reviously, the willingness to 
 learn is one of the most praiseworthy traits in his character. 
 
 Relinquishing old and firmly-set habits is a difficult task, and to 
 give up cherished ideas a mark of intelligence. 
 
 Before being competent to teach, a man must have been a pupil. 
 After having passed through one educational course, it is still more 
 difficult to cast aside the lessons of that, and practice what previous 
 teachings had classed in the category of errors. 
 
 Then, too, it must be borne in mind that when Mr. Marvin became 
 the pupil of Governor Stanford, the course marked out was com- 
 paratively untried. There had been, perhaps, an approximation to 
 the systems inaugurated at Palo Alto, but without a practical test 
 
LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. Xlll 
 
 approacliing the magnitude of what was contemplated by Lis 
 employer. 
 
 Xo one had preceded him in carrying out the designs on the 
 trestle board, and I again repeat that it was fortunate to every 
 one concerned that he was the first. 
 
 In recalling the many educators of trotters I have known, there is 
 ^ot another who was so well fitted for the place. 
 
 To give my reasons for this opinion would demand more space 
 than is permissible in this letter, and there is little require- 
 ment for elaborate arguments when subsequent facts are taken into 
 consideration. Much is subsequent to the time when Mr. Marvin 
 took his residence at Palo Alto ; and, from 1880, when Fred Crocker 
 lowered the two-year-old record to 2:25^, until 1889, when Sunol 
 smashed the three-year-old, and made the marvelous mark of 2:10i^, 
 there have been a succession of victories, an unparalled array of 
 events to prove that the most sanguine expectations were justified, 
 and that reasons for holding the opinion advanced are superfluous. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 Jos. Cairn Simpson. 
 
List of Horses to WMcli Claries laryiii Gaye Recorfls. 
 
 Sunol, tliree-year-old 2 :10| 
 
 Sunol, two-year-old 2:18 
 
 Palo Alto. .* 2:12i 
 
 Palo Alto, four-year-old 2:20J 
 
 Smuggler '. 2:15^ 
 
 Manzanita, four-year-old 2:16 
 
 Manzanita, three-year-old 2:23|- 
 
 Manzanita, two-year-old 2 :25 
 
 Sallie Benton, four-year old 2:17f 
 
 Bonita, four-year-old 2:18f 
 
 Bonita, two-year old 2:24^ 
 
 Hinda Rose, three-year-old 2 :19^ 
 
 Hinda Rose, yearling 2 :36i 
 
 Tucker .....' 2 :19i 
 
 Alfred G., four-vear-old 2:19| 
 
 Elaine ! 2:20 
 
 Ansel 2:20 
 
 Express 2:21 
 
 Sport 2:22f 
 
 Lorita 2:22f 
 
 Maiden, three-year-old 2:23 
 
 Abe Edgington. 2:23^ 
 
 Rexford, three-year-old 2:24 
 
 Alban \ 2:24 
 
 Carrie C. , four-year-old 2 :24 
 
 Clifton Bell, four-year-old 2:24^ 
 
 Sphinx, four-year-old 2:24| 
 
 Azmoor 2 :24^ 
 
 St. Bel, four-year-old 2:24^ 
 
 Arol ' 2:24 
 
 Clay 2:25 
 
 Fred Crocker, two-year-old 2:25;^ 
 
 Carlisle " 2:26i 
 
 Marion .....2:26f 
 
 Whips 2:27i 
 
 Cubic 2 :27i 
 
 Emaline 2:27^ 
 
 Pedlar, two-vear-old 2:27i 
 
 Clay ". 2:28 
 
 Palo Alto Belle, two-year-old 2:28i 
 
 Capt. Smith 2 :29 
 
 Essex 2:29 
 
 Ella, two-year-old 2 :29 
 
 Albion 2 :29 
 
 Del Mar, two-year-old 2:30 
 
 Norlaine, yearling . . . , 2:31^ 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page. 
 Portrait of Charles Marvin .frontispiece. 
 
 Smuggler 59 
 
 Portrait of Hon. Leland Stanford {facing) 82 
 
 View of Palo Alto Stables and Track {facing) 90 
 
 Diagram of Palo Alto Stables and Track 93 
 
 HiNDA Rose {facing) 123 
 
 St. Bel {facing) 127 
 
 Manzanita {facing) 149 
 
 Palo Alto {facing) 154 
 
 NoRLAiNE {facing) 167 
 
 SuNOL {facing) 177 
 
 Diagram A— Covered Training-Paddock 198 
 
 Diagram B— Training-Paddock 199 
 
 Boots 264, 265 
 
 Palo Auto Shoe 276 
 
 Electioneer , {facing) S21 
 
XVll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 BlOGKAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR 17 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Why tlie Book is Written— A Profession Without Teachers or 
 Text-Books— Our System of Training Original— Order of the 
 Work— Early Experiences With Horses— My First Trotters — 
 Dan, the Chestnut Saddle-Horse — Clipper — Rutland Girl — 
 George— Sealskin and Olive Dunton— The Great Smuggler 28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Great Smuggler — His Origin and Blood — How He was 
 Named — Given Marvin to Train — How Smuggler was Con- 
 verted to Trot — Weight -Carrying— Success at Last, and 
 Rapid Improvement— Fast Trials and Sale of Smuggler to 
 Colonel Russell— The Great Race at Buffalo, Won by Thomas 
 Jefferson— Adverse Criticism of " The Western Hoosier " 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Smuggler " Under the Weather"- A Famous Springfield Black- 
 smith Gets at Him — He Wins His First Race, Defeating 
 Wellesley Boy— George Wilkes' Compliment— He Wins the 
 Great Stallion Race at Boston— Record 2:20—1875 An Off 
 Year— Judge Fullerton Defeated and the Stallion Record 
 Lowered to 2:17 44 
 
XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page, 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Great Race with Goldsmith Maid — The Details of the Most 
 Memorable Race of the Centennial Year — A Close Call — " S. 
 T. H.'s " Graphic Description 54 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Free- for- All Battles Down the Line — From Cleveland to 
 Springfield— Great Race at Hartford— 1877 a Poor Year for 
 Smuggler — Taken to California — Breaks Down in the Spring 
 of 1878 and Sent Home— Good-by to Smuggler 73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 First Visit to Palo Alto— Sketch of Its Illustrious Founder and 
 Proprietor, Leland Stanford — His Genius as a Horseman, His 
 Pure Character, and His Munificent Charities— The History 
 of Palo Alto in Brief Outline — A Scientific Demonstration of 
 the Positions of Animals in Motion 81 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ffistory of Palo Alto Continued— First Trials of the Palo Alto 
 System Unsuccessful — Reasons Therefor — Some General 
 Observations on Training and Trainers — Occident and Abe 
 Edgington Campaigns Briefly Outlined from 1878 to 1889 — 
 The Great Campaign of 1886— Plans for 1888 Frustrated by 
 Fire — Further Successes 96 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Sketches of Famous Animals Trained at Palo Alto— The Stars of 
 Ten Years Ago— Occident the First Horse to Beat 2:17— The 
 Strange History of His Sire— Old St. Clair— Abe Edgington— 
 The Half-Brothers, Clay and Capt. Smith— The Great Mare 
 Elaine, 2-20 — Fred Crocker, the First Palo Alto Record- 
 Breaker 107 
 
CONTENTS . XIX 
 
 Page. 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Great Trio,Wildflower, Bonita and Hinda Rose — Wildfiower, 
 tlie Two- Year-Old Cliampion of Her Day — Bonita a Great 
 Two- Year-Old and Cliampion Four- Year-Old — Hinda Rose, 
 Cliampion Yearling and Cliampion Three- Year-Old of Her 
 Time — Her Great Campaign of 1883 — How She was Shod 
 and Balanced — The Career of the Fastest Young Trotters 
 that Had Yet Been Produced — A Story of Record-Breaking 
 by Palo Alto Colts — Hinda Rose's Famous Brother, St. Bel — 
 His Pure Gait and His Resolute Performances 118 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Great Four-Year-Olds of 1886— Manzanita and Palo Alto— 
 The Breeding, Training and History of Manzanita — The 
 Memorable Three-Year-Old Battles of 1885 — Manzanita Beats 
 Patron, Silverone, Eagle Bird and Greenlander at Chicago — 
 The Smart Men Discover a "Quitter" and Pay for the In- 
 formation — The Memorable Race for the Gasconade Stakes 
 at the St. Louis Fair — Patron Wins Through Bad Starting — 
 A Great Stable in 1886 133 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Manzanita as a Four- Year-Old — A Race Lost by Laying Up 
 Heats — She Starts Against a Great Field of Aged Horses at 
 Cleveland — Lowers the Four- Year-Old Record to 2 :16:^ — Beats 
 Eagle Bird Easily at Maysville — Defeats Greenlander at Lex- 
 ington — The Four- Year-Old Record Lowered to 2:16 — Win- 
 ning from Greenlander and Haverstick in a Jog — The Glori- 
 ous Victory at the St. Louis Fair Over Patron — The Defeat 
 of 1885 Wiped Out, and Manzanita's Superiority as the 
 Greatest of Four-Y"ear-01ds Established — Her Retirement — 
 Her Great Qualities as a Race-Mare 143 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Page, 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Palo Alto, the Son of tte Thorouglibred Mare Dame Winnie — 
 His Early Promise — The Xame of " Palo Alto" Entrusted to 
 Him to Uphold — Almost a Clean Sweep in His Class in 1886^ 
 Beating Aged Campaigners in Long Races — Only One De- 
 feat and Eight Victories — Narrow Escape from Death by 
 Fire — The Brilliant Campaign of 1889 — Invincible and Un- 
 beaten—Record 2:121 154 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Sudie D. Takes the Yearling Honors to Kentucky for a Brie/ 
 Season— Norlaine, the Champion Yearling— Her Training — 
 She Breaks Sudie D.'s Record in 2:31*— Xorval, 2:17i, Her 
 gire — Sallie Benton, 2:17f, the Champion Four- Year-Old of 
 Her Day— Helen, 2:22f- Sphinx, 2:23— Bell Boy, 2:19^— 
 Chimes and Suisun — Other Stars 164 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Sunol, the Phenomenal Trotter of the Nineteenth Century— Her 
 Breeding and Her Form — Her Temper and Nervous Organi- 
 zation — Her First Lessons — Training on to Greatness — Details 
 of How She was Worked — Wins Her First Race — Lowering 
 the Two- Year-Old Record to 2:20^ — Lowering It Again to 
 2:18— The Winter of 1888-9— A List of Brilliant Perform- 
 ances—Champion Three- Year-Old of the World— 2:10i 173 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A Chapter on Early Training— The Subject Considered in Various 
 Phases — Hiram Woodruff and His Day — The Advance Since 
 Then — Trotters Now Come to their Speed Early — The Preju- 
 dice Against Early Training Passing Away — A Practical 
 Necessity With Breeders Who Breed for Profit — Time that 
 Means Money — The Benefits of Early Training are Lasting — 
 It Must Not Be Overdone — The Past and Present Con- 
 trasted 182 
 
CONTEXTS. XXI 
 
 Page. 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The First Days of tlie Colt's Life — Weaning Time — Feeding Colt 
 and Dam — Haltering and Learning to Lead — The Benefits of 
 Companionship — The "Kindergarten" — The Evolution of 
 the Training-Paddock — Plans and Directions — The Colt's 
 First Lesson in Training to Trot 193 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 Working on the Miniature Track — The Daily Performance — 
 Amount of Work Given — It Must Not Be Excessive — The 
 Colt's Confidence to he Retained — Hitching — Working with 
 a Runner — An fnnatural Method of Training — Balance and 
 Stride — The Benefit of the Training Paddock — Developing 
 Speed, Wind and Muscle Xaturall y 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Young Colts to he Liherally Fed — Colts Can Be Safely Worked 
 Twice a Day if Xecessity Requires It — Breaking to Harness — 
 The Bitting Rig — Learning to Go hy the Rein— In Double 
 Harness First — Then in Single Harness — Skeleton Wagon 
 Before Sulky — Find Out What You are Going to Do Before 
 You Try to Do It — Adopt a Programme — The Xecessity of 
 Keeping the Gait Square and Preserving the Xatural Bal- 
 ance 211 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 First Work in Harness — Sharp Brushes— Avoid Jogging, Sweat- 
 ing and Scraping — The Colt Must Be Kept Strong and Stout — 
 Colts Cannot All Be Worked Alike — Imitation — All Depends 
 on the Trainer's Fitness — An Occasional Let-Up — " Speed, 
 Speed, More Speed," the Great Essential — Shoes and 
 Weights — Experience with Chimes and Clay 220 
 
XXU CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Weiglit in the Slioe — Use and Abuse — The Last Resort — When 
 Weight is Needed — Reducing — Value and Necessity of Early 
 Work — Early Training Necessary for Highest Results at 
 Maturity — In Accord with Science — The HI Effects of Neg- 
 lected Education — A Case in Point — A Valuable Mare 
 Ruined — Work Few Miles, if Any — The Mouth — Checking 
 and Driving — The Colt Not to Be Controlled by Main 
 Strength — To Drive with "a Silken Thread" — Light 
 Hands — No Breaking if Possible — Catching — The Whip — 
 Side Pulling 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Climatic Conditions — The Track- Work of the Three-Year-Old — 
 The Speed- Mailing Brushes — Speed Wins Races — Manzanita 
 and Patron — Brush at Different Places on the Track — Stop- 
 ping at Spots and Its Remedy — Amount of Work Given — 
 Working Twice a Day when Necessary — Another Caution 
 Against Overdoing It — A Tired Horse Ripe for Break-Down — 
 The Error of Persistently Driving Fast Miles — Working 
 Mature Horses — Work Differs Only in Degree — Excessive 
 Reduction — Condition — Peculiarities to Be Studied 2S8 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Stables and Stabling — Palatial Stables Not Necessary — The 
 Prime Essentials Cleanliness, Air and Light — Large and 
 Small Barns — Advantages or the Latter — Roomy Boxes — 
 Flooring — Clay Floors — Bedding — Feeding — Cracked and 
 Ground Food — Bran — Importance of Good Quality of Food — 
 Water — California Climate and Grasses 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 The Daily Programme with a Horse in Training — The Morning 
 Meal and Exercise — Caring for Him After Work — Rubbing, 
 Blanketing and Bandaging — Temperature of Stables — Cloth- 
 ing — Muzzles — Hoods — Good Men for Rubbers — Boots — 
 Some Specially Good Patterns of Boots — Toe-Weights — Sel- 
 dom Necessary and Much Abused — The Perfect Trotter Will 
 Not Wear Them 257 
 
CONTEXTS. XXlll 
 
 Page; 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Stopping the Feet— Caring for tlie Legs— The Soaking-Tub— In- 
 juries Resulting from Hot Soaking— The Composition of the 
 Hoof— Shoeing— The Elements of the External Anatomy of 
 the Foot— The Wall, the Sole, the Frog and the Bars— Their 
 Functions— The Wall the Bearing Part— The Angle of the 
 Foot and Pastern— Effects of High and Low Heels— Level 
 and Bearing to be Preserved— Stick to Nature— The Shoe- 
 Trimming and Nailing— Experience with Tips 268 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Tracks— Shape and Treatment— The Egg-Shaped Track— The 
 Cushion— Ready for Racing Preparation— The Colt Must Be 
 Going Square — Checks and Bits Again — Observations of 
 John Splan — His Experience with Fanny Witherspoon— 
 Driving with a Watch — The Preparation for Racing— A 
 Week's Daily Programme Detailed — Preserving Speed 
 while Conditioning the Horse to Carry It— Treatment Varies 
 with Different Horses— The Importance of Proper Jogging— 
 The Trainer Must Not Trust Details Too Much to His Stable 
 Assistants **^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The Morning of the Race— Preliminaries— Starting and Scoring- 
 Going for the Heat— What to Do Between Heats— Cooling 
 Out— What to Do if the Horse Does Not Cool Out Properly 
 and is Distressed— Stimulants— Feeding in a Race— Have 
 Everything Ready Beforehand— Mud Shoes— Attend to Busi- 
 ness and Avoid Tricks— Laying Up Heats— Driving Requires 
 Natural Fitness— Judgment of Pace— The Steady Horse Has 
 the Advantage— The Exigencies of a Heat— Keep Cool and 
 Stay With Your Horses 288 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Common Injuries and Ailments and their Treatment— Horses 
 that Trotted After Breaking Down— Treating Filled Legs- 
 Iodine— A Favorite Remedy— Curbs— Cracked Heels— Dis- 
 temper— Thrush— Quarter Crack- Tender Feet— The Lockie- 
 pad Shoe— Splints— Sprung Tendons- A General Caution 298 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Question of Breeding — Tlie Importance of Form and Action — 
 Action Should Be Pure — " Line- Trotting" — Structure of the 
 Stallion — Action and Structure of Dam — Good Mares or 
 None — Trotting-Blood Should Be Good — Developed Speed — 
 Thoroughbred Blood — Must Be Carefully Selected and 
 Good — Its Advantages in Finish and Quality, Not in Game- 
 ness — Viewing the Question Without Prejudice — Practices 
 in Breeding — Time for Breeding the Mare — Experiences 
 • with Sprite, Dolly and Flower Girl — Trying After Breed- 
 ing — Foaling Time — Age to Breed Mares — Number Stallions 
 Should Be Allowed to Serve — Dangers of Overbreeding 308 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Nearing the End — A Tribute to Electioneer — His Breeding, His- 
 tory and Characteristics — His Speed — His Roll of Honor and 
 Rank as a Sire — The Electioneer Action — The Electioneers as 
 Campaigners — General Benton — Piedmont — Nephew — The 
 St. Clairs— The Belmonts— The Moors — Nutwood — Guy 
 Wilkes— A. W. Richmond— Au Revoir 318 
 
 Appendix 331 
 
Training the Trotting Horse. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 When in any field of endeavor, a man achieves that 
 which makes him famous, Ave are not content merely 
 to study what he has accomphshed and how he has 
 accomplished it, but vre are curious to know something 
 of the life and individuality of the man himself. Had 
 it been left to the unobtrusive modesty of Charles 
 Marvin, the record of his life-work would probably 
 not be supplemented by even the brief sketch of his 
 career which is embraced in these pages. In these 
 days when "cheek" so often passes current for ability, 
 it indeed becomes genuine merit to bear itself mod- 
 estly ; and while no trainer of trotting horses has ever 
 approached Charles Marvin in successful achievement, 
 there is not in his character a tinge of egotism, or in 
 any word of his a note of self praise. He undertook 
 the authorship of this book, because he has the faith 
 grounded in over twenty years of practical experience 
 that what we for convenience call the Palo Alto sa^s- 
 tem of training trotting horses is superior to any other 
 practiced, and he felt that it should be described and 
 taught in a book that would prove a standard text- 
 
18 tkai]si:ng the trotting horse. 
 
 book in a iielcl where such a \york has not heretofore 
 existed. Xot what he did, but what he learned, he 
 wished to tell ; and he wished to tell it not to gratify 
 personal pride, but that others might learn from his 
 experiences. The idea of devoting a whole book to re- 
 citing the personal doings of a trainer and driver was 
 always repulsive to Mr. Marvin, as it necessarily must 
 be to a man with aims higher than self-glorification. 
 
 He took the broader, wiser view that not what a 
 man does^ but idiat he can teach, interests reading and 
 thinking horsemen. Throughout the preparation of 
 this book the author has, in teaching how to train 
 trotting horses, studiously kept his own personality in 
 the backoTound ; but the editor recognizes that the 
 Avork would be in a measure imperfect without a sketch 
 of the author's life, and in the following pages his 
 career is outlined. 
 
 Charles Marvin was born in Springwater VallcA^ 
 Genesee County, Xew York, on ^November 24, 1839. 
 His father, Don A. Marvin, was by occupation a farmer 
 and trader, and his mother, whose maiden name was 
 Thorne, also came of a family of "tillers of the soil." 
 Mr. Marvin's paternal descent is from what was known 
 in family genealogy as " the Hartford branch " of the 
 Marvin line. His father was directly descended in the 
 sixth remove from Matthew Marvin, who was born in 
 England earl}^ in the seventeenth century, emigrated 
 to America, and was one of the original proprietors 
 of what is now the city of Hartford, Connecticut. 
 
 Charles was the second of a family of sev^en, and in 
 their youth the uneventful lives of himself and his five 
 brothers ran in the same groove as the career of the 
 
" WESTWARD HO !" 19 
 
 averao^e country boy of the time and place. In winter 
 he attended school, and in summer assisted in the 
 family work, and necessarily acquaintance with horses 
 was with him, as with all boys so situated, a matter of 
 early commencement. His skill at horsemanship quickly 
 manifested itself, and, as a boy, his triumphs were in 
 the direction of managing balky horses, and in excel- 
 lent riding. 
 
 A half century ago, those who longed to better their 
 worldly circumstances felt the magnetism of the West 
 as strongly as we do to-day; and in 1846 or 181:7, Don 
 A. Marvin and his family removed to Lowell, in Kent 
 County, Michigan, where they farmed and kept hotel 
 for six years. In 1852, another western move was 
 made to Rockford, Illinois ; then to Council Grove, 
 Illinois, and a few years later to Dubuque, Iowa, where 
 ]\[r. Marvin, Sr., was engaged for a time as a railroad 
 contractor. Later Mr. Marvin lived successively at 
 Coffin's Grove, Cedar Kapids, La Grange and Des 
 Moines, Iowa, and the latter city became the perma- 
 nent home of the familv. Mr. Don A. Marvin died at 
 Des Moines in 1869, and Mrs. Marvin in 1885. 
 
 Before the removal to Des Moines, Charles Marvin 
 determined to strike out for himself, and in April, 
 1862, started for California overland. Taking a team 
 with him he began the journev with one George Bab- 
 cock as a companion adventurer. On the way to 
 Council Bluffs they fell m with a man whose destina- 
 tion was Pike's Peak, Colorado, and he persuaded 
 Marvin to transport a load of stores for him to that 
 point. In due time Pike's Peak was reached, and 
 Marvin tried his fortune in the mines, but soon gave it 
 
20 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 up and returned to Denver. There he was employed 
 by the government as a teamster, and was sent with a 
 six mule team to Fort Lyon with supplies. At Fort 
 Lyon Marvin made the acquaintance of Captain L. D. 
 Rouell, of Company F, of the Second Colorado Cavalry. 
 The company were quartered during the winter of 
 1862-63 at Fort Lyon, and in the spring was de- 
 spatched to Council Grove, Kansas, to hold the Santa 
 Fe trail against Indians and lawless border raiders. 
 
 The company remained at Council Grove until the 
 memorable dash of the Confederate raider, Quantrill, 
 into Kansas. On the night of August 20, 1863, Quan- 
 trill, with 300 men, crossed the State line from Mis- 
 souri, and in the early morning of August 21st, swooped 
 down upon Lawrence, with tire and sword. "Riot and 
 murder and sudden death were in the city's streets." 
 The town was literally wrecked and ruined, and in 
 flight was the only escape from the sword. After the 
 sack of Lawrence, Quantrill's men recrossed into Mis- 
 souri, timidly pursued by General Lane. Captain 
 RouelFs company was ordered to Lawrence after the 
 raid, and a little later to Hickman's Mill, IMissouri, 
 thirteen miles from Kansas City. The country was 
 practically depopulated, and for those who were lo\^al 
 to the Union there were only two paths to safet}^ — 
 either to go within the Federal lines or leave the coun- 
 try, as it was in sympathy with the "lost cause." 
 Marvin remained herewith the company until the close 
 of the war, the troops doing considerable fighting of a 
 bush whacking order. In the fall of 1861, the rebel 
 General Price made his formidable raid, and Captain 
 Rouell's company was part of the force under General 
 
MUSTERED OUT. 21 
 
 Curtis that was engaged against Price. There was 
 heavy fighting at The Blue, at Westport, and at 
 Marisdeseynge. The command was also in the battle 
 of Newtonia, where Charles Marvin's horsemanship 
 and a good horse saved his life. A rebel cavahwman 
 had fallen, on whose saddle was slung a white blanket. 
 Eations were short just then, and Marvin mistaking it 
 for a sack of flour, went after it. When near the sup- 
 posed prize, some of the Confederate horsemen at- 
 tempted to cut him off, and he had a decidedly " close 
 call." The horse struck good footing and a clean piece 
 of prairie, and by the hardest kind of riding the Federal 
 horseman got back to his lines. Probably he never 
 rode or drove a finish in saddle or sulky quite so des- 
 perate as on the home stretch of his race for life with 
 the guerrillas, who would have been delighted to gather 
 him in. In the summer of 1865 the company was 
 mustered out at Fort Piley, and the war experiences of 
 the author of this work ended. 
 
 In the army in these parts in the closing years of the 
 war a o:ood deal of horse-racino; was indulo-ed in, and 
 when it was over, and the company mustered out, Mar- 
 vin found himself in possession of two race-horses and 
 two saddle-horses. He went to Kansas City and re- 
 mained there, training and racing runners until the 
 fall of 1866. It is hardly proper to call them race- 
 horses, for they Avere merely quarter-horses, and few 
 of them were good half-mile sprinters, the most of the 
 races being at a quarter of a mile, 500 yards, and 600 
 yards straight away. The "cracks " of Marvin's string 
 were "Whitestockings, a good half-miler, of the Ariel 
 blood, and Battery Grey, a lively scrambler whose 
 ''pedigree" traced to the Xinth Wisconsin Battery. 
 
22 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 The following anecdotes, which we will have in 
 Marvin's own words, serve to give an idea of the style 
 of racing at Kansas City, and thereabouts, in those 
 days : 
 
 ^' One of my most notable races was with a bay 
 horse whose name I cannot now recall. It was, as 
 usual, a short straight-away dash. There was a good 
 rider about at that time, by the name of Pierce, who 
 weighed 135 pounds. I matched my horse for $100 
 a side to carry Pierce or iiis weight against a pony 
 called Spot to carry catch weight. Pierce had a weak- 
 ness for whisky, and it was always fully developed on 
 race days. If he was to ride, it was his invariable rule 
 to celebrate the event beforehand by ' getting full.' 
 Originally there were some friends interested with me 
 in the match, but when the time came, owing to 
 Pierce's condition, I decided to ride the horse myself. 
 My friends demurred, and I had to take all the match 
 on my own hands. Having $600 bet on the outside 
 this ran up my stake on the race to $1,000. The 
 match was made with Hugh Kirkendoll, who had been 
 a quartermaster at Fort Scott, but who is now a citizen 
 and prominent horseman of Helena, Montana. (He 
 visited Palo Alto the winter of 1889, but we failed to 
 recognize each other until our conversation led to 
 recognition, and an old acquaintance was renewed.) 
 After I had mounted and was on my way to the post, 
 KirkendoU offered to bet me $100 more that I would 
 lose the race. I took the bet, and went to the start. 
 I won the race easily, and among the losers were my 
 friends who had withdrawn when I decided to ride my 
 horse, and had then backed Spot, feeling sure that my 
 
HIS FIRST TROTTER. 23 
 
 riding would lose the race. Shortly after this I 
 matched Whitestockings against a one-eyed chestnut 
 horse called Cornstalk, alias Bogus Bill. The latter 
 bolted, carrying my horse off the track. I had a sixty- 
 five pound boy up, who was unable to control the horse 
 after he left the track. This match was at Leaven- 
 worth, Kansas, for $2,500, and in all I lost $3,000 on 
 the affair. I then made up ni}^ mind firmly to one 
 thing, viz. : That I would never again race horses 
 unless I could steer them in the race myself, and I 
 have lived up to the resolution. I sold out my racing- 
 stable immediately, and returned to Kansas City." 
 
 Shortly after this, in the fall of 1866, Marvin was 
 engaged to manage a livery stable at $100 a month in 
 Kansas City, and it was during this engagement that 
 he had his first trotting-race. He trained a chestnut 
 stallion named Cassar to trot, and entered him in a 
 sweepstakes race, in which he finished second. A lum- 
 ber dealer named Kendall had a horse called Harry in 
 the same race, and afterward undertook to convince 
 Marvin that Harry could beat Caesar single-handed. 
 The\^ had three successive match races, all of which 
 Caesar won. Then Mr. Kendall gave up the job of 
 convincing Marvin that Harry could beat Csesar. 
 
 Marvin tired of the livery business, and, in the 
 autumn of 1867, took a team and made a contract to 
 haul rocks at so much per square 3^ard to the abutment 
 of the present railwa}^ bridge at Kansas City over the 
 Missouri Eiver, which was then being constructed. 
 One evening, as he was caring for his horses, a sporting 
 man named John Forbing happened into the stable, 
 and inquired where he could engage a man to take a 
 
24 TKAINIXG THE TROTTING HOESE. 
 
 load of merchandise to J^ew Mexico. Finally Marvin 
 agreed to take $500 for the trip, and on January 27, 
 1868, he started for MaxwelFs Mines, on the Cimarron 
 River, in Xew Mexico. He engaged in mining at 
 Elizabethtown, near Maxwell's Mines, until June, 
 when he intended startmg back to Kansas City, m 
 company with a part of the Forbing part}^ Owing to 
 a misunderstanding, however, the party left before 
 Marvin was read}^, and he changed his intentions. 
 Yisions of possible fortune in Texas was alluring, and 
 he laid his course for San Antonio. This Avas no Sun- 
 day journey in those days. The trail lay down the 
 Pecos Eiver and across the dreaded Staked Plain. A 
 writer describing this route sa3^s : 
 
 *' It left the main trail somewhere near where the 
 western line of Kansas now is, and turned southward 
 across a plain — a vast country in fact — the very name 
 of which was a synonym of danger before civilization 
 came, and which is still almost unexplored. For this 
 nearer trail to El Paso lay across El Llano Estacado^ 
 and was in all likelihood the very dreariest road ever 
 traveled. The distances were immense, water was not 
 plenty, and Comanches were." 
 
 Marvin returned from San Antonio to Kansas in 
 the spring of 1869 and located at Paoia, where he 
 formed a partnership with E. L. Mitchell in a livery 
 and training stable. Here he began training trotters 
 as a profession, and it has been his vocation ever since. 
 
 His twenty years of marvelously successful experi- 
 ence, the pith of which this book is designed to record 
 and teach, thus began in earnest. 
 
 There is little more of interest of the great trainer's 
 
BEGINNIKG TRAINING. 25 
 
 life to tell here, for he fully records his experiences as 
 a trainer in this book. In 1872 Mr. Marvin and his 
 partner located at Olathe, Kansas, and leased the track. 
 Then began his remarkable career with Smuggler, and 
 shortly afterward the partnership between Mitchell 
 and Marvin ended. When he parted company for the 
 last time with Smuggler it was in San Francisco, on 
 April 5, 1878. Smuggler had broken down, and was 
 then shipped home, Marvin deciding to remain for a 
 time at least in California, as he already had a stable 
 in training at Bay District track. On April 10, 1878, 
 Marvin went to Palo Alto and engaged to work on 
 trial, and in due time became Superintendent of the 
 farm as well as trainer, a position which he has filled 
 with the greatest profit and credit to Palo Alto as well 
 as with marked honor to himself. 
 
 Charles Marvin was married at Kansas City, Decem- 
 ber 3, 1873, to Miss Fanny Martin, of Ossowatomie, 
 Kansas. Mrs. Marvin is a lady not only of much refine- 
 ment, but of warm heart and lovable disposition, and 
 is fortunate in the possession of the noble qualities of 
 womanhood that make the charm of a model home. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Marvin are happy in the possession of 
 three children that are general favorites — Master 
 Howard, aged nine ; Miss Jessie, seven, and Master 
 Charles, Jr., aged four. Their home is a pleasant cot- 
 tage at Palo Alto, and only those who have enjoyed 
 its unrivaled hospitality can appreciate how much Mr. 
 Marvin is to be envied in his domestic relations. 
 
 One of the most admirable traits in the character of 
 Charles Marvin, and a quality that has earned him the 
 respect of alL true horsemen, is his uncompromising 
 
26 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 honesty. While others have depended on trickery for 
 success on the turf, Marvin has earned a greater repu- 
 tation than any of them, and has kept his character 
 unstained. The tinge of jobbery never attached to his 
 name. He has left to others the work of swindling 
 the public, pulling horses in races, and driving for the 
 pool-box. In this book you will find no boasting over 
 "smart" jobs that were carried through — boasting that 
 seems to afford some trotting-horse drivers infinitely 
 more gratification than their honest triumphs — as 
 trainers. The chief shade that rests on the trotting- 
 turf is the shameful fact tliat men who are notoriously 
 and forever indulging in fraud on the tracks do so with 
 impunity, and so far has this gone that some have 
 written with boastf ulness the story of jobs of which an 
 honest man would be ashamed. This class of men in 
 their lives and their words do the pitiable work of in- 
 culcating in the minds of young horsemen the idea 
 that an honest man cannot succeed on the trotting-turf , 
 that the price of success is the sacrifice of honor, ex- 
 cept that honor that is by tradition supposed to exist 
 among thieves. But tliis class of men are gradually 
 finding their level in the public estimation, and the 
 trainers that are entrusted with valuable horses, that 
 have the confidence of rich and representative breeders, 
 are not those whose names are always spoken lightly, 
 but men who, like Charles Marvin, have a character to 
 maintain that is worth more than all the money that 
 was ever won by chicanery and fraud. Such men de- 
 serve well of the horsemen of America, and all the 
 better class of turfmen and breeders feel a personal 
 gratification that the highest pedestal of fame on the 
 trotting-turf is reserved for men of clean character. 
 
27 
 
 In his every-day life Mr. Marvin is, under all circum- 
 stances, a gentleman. His manner is easy and rather 
 retiring, and in conversation he is at first somewhat 
 reticent ; but when he breaks through the ice, he talks 
 freely and instructively, while always modestly. He 
 does not feel the necessity of tiresome and hollow 
 boasting, and is content to be judged on what he has 
 accomplished. Mr. Marvin is, as already stated, excep- 
 tionally happy in his domestic life, and he is essentially 
 a domestic man, loving his home and his family above 
 all things else, and enjoying life nowhere as there. 
 
 Perhaps no man hving is better fitted to give a just 
 estimate of Charles Marvin's character than Col. Henry 
 S. Russell, who owned Smuggler in the days of his 
 glory on the turf. I cannot better close this inadequate 
 sketch of his career than by quoting the following 
 letter, written some years ago by Colonel Eussell to the 
 Breeders'' Gazette: 
 
 " In addition to your very just praise of Charles 
 Marvin as a' driver, I beg to give my testimony of him 
 as a man. Xot only the horse, but the owner as well, 
 may have every confidence in him. If the trotting 
 interests of this countr}^ had been piloted by such as he, 
 there Avould have been more honest owners in the field 
 to-day, and the better part of our citizens would be 
 ready to encourage, rather than suspect, the motives 
 which prompt capital to invest in a pastime which, un- 
 fortunately, has been shamefully abused." 
 
 L. E. M. 
 
28 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 WHY THE BOOK IS WRITTEN — A PROFESSION WITHOUT 
 TEACHERS OR TEXT-BOOKS — OUR SYSTEM OF TRAINING 
 ORIGINAL ORDER OF THE WORK EARLY EXPERI- 
 ENCES W^ITH HORSES MY FIRST TROTTERS — DAN, THE 
 
 CHESTNUT SADDLE-HORSE — CLIPPER RUTLAND GIRL 
 
 GEORGE — SEALSKIN AND OLIVE DUNTON THE GREAT 
 
 SMUGGLER. 
 
 The idea of writing a book on training trotting- 
 horses occurred to me some years ago. It certainly 
 seemed to be a profession in which much was to be 
 tauo-ht, but in which there were neither text-books or 
 teachers. The need of a work on the subject is best 
 illustrated by the fact that "The Trotting-Horse of 
 America," by Hiram Woodruff, is still in demand, 
 though fully twenty years out of date. The young 
 man who reads Woodruff for instruction on training 
 trotters in these days is much in the position of one 
 who would follow Fulton's model in building a steam- 
 yacht. The crude process, of which Woodruff was a 
 master in his day, has been improved and perfected 
 into a fine art. It seemed to me that a modern work 
 was called for, lucidly explaining the most recent prac- 
 tices in training trotters, so that new men in the busi- 
 ness need not grope blindly in the dark, and only mas- 
 ter their profession by here and there stumbling upon 
 
PLAN OF THE WOEK. 29 
 
 the right way to do certain things, after losing perhaps 
 years in doing them the wrong way. My friends were 
 good enough to insist that my more than twenty years 
 of experience in training trotters had been successful 
 ones, and that that success was mainly due to the fact 
 that the Palo Alto system of training was original in 
 many of its features, and differed therein radically 
 from conventional ideas. They urged, moreover, that 
 I owed it not only to myself but to the trotting-horse 
 public to write in book form what my experience was, 
 and what it had taught, that others might profit by it 
 The chief obstacle in the way was lack of time to do 
 the work justice — for I am a very busy man — but 
 finally, with many misgivings, the work was detei'- 
 mined upon, and within the covers of this book are the 
 results. 
 
 After the work took definite shape in my mind, a 
 somewhat difficult question arose as to the best order 
 of procedure. Should I first explain a system of train- 
 ing and then tell what had been accomphshed b}^ it, 
 or should I relate my experiences merely in training, 
 tell how I did a certain thing, and let the reader judge 
 whether it was right or wrong? My primary object in 
 writing the book was not to ])ose as a storv-teller, re- 
 lating my own exploits merely for the pleasure of self- 
 horn blowing, but to endeavor to clearly explain what 
 I believe to be the best system of training horses to 
 trot fast. At the same time it is essential to have the 
 work readable and interesting as well as instructive, 
 and to most effectually serve these ends I have thought 
 best to begin at the beginning, relate the story of 
 Si>^uggler and other early horses, give a history of 
 
30 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 Palo Alto, its horses, its methods and its campaigns^ 
 and then to lay down the course of training and man- 
 agement which these experiences have taught. "With 
 these prefatory remarks we may start at once upon 
 our journey. 
 
 Though all my life had been spent in working more 
 or less with horses, I first began training trotters, as a 
 business or profession, in 1869o I was then at Paola,. 
 Kansas, engaged in the liver}^ stable business, and took 
 up the training of trotters as a supplemental^ occupa- 
 tion. Perhaps I should not say I began training trot- 
 ters, for in reality I began training pacers to trot. In- 
 deed my early successes were all in the line of convert- 
 ing pacers to the orthodox gaitc The first horse of 
 any account that came into my hands was the chest- 
 nut gelding Dan. He was a sort of saddle-horse, and 
 a natural pacer. He was owned by Mr. S. Oo Jerome, 
 and after I had learned him to trot we started him at 
 St. Joseph, Missouri, on July 4, 1870, against Aroos- 
 took Boy, George Wilkes Jr. and Pilot Boy. I won 
 with Dan in straight heats, trotting the second heat in 
 2:33. On the 6th he again defeated George Wilkes 
 Jr., and on the lith distanced Kansas Maid for a purse 
 of $400. Dan was on the turf for over four years, 
 trotting upwards of twenty races, and winning eleven 
 times, but he never beat the record I gave him in his 
 first race at St. Joseph. I converted him from the 
 pace with weight in the shoe. 
 
 My next horse of any account was the bay gelding 
 Clipper, who had paced in 2:31. I learned him to trot, 
 and after he got going clever at that gait, Mr. Benja- 
 min Akers, the then well-known Kansas breeder^ 
 
SMUGGLER COMES. 31 
 
 bought him for $5,000. He was at one time a very 
 promising horse, but his day passed and left him un- 
 known to fame. 
 
 About this time I had in my stable another pacer, 
 the brown mare Eutland Girl. She was of the Hal- 
 corn blood, and though I converted her to trot, and 
 trotted her a good deal, she never had speed enough to 
 be of much account. I won two good races with her^ 
 one at Topeka, Kansas, September 26, ISTS, and the 
 other at Kansas City, June 2, 1875, for a $500 purse, 
 but her fastest mile was 2:43 — slow for a baby trotter 
 in these days. When, shortly afterward, I went east 
 with Smuggler, I took Kutland Girl along and sold her 
 in Boston to a gentleman from 'New Jersey. 
 
 Another, and about the most promising horse I had 
 up to this time, was the gelding George. He was by 
 Field's Royal George, the sire of Byron, 2:25^, and 
 his dam was represented to have been a daughter of 
 Sir Tatton Sykes. George was, unlike any other early 
 horses, a natural trotter, and he certainly had the 
 capacity to trot close to 2:20. I considered him about 
 as promising a horse as Smuggler, but he died of lung 
 fever before he had a chance to show what there was 
 in him. 
 
 At Hannibal, Missouri, in September, 1872, a black 
 horse of unknown blood called Sealskin made a pacing 
 record of 2:26^, and later he came into my hands. 
 I made a complete success of converting him, and al- 
 though he has no trotting-record, I taught him to trot 
 as fast as he could pace. This horse and a mare called 
 Olive Dunton about completes the list of horses of my 
 early training days, until one came into my hands that 
 
32 TRAINING THE TRAINING HORSE. 
 
 was destined to be the foremost figure of his age on the 
 turf, to overthrow its imperial queen, the mighty 
 Goldsmith Maid, and to reign its acknowledged king. 
 This was the great Smuggler, who came to me a 3:00 
 pacer, and left me with a trotting record of 2:15J — 
 the fastest stallion record of that day. 
 
 It was the fortune of Smuggler and myself to earn 
 our reputation together, to emerge from turf obscurity 
 to turf fame, and like all that figures in the front bat- 
 tle line, we had our triumphs and defeats, enjoying ap- 
 plause and bearing condemnation together, just as the 
 tide of fortune and the fickler tide of public favor 
 chanced to ebb and fl.ow. 
 
THE GREAT SMUGGLER. 33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GREAT SMUGGLER HIS ORIGIN AND BLOOD — HOW HE 
 
 WAS NAMED — GIVEN MARVIN TO TRAIN — HOW SMUG- 
 GLER WAS CONVERTED TO TROT WEIGHT-CARRYING 
 
 SUCCESS AT LAST, AND RAPID IMPROVEMENT FAST 
 
 TRIALS AND SALE OF SMUGGLER TO COLONEL RUSSELL 
 
 THE GREAT RACE AT BUFFALO, WON BY THOMAS JEF- 
 FERSON ADVERSE CRITICISM OF " THE WESTERN 
 
 In the summer of 1872, when I was engaged in 
 training horses, as stated in the last chapter, at Olathe, 
 Kansas, Mr. John Mason Morgan came to me with a 
 bay pacer to train. The story he told me of the 
 pacer's origin was this, in substance : He had formerly 
 lived, he stated, at or near Columbus, Ohio, and 
 had bought a pacing-mare that was brought by a 
 cattle drover from West Virginia. This mare had 
 been bought from a cavalryman at Clarksburg, West 
 Virginia, in or about 1863, by a Mr. Irwin, and from 
 him passed into the hands of the party from whom 
 Morgan got her. Two or three years later Morgan 
 purchased, through the same Mr. Irwin who had 
 owned the pacing-mare, the bay stallion Blanco. 
 Blanco was foaled in 1857, and was bred by Mr. Josiah 
 Morgan, of Ohio County, West Virginia. He was sired 
 by Iron's Cadmus, by Beach's Cadmus, thoroughbred 
 
34 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 son of the great race-horse, American Eclipse, and the- 
 clam of Blanco was by Irwin's Tuckahoe, tracing be- 
 yond this to the blood of Bond's First Consul. Mr. 
 Morgan mated the Yirginia-bred mare with the Yir- 
 ginia-bred horse, and, forgetting the foaling-time, one- 
 morning in 1866 he unexpectedly found the youngster 
 in a paddock with his dam, and other mares. The 
 colt was endeavoring to secure maternal attention from 
 another mare when discovered by Mr. Morgan which 
 prompted that gentleman to exclaim, " Ah, you little 
 smuggler I " And thus, according to the story told by 
 Mr. Morgan when the horse was still obscure, he got 
 the name of Smuggler on his natal morn, and it stuck 
 to him. 
 
 In 1868, Mr. Morgan sold Blanco to a man named 
 Tipton, and gave him two of his colts, one being 
 Smuggler. Tipton moved to Kansas, and about a year 
 later Morgan also settled in the " windy state." Tip- 
 ton failed to pay Morgan for the horses, and he took 
 back the whole outfit. He rode Smuggler under sad- 
 dle, worked him on the farm, etc., and, as he showed 
 some speed as a pacer, he started him in a pacing-race, 
 and he was driven by one Lamasney, one of the 
 Lamasney Brothers, the Western turfmen, who own 
 Banner Bearer, and other well-known horses running 
 on Eastern tracks. In that race Smuggler was dis- 
 tanced in 2:52, and subsequently Morgan canic to place 
 him in my hands as told at the opening of this 
 chapter. 
 
 Mr. Morgan washed me to train him as a pacer and 
 take a half interest in him, which I promptly and em- 
 phatically refused, telling him that pacers were of no 
 
SMUGGLER THE PACER. 35 
 
 account, and he would have to allow me to train him 
 to trot or I would not train him at all. This he re- 
 fused, and came to see me almost every other day for 
 two months, endeavoring to prevail upon me to meet 
 his proposition. Morgan was a very erratic man, and 
 had a peculiar old grey soldier-coat which he wore 
 winter and summer. He, in copious and highly sea- 
 soned lanD:uao:e, would ridicule the idea of trvinor to 
 make Smuggler trot. "Why," he exclaimed, "if you 
 knocked him down with a club he'd get up pacing." It 
 amuses me now to recall how, after Smuggler became 
 famous as a trotter, Morgan would loudly tell how he 
 bred him for a trotter, and how he knew from the first 
 that he would be a great trotter. And I am bound 
 to add that once after Smuggler was defeated Mr. 
 Morgan wrote Colonel Eussell that if he would " buy 
 Marvin a pair of rubber reins he would always have a 
 winner." I trust I have outlived the astute Mr. Mor- 
 gan's suspicion. 
 
 Finally, finding it futile to urge me to train Smug- 
 gler as a pacer, Morgan compromised by giving him to 
 me to train to trot, on condition that if I failed I was 
 to make him pace as fast as he could when he came 
 into my hands, which was not a very heavy contract to 
 assume. Thus it was that Smuggler, obscure and un- 
 known, came into my hands on August 15, 1872, the 
 day he was six years old. I found him a good-looking 
 bay horse, 15.3 in front and 16 hands high behind, with 
 a white rear heel and a star and snip. He was a well- 
 made horse all over, with excellent legs and grand feet. 
 His head was well-shaped, and his broad forehead and 
 rich hazel eyes gave him an expression of great intelli- 
 gence. 
 
36 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 I tried every knowa method of conversion Avith 
 Smuggler, and at times I despaired of ever teaching 
 him to trot. He Avas a pacer through and through. 
 First I shod him with an ordinary shoe, but had to in- 
 crease this again and again until he finally wore two 
 pounds on each front foot, his hind shoes being ordi- 
 nary five-ounce ones. It has been contended, I be- 
 lieve, that Smuggler was injured by carrying excessive 
 weight, and that is possibly true. He had the best of 
 feet, joints, cannons and tendons, and had it been 
 otherwise he might not have stood what seemed neces- 
 sary to be done. If the reader Avill follow me, after I 
 have done with my story-telling, into the discussions on 
 shoeing and weighting, he will discover that I am, on 
 principle, opposed to heavy shoes and " dead against " 
 weights. But all cases cannot be treated alike ; excep- 
 tional cases require exceptional treatment, and the case 
 of Smuggler certainly was an exceptional one. It 
 should be remembered that he was not the only horse 
 that carried such weight. Xettie, 2:18, carried ten 
 ounces more than Smuggler ever did, and so did the 
 little mares Lula, 2:15, and May Queen, 2:20. IS'one 
 of these could compare with Smuggler in muscular de- 
 velopment, and another thing greatly in his favor was 
 that he was a mature horse before the task was asked 
 of him. In many cases the end justifies the means, 
 and those who criticise the methods pursued with 
 Smuggler have in 2:15^ a stubborn obstacle to brush 
 away. 
 
 As I have said, I tried every known method of 
 conversion with this horse. I tried the cross-strap 
 by which it is made impossible for a horse to pace; 
 
CONVERTING SMUGGLER. 37 
 
 I tried the plan of placing rails on the ground at such 
 intervals as would compel the horse to put his feet 
 down in the diagonal order ; tried weighting in every 
 way, and all availed nothing. Finally, by a sort 
 of inspiration, I struck on a plan which perhaps 
 found its first growth in the knowledge that a horse 
 cannot turn short at the pace. I would start him 
 up slowly and rather suddenly throw him off to one 
 side at a pretty sharp angle, compelling him to change 
 his gait, and the new gait he would keep for a 
 few steps. As soon as he came back to the pace I 
 would swing him off sideways again. Of course this 
 was virtually driving around in a small circle, until he 
 began to go a considerable distance trotting. At each 
 time he would remain at the trot a little longer, and 
 after the long, tedious and discouraging experimenting 
 the reader may well understand how glad and encour- 
 aged I was when one day, after going around in a 
 circle for eleven times, Smuggler struck a trot and 
 kept it up for a quarter of a mile. Before this I had 
 unsuccessfully worked with him for twenty-eight days. 
 The third day after this evidence of a change of heart 
 he went a full mile, trotting, in 4:20, and two days 
 later did a little better, trotting the mile in 4:00. The 
 seventh day after showing his first inchnation to trot 
 he showed a mile in 2:59, and the rapidity of his im- 
 provement is shown by the fact that on the thirteenth 
 day he trotted the mile in 2:41-1 ; the twenty -first day 
 he worked three heats in 2:48^, 2:38^ and 2:32, and 
 the twenty-eighth day miles in 2:32^ 2:30^. This 
 ended the work for that season, and during the winter 
 Smuggler suffered from an attack of epizootic. He 
 
38 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 was jogged easily during March, 1873, and in April we 
 began working him again. On May 1st he was good 
 enough to trot a mile in 2:27, and do it in a Avay that 
 was full of promise of improvement. The second week 
 in May he trotted a mile in 2:25, and three days after- 
 ward in 2:23. Then Mr. Benjamin Akers offered 
 $10,000 for him, but we declined the offer. He kept 
 right on gathering speed and improving in form every 
 day, and a week after Akers offered $10,000 for him 
 he went a mile in 2:22 ; the next week he trotted three 
 miles in 2:26, 2:21^, 2:20, and the following week I 
 worked him two miles in 2:19| and 2:20^. He was 
 then sold to Capt. "W. S. Tough, of Leavenworth, Kan- 
 sas, and shipped to N^ew York, in my charge. The 
 object of this visit was the projected sale of the horse 
 to Mr. Robert Bonner, and, as I understood it, Mr. 
 Bonner was to buy the horse for a certain sum if he 
 could show three fast heats, one of which should be 
 better than 2:20. The journe}^ from Kansas to E"ew 
 York was not an easy one, but after being on his feet 
 five daj^s in the car, I drove Smuggler over Prospect 
 Park for Mr. Bonner three heats in 2:19|^, 2:21|^, 
 2:21. He was timed by Mr. Bonner, Sim Hoagland, 
 and George C. Hopkins. The last half of the last mile 
 was made in 1:09. The next day Mr. Bonner sent a 
 veterinary surgeon to examine the horse. This scien- 
 tist reported to Mr. Bonner that he found the horse to 
 have " a jack " which as a matter of fact never existed. 
 When Mr. Bonner saw Captain Tough what he said to 
 him was in substance: "This horse is in great form, 
 up to concert pitch, but I would rather pay a little 
 more money to see a little more speed. If the horse 
 
SALE OF SMTGGLER. 39 
 
 could show a mile in 2:16|, I would give $75,000 for 
 him." 
 
 The sale to Mr. Bonner having fallen through, we 
 were in doubt whether to go to Boston and start 
 against Goldsmith Maid's time, 2:16|, or to return 
 home. Meanwhile we quartered the horse in a stable 
 on Great Jones Street, Xew York City, and there, Sep- 
 tember 1, IS 73, Colonel Henry S. Kussell, of Milton, 
 Massachusetts, appeared on the scene. I was after- 
 ward informed that Colonel Kussell was en route to 
 Mr. Backman's Stony Ford Stud, in Orange County, 
 when in the Tv/rf^ Field and Farm office conversation 
 turned upon Smuggler, and the Colonel decided to see 
 him. The trial at Prospect was on Thursday, August 
 28th, and if my memory serves me aright it was on 
 Monday that the colonel came and opened negotiations 
 for his purchase. They were speedily consummated. 
 Colonel Eussell buying the horse at the price asked, 
 $30,000, and on Wednesday evening he was shipped to 
 his new home near Boston. On September 5th we 
 showed Smuggler at the Xew England Fair, at Mystic 
 Park, Boston, and, though hog-fat, he trotted a half- 
 mile in 1:06, the first quarter in thirty-four and the last 
 in thirty-two seconds. 
 
 As it was not Colonel Kussell's intention to trot the 
 horse that season he went into temporary retirement, 
 and I returned to my Kansas home. 
 
 Smuggler was jogged all winter on the road, and in 
 the spring was worked for speed by a Mr. Moulton. 
 Colonel Russell entered him in the stallion race to be 
 trotted at Buffalo, August 5, 1874, but the horse's work 
 was not satisfactory and the Colonel telegraphed for 
 
40 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 me at the eleventh hour. I immediately came East 
 and got the horse just eight days before the race, and 
 it was said that up to that time he had not gone a mile 
 better than 2:40. He began to shape up fairly well 
 before the race, but was, of course, short of work and 
 was not keyed up, but even at that he would, I believe, 
 have won had he been fairly treated by the starter. 
 Besides, the horse was raw and uneducated, knew noth- 
 ing about scoring, and was all at sea in company. It 
 w^as impossible to get him up with the other horses, 
 and consequently at every start he got much the 
 worst of it. 
 
 The field that started Avas composed of Thomas Jef- 
 ferson, " the Black Whirlwind of the East ;" Mambrino 
 Gift, the first stallion to trot in 2:20 ; Joe Brown, Pilot 
 Temple and Smuggler. Smuggler had the pole, but 
 getting away in the first heat far back soon lost it to 
 Joe Brown, who led at the quarter. Smuggler four 
 lengths behind the field. We were fully eight lengths 
 away from the leader at the half, but the Kansas com- 
 bination began j^o get on steam in the stretch, and they 
 told me afterward that the people shouted, "See 
 Smuggler come !" In the stretch Smuggler carried 
 Mambrino Gift to a break, and easily shook him off, 
 and the chestnut son of Mambrino Pilot was also 
 passed by Thomas Jefferson who came fast at the 
 finish, but w^as beaten a length by Smuggler in 2:22^. 
 
 'Now Smuggler w^as made a favorite over the field, 
 and in the second heat I asked the judges to let us go 
 if my horse was going level, even though somewhat 
 back. At the fifth score we went awa}^. Smuggler 
 eight or ten lengths back, with Pilot Temple in the 
 
KACE AT BUFFALO. 41 
 
 lead, and Mambrino Gift on his wheel. Mambrino Gift 
 led at the half in 1:10. Smuggler cut down the field 
 one b}^ one going around the turn, and collared Mam- 
 brino Gift at the head of the stretch. The pressure 
 was too much for Mambrino Gift and half-way up the 
 stretch he went all to pieces, Smuggler winning by a 
 length in 2:20J. When the time was hung out there 
 was much excitement, enthusiasm and cheering, for 
 the stallion record had been broken, and, moreover, 
 Smuggler had made the fastest record ever achieved 
 by a horse in his maiden race. He trotted the last 
 half of that mile in 1:08^, and went around the field 
 at that. 
 
 Smuggler was now a pronounced favorite over the 
 field, but it was not destined to be his day of triumph. 
 His preparation had not been sufficient for a bruising 
 race, and though it is possible he had enough left to 
 win, the starter, Mr. C. J. Hamlin, of Buffalo, slaugh- 
 tered him in the third heat. When the word was 
 given Smuggler was far nearer the distance judge than 
 the wire — indeed, I do not know but that the dis- 
 tance judge could have touched us with his flag. Xo 
 worse start was ever given in au important race, and I 
 saw at once that our chances of o-ettino^ inside the dis- 
 tance flag were narrow. Around the turn Mambrino 
 Gift led the field, Smuo^o-ler nearlv a furlono^ behind. 
 Mambrino Gift went on and won the heat in 2:22^, and 
 Smuggler beat the flag home. The Sjnrit said of it : 
 "It was a hopeless task for Smuggler from the begin- 
 ning. The send-off icas toohaU for anytldng icithout 
 icings to mcike up against such a field, but right gal- 
 lantly he struggled, and as the leader reached the wire 
 
42 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 he was well up with the party, having made up about 
 half of the disadvantage under which he started." In 
 view of this who can doubt that, had the starter pro- 
 tected the pole-horse, as it was his duty to do, Smug- 
 gler would have won the race? 
 
 Smuggler was now dead tired. Want of condition, 
 endless scoring, and three hard heats had settled the 
 half-trained horse, and in the fifth heat, after twelve 
 scorings, he was sent away again far back, "and the 
 subsequent proceedings interested him no more."' The 
 heat was won by Thomas Jefferson in 2:23^, and 
 Smuggler was distanced in company with Pilot Temple. 
 Thomas Jefferson won the next two heats and the 
 race in 2:26^, 2:2S|^, and Mambrino Gift got second 
 money. 
 
 I was bitterly and. unfairh^ criticised for the failure 
 of Smuggler to win that day. Men who bet their 
 money and lose are not the best judges of the driver's 
 motives or skill, and of course talk from that class is 
 not heeded. But all the reporters from Xew York to 
 Conewango knew they could have driven Smuggler 
 better than Marvin did, and with Doble, or Green, or 
 Dan Mace in the sulky, everybody was sure that 
 Smuggler could not have lost, and everj^bod}^ conceived 
 it to be his special duty to advise Colonel Russell what 
 to do in the matter. The amount of good advice the 
 Colonel received during the campaign of Smuggler 
 represented an aggregation of wisdom that it is sad to 
 think was thrown away. The Colonel Avas laughed at, 
 jeered at, and advised atbout the awful consequences of 
 keeping a great horse in the hands of " the Western 
 hoosier;" and I certainly would have been glad at sev- 
 
ADVERSE CEITISM. 43 
 
 eral times to have o^iven him up to some of the many 
 men of great reputation who were only waiting for a 
 chance to electrify the world with Russell's misman- 
 aged horse. The people who criticized the Buifalo 
 race made no allowance for the fact that I had a green, 
 raw horse, untrained and uneducated, short of work 
 and but half prepared, one whose gait was artificial, 
 one that had never been in a race before, and knew 
 nothing about trotting in company. 
 
 Well, that is all a matter of years ago ; ana if the 
 critics are satisfied with what they thought they knew, 
 I am satisfied with what I did ; and what is more 
 gratifying to me than all is the fact that Colonel Eus- 
 sell after all was over was, and is, glad that he refused 
 much kind advice, and stuck to the '' Western hoosier." 
 
44 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 SMUGGLER " UNDER THE WEATHER " — A FAMOUS SPRING- 
 FIELD BLACKSMITH GETS AT HIM HE WINS HIS FIRST 
 
 RACE, DEFEATING WELLESLEY BOY GEORGE WILKES' 
 
 COMPLIMENT HE WINS THE GREAT STALLION RACE AT 
 
 BOSTON RECORD 2:20 1875 AN OFF YEAR JUDGE 
 
 FULLERTON DEFEATED AND THE STALLION RECORD 
 LOWERED TO 2:17. 
 
 From Buffalo we came to lltica, starting Smuggler 
 in the $5,000 race for the 2:29 class, for which a field 
 of nine faced the starter. Charley Green had Fleety 
 Golddust in pretty good shape that day, and had little 
 trouble in winning, after Music had captured one heat, 
 in 2:21^. Smuggler was quite "off" from the effect of 
 his hard race at Buffalo. He acted unsteadily, but we 
 gave Fleety a pretty good argument in the third heat, 
 which she won by half a length, after a fighting finish, 
 in 2:23. Seeing that there was no chance of winning, 
 and that the horse was not himself, he was, by permis- 
 sion of the ji^dges, drawn after this heat. 
 
 Smuggler was then taken to Springfield, where we 
 intended starting him August 18th. Here I had an 
 instructive little episode with a "horseshoe-maker." 
 Colonel Kussell decided to try this gentleman's shoe- 
 ing, and he went to work. I did not have much idea 
 of what he was going to do, but I afterward learned 
 
smuggler's first victory. 45 
 
 that he was going to make Smuggler trot faster. I 
 had been trying to reduce weight, but the blacksmith 
 decided that in the other direction lay success, so he 
 put a twenty-five-ounce shoe on each fore foot and a 
 fourteen-ounce shoe on each hind foot, thus doubling 
 the weight of the hind shoes. On top of this he pre- 
 scribed six -ounce toe -weights. Then, according to 
 this eminent "harmonious blacksmith," Smuggler was 
 rigged to smash records. He explained that the extra 
 weight behind would improve his hock action, of which 
 he had little. Well, we tried him in this rig, and his 
 speed would not have seemed indecorous at a funeral. 
 We were then on the eve of a race, and with the horse 
 anchored in every leg, the prospects were not cheery. 
 But I "returned to first principles," threw away the 
 Springfield patent, and put back the old shoes. Soon 
 ^'Eichard was himself again," and on the 18th he won 
 his first race, in the second, fifth and sixth heats, beat- 
 ing the favorite, Welleslej^ Boy, and a large field, 
 among which were Commodore Perr}^, H. C. Hill, and 
 others of note in their day. Speaking of this race, Mr. 
 George Wilkes said, in the Sjnrit : " The speed and 
 gameness of this horse are something wonderful ; in 
 each of his heats he seemed totally incapable of doing 
 any fast work until he had accomplished half the dis- 
 tance; then would come his time, as, with a gait the 
 very perfection of motion, so easily and apparently 
 without effort did he move along, he would cut down 
 his field and win his heats." 
 
 Smuggler next started at Mystic Park, Boston, on 
 September 2d, where he was defeated by Lucille Gold- 
 dust, though he won the fastest heat of the race — the 
 
46 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 third — in 2:22. The heat before this Smuo^o-ler had 
 broken badl}^, and in the first quarter of this heat Dan 
 Mace said to Colonel Eussell: "It^s §100 to one cent 
 that he will be shut out.'' But he came home from the 
 half in the vicinity of 1:06, winning the heat handily. 
 At Beacon Parlv, on September 10th, in the 2:34 class, 
 Smuggler won, beating a field of eight with compara- 
 tive ease, the fastest heat being 2:26. 
 
 Then came the sensational trotting event of the year, 
 Mr. David H. Blanchard's " Great Stallion Eace for 
 the Championship of the United States, and a purse of 
 $10,000." AYhen the race was first announced, early in 
 the summer, some people sought to throw cold water on 
 the whole thing with the easy cjmicism that it was " a 
 race made for Smuggler." But the races at Buffalo 
 and further down the circuit line left very few to be- 
 lieve that Smuggler could defeat Mambrino Gift and 
 Thomas Jefferson, and when the day came it looked to 
 the public anything but " a race made for Smuggler." 
 I do not think I ever saw a larger crowd on a race- 
 course than flocked to Mystic Park on September 15, 
 1874, to see the battle of the champions. Of the origi- 
 nal fifteen entries, six came to the wire, viz.: Mambrino 
 Gift, that trotted a few weeks before in 2:20, thus 
 making the fastest stallion record to that time ; Phil 
 Sheridan, of whom much was expected, and his son 
 Commonwealth, that afterward made a record of 2:22 ; 
 Smuggler, with his record of 2:20f , and his reputation 
 for unreliability ; Henry W. Genet, 2:26, then the fast- 
 est son of the sire of the great Hopeful, and Vermont 
 Abdallah, who was as much out of place in the com- 
 pany as a fire cracker among cannon. 
 
THE GREAT STALLIOX RACE OF 1874. 47 
 
 Just before the race, Thomas Jefferson, the conqueror 
 at Buffalo, was drawn, as he went very lame in his 
 warming-up jog. The betting was heavy, and a sam- 
 ple pool will show how strong a favorite Mambrino 
 Gift was. This pool was sold in the city at the rooms 
 of Morse & Morris the night before the race, and is 
 said to be the largest ever made on a trotting race : 
 Mambrino Gift, 81,000 ; Smuggler, 8335 ; Thomas Jef- 
 ferson, 8330; Phil Sheridan, 8175; Commonwealth, 
 $150 ; Yermont Abdallah, 8110 ; Henry W. Genet, 
 845. 
 
 Mambrino Gift had the pole, and getting away well 
 led to the quarter, with Sheridan second, but in the 
 back-stretch I did not have much trouble in giving 
 both the leaders the go-by, and got to the half in 1:11^ 
 with a nice lead. Smuggler won the heat well in hand, 
 and " Jock " Bowen, after a hot tussle, got Sheridan 
 home ahead of Mambrino Gift for second place. 
 
 Phil Sheridan got the best of the start in the second 
 heat and he led to the half in 1:11, where I cut Smug- 
 gler loose, and went on and won the heat in a common 
 jog by about eight lengths from Sheridan, with the 
 favorite, Mambrino Gift, very badly beaten. The time 
 was 2:23, the same as in the previous heat. 
 
 The next heat we went away pretty evenly, but 
 Smuggler at his best was slow to get into his stride, 
 and Bowen rushed Phil Sheridan to the front, taking 
 the pole. Mambrino Gift, also got away fast, but his 
 effort was "a flash in the pan," as he soon went into a 
 tangled break, and fell back. On the back-stretch 
 Smuo-D^ler o;ot into his bier swino^ino^ stride, and went by 
 the tired Phil Sheridan, m spite of all Bowen's efforts. 
 
48 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 with ease. The time to the half was about the same 
 as in the previous heats, 1:11 and a fraction, but I sent 
 him along in the last quarter fast, and won " away off" 
 in 2:20, thus equaling the fastest stallion record. 
 
 The applause of the Boston ians after the first heat 
 was warm; after the second heat it was wild and 
 hilarious; but after the race was won and the last 
 heat trotted in 2:20 the enthusiasm of the crowd knew 
 no bounds. They hurrahed for Colonel Kussell, foi 
 Smuggler, for Mr. Blanchard, for Smuggler's driver 
 and everything else in general. Those who remember 
 that occasion will remember it as a red-letter day on 
 the Eastern trotting-turf , and in closing my reference to 
 it, a quotation from the Boston Herald may be par- 
 doned : " In they came upon the track as soon as the 
 deciding Ijeat was finished, rushing from the grand 
 stands before the horses had crossed the line, and filled 
 the space around and in front of the judges' stand, 
 cheering for Smuggler, his owner, his driver, Mr. 
 Blanchard, the track, etc., etc. Loud calls were made 
 for Marvin, the comparatively unknown driver of 
 Smuggler, who had thus suddenly stepped into fame 
 with his horse, but Marvin declined to appear, and 
 quietly and modestly went to the stable to look after 
 the animal over which he had handled the reins so suc- 
 cessfully, receiving cheer after cheer as he passed along. 
 Mr. Russell, the owner, made his appearance in the 
 stand and bowed his acknowledgments to the ovation 
 he received, and then Dr. George B. Loring was intro- 
 duced and made a pleasant little speech to his ' friends 
 and neighbors,' the theme of whicn was, of course, the 
 horse Travelers toward home talked of 
 
SMUGGLER THE CHA^klPIOX. 4:9 
 
 nothing but Smuggler's success, as in the morning they 
 had thought of Httle but Smuggler's chances and the 
 chances of others ; and even about the hotels and other 
 places of resort the evening was most enlivened by re- 
 counting the results of the day. The great triumph of 
 Smugo-ler, perhaps, is as much due to the firmness of 
 his owner as to the horse himself. Friend after friend 
 of Colonel Russell has for weeks importuned that 
 gentleman to change his driver. Doble or Mace should, 
 in their judgment, be chosen to handle Smuggler, in- 
 stead of a man concerning whom so little was known. 
 But Marvin had known Smuggler in Kansas, had 
 broken him from a pacer to a trotter, and Colonel Rus- 
 sell, while not doubting the ability of the drivers rec- 
 ommended, believed that the modest man from Kan- 
 sas knew more about that particular horse than any 
 one else, and refused to change. The result has proved 
 that his judgment was correct, and it is within the 
 range of possibility that no other v/hip would have 
 won the race with Smuggler." 
 
 This race finished Smuggler's campaign of IST-i, and 
 he went into winter quarters the champion trotting 
 stallion of the world. He had thoroughly made up for 
 all his Grand Circuit reverses, and in a battle ro^^al of 
 champions had covered himself with glory. So ISTi 
 was, after all, a brilliant year for Smuggler and his 
 courageous and courtly owner, and the year was not 
 wholly unkind to the Kansas driver, who thus with due 
 diffidence made his debut among the master reinsmen 
 of the grand circuit. 
 
 During the winter of 1871-75 I worked a stable of 
 horses in Kansas, and in the spring started out to trot 
 
50 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE, 
 
 through the Mississippi, Kansas and Minnesota circuits^ 
 with a small and not very formidable " string." While 
 np in Minnesota, in the latter part of June, I received 
 a telegram from Colonel Russell to come East and take 
 Smuggler again. After the campaign of 1874 it was 
 natural that 1 should not be quite content with a lot of 
 2'AO horses, so I did not have any hesitation about 
 sending my stable home, and making my way to Bos- 
 ton. The campaign of 18T5 was not of very great 
 consequence. In August we started him against time, 
 2:20, at Boston, but father time was the winner that 
 day. In each trial he broke, though showing great 
 speed, and the best he did was 2:21. On the 4th of 
 September, at Beacon Park, Smuggler beat Nettie, 
 2:18, easily in comparatively slow time, the fastest heat 
 of the race being 2:22^. September 16th, at Hartford, 
 he beat Sensation in straight heats in 2:22^, 2:21^, 
 2:22. Then a match race was made for §2,000 with 
 Thomas Jefferson, who had beaten Smuggler, Mam- 
 brino Gift and others in the stallion race at Buffalo, 
 the year before. The race was trotted at Beacon Park, 
 September 30th. Smuggler won the first two heats in a 
 jog and then Jefferson was drawn, leaving him to walk 
 over for the third heat. This ended his performances 
 for 1875, and while he was not once beaten that year 
 the season's work was something of a disappointment, 
 for after the brilliant wind up of the year before we 
 expected to lower the stallion record, the honor of 
 which Avas shared equally by Smuggler and Mambrino 
 Gift. 
 
 The season of 1876 was destined to be a busy and a 
 checkered one for Smuggler. Defeats awaited him. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1875. 51 
 
 but they all were to be redeemed in the glory that was 
 to be his when he overthrew the queen of the turf in 
 a contest that will be memorable as long as the trotting 
 horse is known. 
 
 AYe opened the campaign at Belmont Park, Phila- 
 delphia, July 15th, in a race against Judge Pullerton 
 for a special purse of $2,000. Belmont was a fast 
 track in the Centennial year, and July 15, 1876, was a 
 hot day in the Centennial city. The conditions were, 
 therefore, favorable for fast time. AVhether by reason 
 of the heat or of the characteristic apathy of the 
 Philadelphians the race, which should certainly have 
 been a great drawing card, brought only a handful of 
 people to Belmont. Thus one of the very best con- 
 tests, between two crack horses, in the history of the 
 trotting turf was witnessed by only about 300 people. 
 
 Budd Doble had Fullerton in grand shape and " the 
 talent " felt sure of his victory and backed their opin- 
 ion with pluck and liberality. The detailed account 
 of the race, as published in AVilkes' Spirit of the 
 Times^ is here reprinted for the benefit of the reader : 
 
 " First heat : To a good send off Fullerton took the 
 lead, and at the quarter swept by four lengths in ad- 
 vance. Smuggler now settled into that magnificent 
 long, sweeping stride which has rendered him so 
 famous, and which, in the great stallion race at Boston 
 electrified the thousands present. At the half he had 
 closed to within two-lengths, still steady as a clock. 
 From this to the three-quarters he rapidly shut up the 
 daylight, gaining at every stride. Entering the home- 
 stretch his driver forced him up a little, and he re- 
 sponded nobly ; never making a skip, he closed on Ful- 
 
52 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 lerton, and, sweeping by him, shot under the wire a 
 winner in 2:17-1-. Immense applause greeted this effort. 
 
 " Second heat : At the third scoring, they got the 
 word, Fullerton on the outside, a half-length the best 
 of it. Trotting very rapidly, the Judge opened a gap, 
 and at the quarter he led three clear lengths. From 
 there to the half no change occurred, but now Marvin 
 shook up Smuggler, and he struck his lightning pace ; 
 before the three-quarters was reached, he had closed to 
 a length of Fallerton. Coming up the home-stretch, 
 Smuggler never trotted better ; he collared the Judge, 
 and showed a neck in advance. Doble gave Fullerton 
 a taste of the whip, and the gelding answered to it in 
 a flash, and held his own with the whirlwind, dashing 
 under the wire yoked on dead even terms. It was a 
 stunning finish, and made the lookers-on wild with ex- 
 citement. The judges announced a dead heat. TimCj 
 2:18. 
 
 " Third heat : The betting, which had been largely 
 in favor of Fullerton, now swung around, and Smug- 
 gler had the call at $20 to $17. Both horses had 
 cooled out well, and came up, as it were, smiling. At 
 the third attempt they got the word, once again Ful- 
 lerton a little the best of it. As before, he trotted 
 rapidly to the turn, leading two lengths. Both horses 
 now were sent for all they were worth, and a tremen- 
 dous struggle ensued. Smuggler gradually but surely 
 closing ; at the half, he lapped Fullerton's wheel ; the 
 time being 1:06. The struggle was kept up to the 
 three-quarters, the stallion steadily gaining, passing 
 this point in 1:41^. Holding his feet superbly, he shot 
 by this point with the lead, and swept up the stretch 
 
VICTORY AT PHILADELPHIA. 53 
 
 winning by two lengths, in the magnificent time of 
 2:17. 
 
 " Fourth heat : Again, at the third attempt, they re- 
 ceived the word. This time it was a tussle from the 
 word. Fiillerton did his best to take his usual lead, 
 but Smuggler never let go his hold, and at the quarter 
 they were neck and neck ; on they swept to the half, 
 both doing tremendous work. Reaching this point it 
 was a question of endurance. Smuggler's head only 
 showing in front — the time being 1:07. The Judge 
 now seemed to tire on the up grade ; Smuggler, fresh 
 as at the start, and held well in hand, drew ahead, and 
 as they rounded into the stretch he had two lengths 
 the best of it. From this point home he jogged in an 
 easy winner of the grandest contest ever seen on a 
 trotting course, winning by five lengths in 2:20." 
 
 This race again brought Smuggler prominently be- 
 fore the world as a candidate for championship honors, 
 and surprised those who had contended that his cam- 
 paign of 1875 proved him unequal to the task of sur- 
 passing or even equaling his performances of 1871:. 
 At the very first attempt he had not only defeated 
 one of the most formidable campaigners of his day, 
 driven by the foremost reinsman of our time, but he 
 had chipped three seconds off the stallion record, and 
 between him and the proud title of King of the Turf 
 there only stood one stumbling-block — Goldsmith Maid, 
 2:14. But what an opponent he had to beat in her! 
 She was a mare of " blood and iron " at her best, and 
 her record as a campaigner stands to-day unequaled. 
 So, with the knowledge that there was "one more 
 river to cross" — and a wide one — Smuggler and his re- 
 tinue started for Cleveland to struggle for the crown. 
 
64 TEAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 THE GREAT RACE WITH GOLDSMITH MAID — THE DETAILS 
 OF THE MOST MEMORABLE RACE OF THE CENTENNIAL 
 YEAR A CLOSE CALL " S. T. H.'s " GRAPHIC DESCRIP- 
 TION. 
 
 During the fall of 1875, and before the race with 
 FuUerton, I had been slowly reducing the weight of 
 Smuggler's shoes. I had gradually got the fore shoes 
 down to twentj^-four ounces, and though it was neces- 
 sar}^ to '* go slow," we were getting weight off and im- 
 proving at the same time, as the race against Fullerton 
 proved. There was at this time a great deal of non- 
 sense being written and talked of Smuggler, and a 
 Philadelphia newspaper man made a bold bid for first 
 place when, in commenting on the Fullerton race, he 
 declared that Smuggler " has been trotting with two- 
 found toe-weights until recently, when, by careful and 
 scientific handling, his driver has reduced them to one 
 pound." As a matter of fact. Smuggler seldom wore 
 toe-weights in races. AVhen his shoes were greatly 
 worn I sometimes had occasion to put on a four-ounce 
 toe-weight, but that was all. The weight was enor- 
 mous, but it was all in the shoe. 
 
 The race at Cleveland, July 27, 1876, was so im- 
 portant an event — not alone in my experience as a 
 trainer, but in the history of the trotting-turf — that I 
 
THE BATTLE-EOYAL OF '78. 65 
 
 ■cannot pass it by briefly. I dislike to dwell on my 
 own successes lest what I say be attributed to egotism, 
 so 1 will make but a few remarks on that event and 
 quote a description written by another. 
 
 Though Goldsmith Maid was clearly the favorite, 
 the ovation accorded Smuggler, on his appearance on 
 the track, surprised me. But his victory over Judge 
 Fullerton, and especially his lowering the stallion 
 record, at Philadelphia, had given him greater prestige 
 than he enjoyed even after winning the stallion cham- 
 pionship at Boston. He was looked to as the only 
 horse m the field having any possible chance against 
 Goldsmith Maid, and the public naturally cheered a 
 horse that was good enough to dare to dispute the 
 supremacy of the popular idol — the long-time queen of 
 the turf. Another reason for the enthusiasm was the 
 popularity of his owner, the courth" and accomplished 
 gentleman. Colonel Henry S. Russell. 
 
 Here was the field that faced the starter : Goldsmith 
 Maid, 2:14, driven by Budd Doble ; Lucille Golddust, 
 2:19|-, driven by Charley Green ; Judge Fullerton, 2:18, 
 driven by Dan Mace ; Bodine, 2:19^, driven by Peter 
 Johnston; Smuggler, 2:17, driven by C. Marvin. 
 
 "\7ith the exception of Lula, then just becoming 
 famous as one in the first rank of " cranks." this field 
 comprised the cream of the trot ting-turf of that day, 
 and all things considered another such field has never 
 come together on any track. Goldsmith Maid won the 
 first heat in 2:15|^, the fastest heat trotted in a race up 
 to that time, but Smuggler was only beaten a neck, 
 and that after throwing a shoe at the head of the 
 stretch. The Maid finished tired, and Doble had to use 
 
56 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 the whip persistently to get her home ahead of 1113^ un- 
 balanced trotter. In the second heat Smuggler broke 
 badly at the start and I laid him up, just dropping in- 
 side the flag, the Maid winning in 2:17^. With two 
 heats to her credit it was now a brown-stone house 
 against a peanut stand that the mare would win. The 
 third heat was a desperate one. Swinging into the 
 stretch I got Smuggler lapped on the Maid, and from 
 that home I did all I knew to keep him together and 
 3^et call forth his best effort, while Doble em- 
 ployed every resource of the master reinsman he is 
 to drive the mare over the score in front As the 
 Spirit put it : " At the draw-gate Budd had but a neck 
 the best of it, and now he nearly went wild in his 
 efforts to reach the goal first, and save the reputation 
 of his darling mare. At the distance stand she gave 
 it up, and Smuggler winning by a head only had be- 
 come famous. Time, 2:1 6^. This race has probably 
 never had an equal for wild and frenzied excitement 
 since the day of Fashion and Peytonia, Henry and 
 Echpse, and AVagner and Grey Eagle." Such a tumult 
 is rarely witnessed as occurred on the Cleveland track 
 that day, and in the wild storm of applause I know 
 there were many who cheered for Doble and the gal- 
 lant old mare for the great tight they made. But the 
 victorv, now seeminglv within our grasp, was very 
 nearly snatched away in the fourth heat. Smuggler, 
 though at the pole, was sent away rather behind, and 
 Doble took it with Goldsmith Maid running. Green 
 had Lucille Golddust lapped on the outside of Smug- 
 gler, and Fullerton was close up also. We were thus 
 soon in an " air-tight pocket." Going at a 2:16 gait a 
 
SMUGGLER AND GOLDSMITH MAID. 57 
 
 man has not a great deal of time to make plans or 
 speculate on what may happen, but I trailed along not 
 supposing that Green would endeavor to hold me in 
 the pocket, with the mare having two heats and thus 
 give her the race. Besides I expected Doble to go too 
 fast for Lucille in the last quarter and thus make an 
 opening. But it soon became clear that they had me 
 there and meant to keep me there, and when well up 
 the stretch I saw only a desperate chance and took it. 
 That was to drop behind Lucille, pull out and go 
 around the pair, and trust to one supreme burst of 
 speed to make up the lost ground and beat the Maid 
 to the wire. Green did not observe the movement 
 until I had Smuggler straightened on the outside, and, 
 as he saw Smuggler's white face at his shoulder and 
 coming like a whirlwind, he shouted, "Look out, Budd, 
 he's out." In the emergency Doble became " rattled," 
 as we now express it, suddenly went to tue whip, and 
 drove the mare off her feet. True and straight, with 
 a burst of speed that no horse that ever trod the turi 
 could excel, Smuo-o-ler rushed on to victorv, winnino- the 
 heat by a neck, and with that heat vanished the 
 Maid's last hope. In speaking of that sudden grasp at 
 our only chance — seemingly a forlorn hope — and of 
 that meteoric rush at the hnish, a turf-writer said : "A 
 smile of triumph lighted Doble's face, and the crowd 
 settled sullenl}^ down to the belief that the race was 
 over. Marvin was denounced as a fool for placing 
 himself at such a disadvantage, and imagination pict- 
 ured just beyond the wire the crown of Goldsmith Maid 
 with new laurels woven in it. But look, bv the D:hosts 
 of the de23arted! Marvin has determined upon a bold 
 
58 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 experiment. He falls back, and to the right, with the 
 intention of getting out around the pocket. Too late, 
 too late, is the hoarse whisper. Why, man, you have 
 but a hundred and fifty yards to straighten your horse 
 and head the Maid, whose speed has been reserved for 
 just such an occasion as this. Her gait is 2:14, and you 
 are simply mad. The uncounted thousands hold their 
 breath. The stallion does not leave his feet although 
 pulled at a forty -five angle to the right, and the mo 
 ment that his head is clear and the path open he 
 dashes forward with the speed of the staghound. It is 
 more like flying than trotting. Smuggler goes over 
 the score a winner of the heat by a neck, and the roar 
 which comes from the grand-stand and the quarter- 
 stretch is deafening. As Marvin comes back to the 
 stand to weigh, the ovation is even greater than that 
 which he received in- the preceding heat. Nothing like 
 the burst of speed he had shown had ever been seen on 
 ihe track, and it may be that it never will be seen 
 again." It was, perhaps, bad judgment on my part to 
 gel mto the pocket, but the way in which the heat was 
 pulled out of the fire atoned for it, and the public 
 cheered the same as if no apparent mistake had been 
 made. Many who cheered that da}^ had cursed " the 
 hoosier" two years before at Buffalo, and had Smug- 
 gler lost his feet in the desperate maneuver he would 
 have lost the race, and the cheers would have changed 
 to imprecations. So fickle a thing is public favor, and 
 upon so narrow threads depend victor \^ or defeat ! 
 
 That heat made it clear that a combination had been 
 formed to beat Smuggler. The pocket game did not 
 York, and tactics were changed. The trick now was 
 
60 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 to worry Smuggler in scoring, and he threw the shoe 
 that had gone in the first heat again. There was more 
 scoring and in a break Smuggler threw another shoe. 
 With the scoring and shoeing an hour was consumed, 
 and the delay, it was believed, would rest the mare and 
 thus favor her chances. When we got away Mace 
 rushed Fullerton out to set a killing pace, the idea 
 being for him to fight Smuggler in the early part of 
 the heat, while the Maid trailed, reserving her strength 
 for a fight in the stretch, when it was thought she 
 might outfoot the horse after Fullerton had done with 
 him. The scheme was a complete failure. I had Ful- 
 lerton beaten at the half-mile, and the Maid was 
 unable to give a serious challenge in the stretch, Smug- 
 gler winning eas}^ in 2:17i. This was conceded to have 
 been the hardest fought race up to that day, and the 
 heats were the fastest five consecutive miles on record. 
 The shadows of evenino^ were fallino- when the last 
 cheers were re echoing on " the change of dynasty." 
 The haught}^ queen that so proudly and imperiously 
 strode forth to sure and certain victory in the bright 
 sunlight of the afternoon that w^as to be her greatest 
 day of triumph had by dusk laid dowj the crown. 
 Here is the summaiw of the great race : 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, July 27, 1876.— Purse $4,000; free for all. 
 H. S. Russell's b, s. Smuggler, by Blanco. .25111 
 
 Budd Doble's b. m. Goldsmith Maid 1 1 2 2 2 
 
 C. S. Green's b. m. Lucille Golddust 4 2 3 3 3 
 
 W. M. Humphrey's ch, g. Judge Fullerton. 5 3 4 4 4 
 
 H. C. Goodrich's b. g. Bodine 3 4 5 5 5 
 
 Time, 2:15i— 2:17^— 2:16i— 2:19|— 2:17^. 
 
 In closing this description let me say that through 
 
"s. T. h's." desceiption. 61 
 
 a^l our battles and ever since I have had the warmest 
 friendship for Eudd Doble, and he has done me many 
 a kindness that is not forgotten. ^Ye have too few 
 Budd Dobles on the turf. He is an honest and up- 
 right gentleman m the sulky and out, and no better 
 driver ever pulled rein over a horse. 
 
 Xow I have had my say about the sensational race 
 of 1ST6, and I am sure the following condensation of a 
 description written by that brilliant writer S. T. Harris, 
 in Wallace's Jlont/di/, will be a treat to the readers of 
 this book. Few men wield a pen so gracefullv as "S. 
 T. H.," and I feel that this, one of his best descriptive 
 articles, deserves a place here : 
 
 " The writer had taken the night train from Cincin- 
 nati on the evening before to see this mighty contest, 
 which the victory of Smuggler over Judge Fullerton in 
 2:17, at Belmont Park a few days before, gave promise 
 would be memorable in trotting annals. 
 
 "The train reached Cleveland in tlie morning twi- 
 light, just in time to enable us to repair to the track to 
 witness the great horses taking their early exercise on 
 the half-mile course of the agi'icultural department of 
 the fair-grounds. 
 
 " Standing at the head of the stretch, we had a fine 
 forehanded view of the great concourse of trotting- 
 horses entered for the races. First came Charley 
 Green, behind Lucille Golddust, whose speed and en- 
 durance are both severely taxed by the wide, clawing 
 action of her front feet; and then the white face of 
 Judge Fullerton, piloted by Dan Mace, a genius in the 
 sulky and an idiot out of it, came in sight, plodding 
 along with that high, violent, plunging, forward move- 
 
62 TRAINING THE TRAINING HORSE. 
 
 ment that marks his marvelous waste of muscular 
 action in front. ^N'ot far behind him Bodine jogged 
 into the stretch, with that low, straight, thoroughbred 
 knee-action for which the Volunteers have become 
 famous. Then Goklsmith Maid came skipping along, 
 with that artistic trick of hers that has enabled her to 
 3tire with the fastest record on the trotting-turf. 
 Behind them all came Smuggler, well-poised, with that 
 perfect balance that comes f»'om a symmetrical frame, 
 covered with a great wealtn of muscular power and 
 animated with a level brain, conscious of its unequaled 
 capacity. As he moved past us, with ease, with power 
 and with precision, he certainly looked like an emperor 
 among the throngs of celebrated horses, just as Aga- 
 memnon towered above the bands of Grecian heroes. 
 
 "At the lunch given by President Edwards, later in 
 the day, the writer asked Budd Dobie, whether he 
 would permit Smuggler to win one fast heat for the 
 purposes of a stallion record. With grim determina- 
 tion he responded : ' Xo. If Smuggler scores a fast 
 record to-day he will have to beat the Maid, and that 
 will not be easy to do, in my judgment.' Then I 
 was convinced that the contest would prove a battle 
 among giants. 
 
 " The lunch over we eagerly repaired to the race- 
 course. Already the grand-stand was overflowing with 
 a brilliant assemblage of elegantly dressed ladies and 
 gentlemen, that presented the appearance of the gor- 
 geous throngs of the elite that fill the boxes at the 
 opera on gala nights. The quarter-stretch was densely 
 crowded with men, and the field enclosed by the mile- 
 course was packed with vehicles of every description. 
 
WORD PAIXTIXG. 63 
 
 The militant band of the Cleveland Greys was dis- 
 coursino^ inspiring music. The roads were thronged 
 with an interminable procession of carriages and street 
 cars. The steam cars were rolling in long trains of 
 eager passengers, and the entire tout emenible pre- 
 sented a scene of tip-toe expectation, such as pre- 
 cedes the consummation of some lono^-heralded, o-reat 
 event. 
 
 " But when the bell rang for the appearance of the 
 horses to contend in the free-for-all race, the impatience 
 of the vast throng to catch the first glimpse of the 
 grand entries rose to the very height of enthusiasm. 
 The first to make her appearance was the wonderful 
 queen of the turf, Goldsmith Maid, then in her twen- 
 tieth year, yet looking as lithe and delicate as a. colt, 
 although she had campaigned for eleven years, and 
 had asserted 'her supremacy in many desperate turf 
 contests, from the lengthened shadows of the Green 
 Mountains of Vermont to the golden gates of the 
 jeweled daughter of the Pacific. 
 
 " As she moved gracefully past the grand-stand, ten 
 thousand applauding hands and waving handkerchiefs 
 welcomed her and her master trainer, Budd Doble, be- 
 tween whom it is ditficult to determine which has 
 showered the greatest honors upon the other. Then 
 Fullerton, with Dan Mace bowing profusely to the 
 ladies, as if he was the Beau Brummel of the trotting- 
 turf, came by with his poise of head and neck, and 
 high, determined knee-action, in exaggeration of the 
 movement of that incomparable trotter, Dexter. He 
 was closely followed by Lucille Golddust, whose driver, 
 Charley Green, had, within a few years, risen to the 
 
64: TBAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 highest fame as a trainer. They had hardly passed 
 through their shower of applause, when Bodine, the 
 splendid son of Volunteer, renewed the greetings. But 
 when Smuggler jogged through the gates, and some 
 one exclaimed, 'There comes Smuggler!' the entire 
 assemblage rose to their feet with round after round of 
 deafening plaudits to the cham]Hon from the land- 
 ocean prairies of Kansas. Neither the horse nor his 
 trainer, Marvin, paid any more attention to the en- 
 thusiastic greetings than if they had been born both 
 deaf and blind. The main facts in the history of the 
 horse seemed to be familiar even to the ladies in the 
 vast assemblage. 
 
 " When the places were assigned, FuUerton had the 
 pole, Goldsmith ]VEaid next, then Lucille Golddust, with 
 Bodine fourth, and Smuggler, at the greatest disadvan- 
 tage, on the outside. 
 
 *'Two false attempts, and they were sent off with a 
 beautiful start for all, except Smuggler, whose power- 
 ful action had not yet acquired sufficient space to attain 
 its full speed. Before the first turn was reached, Ful- 
 lerton had indulged in one of his provokingly slow 
 breaks, and Goldsmith Maid had quickly taken his 
 place at the pole as the leader. Bodine had rapidly 
 trotted up into the second ]:>lace, and, strange to say, 
 Smuggler was close to his wheel, while Lucille Gold- 
 dust was five lengths in the rear, and Fullerton fully 
 fifteen lengths behind. At the quarter-pole, Goldsmith 
 Maid had a fine lead. She fairly flew over the back- 
 stretch, but Smuggler was coming on to her very fast. 
 He outfooted Bodine, and was second at the half-mile 
 pole. From that place to the head of the last quarter. 
 
THE BATTLE. 65 
 
 he perceptibly closed up the space between himself and 
 the leader, till they swung into the home-stretch. 
 Here he suddenly faltered for an instant, and then 
 quickly came on again like a whirlwind, finishing at 
 the girths of Goldsmith Maid in 2:1 5|-. The faltering 
 at the head of the stretch was owino^ to his castino- his 
 off front shoe; to which accident, undoubtedly, the 
 wonderful daughter of Alexander's Abdallah may 
 attribute her victory in this first heat. She seemed to 
 be relieved when the score was crossed ; but the rush- 
 ing speed of Smuggler under these adverse circum- 
 stances proved how level is his brain, how determined 
 is his courage, how electric is his speed, and how tre- 
 mendous is his momentum when in full motion ; all of 
 which qualities are invaluable to him as the progenitor 
 of grand trotting-performers. 
 
 " The second heat was started after one false score. 
 Goldsmith Maid rushed to the lead, while Smuggler, 
 unable to trot around the first turn, broke badly, fall- 
 ing back more than a distance before he resumed his 
 troto Every spectator thought he would be in- 
 gloriously distanced, as the entire field had left him 
 back in the dust, too far it seemed, for him ever to bid 
 defiance to the distance flag; but, again, the level 
 stride, heroic resolution, and amazing speed came to 
 his rescue. Rapidly he closed up the gap, and, when 
 they reached the wire in 2:17^ he was again in their 
 company, only ten lengths behind. Again, on the 
 second score, the word was given for the third heat. 
 The fleet-footed, quick-witted little queen again shot to 
 the front, followed by Fullerton two lengths behind, 
 with Lucille Golddust at his wheel, Smuggler close up 
 
(j6 training the trotting horse. 
 
 to her, and Bodine in the rear. They all trotted very 
 rapidly and steadily to the half-mile pole, the Maid 
 reaching there in 1:08|, with Lucille four lengths be- 
 hind her, and Fullerton at her wheel. Smuggler, in 
 the meantime, had swung to the extreme outside, and 
 was trotting with amazing speed. Before the three- 
 quarter ])ole was reached, he pad passed both the best 
 daughter of Golddust and the swiftest son of Edward 
 Everett, and his broad white face appeared instantly 
 with the form of Goldsmith Maid as she swung into 
 the home-stretch, trotting so near to the pole to save 
 distance that it seemed almost certain her sulky wheel 
 would strike the inside fence. Smuggler did not seem 
 to care to economize space. He swung boldl}^ into the 
 center of the course. On came the leaders, like fright- 
 ened phantoms fleeing from pursuing fate. Doble was 
 lifting the little mare and vigorously applying the whip. 
 Gallantly did she respond to every call upon her speed 
 and endurance. Marfan, with firmly-extended limbs 
 and tightly-nerved outstretched arms, was bracing 
 himself to hold Smuggler together, not to force him 
 ahead. At the drawgates the mare was only one-half 
 length in advance of the might}^ stallion. Doble put 
 forth superhuman eiforts to land the mare a winner. 
 He shifted the bit in her mouth, and welted her sides 
 with his whip, and fairly worked his bod}^ forward to 
 force along the sulky^ at the last fraction of a second 
 lettino: o'o of her head, in order that her outstretched 
 neck might give her the victory by at least a throat 
 latch. But at that instant Smuggler was mightier 
 than the queen and her master reinsman combined. 
 On he came with that true, powerful stride, and truer, 
 
THE EXCITEMENT OF RACIXG. 67 
 
 more resolute purpose, till the daylight showed be- 
 tween his white nose and the flashing eye of the mare, 
 and he passed the score just a head and neck in 
 advance. 
 
 " The buzz and hum and flutter on the grand-stand as 
 the horses were sweeping over the far side of the course 
 had died away into profound silence when the leaders 
 whirled into the home-stretch. Every figure was on 
 tip-toe, every eye was strained to its utmost tension of 
 vision, and every heart was hushed to the faintest 
 throbbing, till the magnificent finish of Smuggler had 
 landed him the winner of the heat ; and then ten 
 thousand white handkerchiefs waved to his victory, 
 and more than ten thousand throats shouted wild, 
 deafening hurrahs to his well-earned triumph. The 
 trotting world seemed to be on the eve of a change of 
 dynasty. The heat was won in 2:16|^, and he trotted 
 the last half of the mile, b}" the writer's watch, in 
 1:07. In this vast, swaying throng of excited specta- 
 tors two attentive watchers stood exceptionally silent. 
 Behind me, elevated on her chair, stood the wife of 
 Goldsmith Maid's driver, arra3^ed like the Queen of 
 Sheba in oriental colors, richer than the brilhant hues 
 of the rainbow. But her features, in marked contrast 
 to her raiment, were pale as alabaster, and her counte- 
 nance was dejected with forebodings of the impending 
 defeat of the little mare, whose performances had ele- 
 vated her husband to the highest fame in trotting cir- 
 cles. Above her, dressed in the plain garb of re'jDubli- 
 can simplicity, rose the form of the scholarly owner 
 of Smuggler, wiping from his brow, with the broad 
 palms of his tremendous hands, the perspiration that 
 
68 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 bathed his head and face as if it flowed from inex- 
 haustible springs. No excitement surpasses that of the 
 race-course, in very important, closelj^-contested heats, 
 both to the rival horses, their jockeys and their owners. 
 That mountain of flesh, General Buford, had bravely 
 ridden up to the foe on many a battle-field of the lost 
 cause, even w^hen his face was darkened by thick- 
 coming showers of loyal bullets, without blanching in 
 the least ; but when his deer-like race-horse, Versailles, 
 thrilled the audience at the Buckeye Course by chal- 
 lenging the champion Herzog for the lead and beating 
 him home the first heat in the then remarkable time of 
 1:43|, the stalwart General suddenly gave way to a 
 spasm of nervous paroxysms, as he wrung his hands 
 with joy before that vast throng, and exclaimed in 
 tearful hysterics : ' My God, the fearful strain upon my 
 nervous system is positively overwhelming.' If any 
 reader dreams that such a mighty struggle as that be- 
 tween the emperor and the empress of the trotting-turf 
 does not awaken in the interested spectator the very 
 superlative of nervous tension, he should have gazed 
 upon the two faces we have sketched, revealing a mo- 
 ment of supreme joy to the one and of depressive sor- 
 row to the other. 
 
 "Never was witnessed a grander performance on the 
 trotting-turf till Smuggler ecHpsed his own greatness 
 in the succeeding heat. In vain did Doble plead with 
 the judges for the heat, laying before them the old age 
 and gallant struggle of the favorite mare, but they 
 were inexorable. Despite his special pleadings the 
 heat was given to Smuggler, amid the acclaims of the 
 approving spectators. The results of the concluding 
 
OUT OF THE POCKET. 69 
 
 heats Tvere awaited by the vast concourse with intense 
 impatience. 
 
 "AVhen the bell tapped for the fourth heat every 
 spectator sprung to his feet. On the second score the 
 horses were sent on their way, with Smuggler at the 
 pole, but fully two lengths behind when the word to 
 start was given. Again Goldsmith Maid took the lead, 
 rushino^ in front of Smuo:o:ler, while Lucille Golddust 
 forced her way to the outside of Smuggler, and Fuller- 
 ton trotted close up to Lucille's wheel. Then it be- 
 came evident that the three ablest trainers on the turf, 
 Doble, Mace and Green, and the three swiftest trot- 
 tino'-horses on the turf, Goldsmith Maid, Lucille Gold- 
 dust and Fullerton, were combined to beat the cham- 
 pion stallion Smuggler. These were fearful odds. 
 Nothing but the greatest speed, the most perfectly 
 balanced brain and the most indomitable courage 
 could overcome them. There they had Smuggler se- 
 curely held in a double pocket. Doble drove the 
 Maid just fast enough to enable his helpers to keep 
 up the pace and hold Smuggler in his disadvantageous 
 position. All around the course till they swung into 
 the home-stretch was he thus safely kept a prisoner. 
 They were then coming home better than a 2:20 gait. 
 Suddenly Mar^in pulled Smuggler back. The leaders, 
 not dreaming of this piece of strategy, rushed on to- 
 gether in a close group. After they had passed, Mar- 
 vin deliberately pulled Smuggler to the extreme out- 
 side and attempted to win the heat. His success 
 seemed to be impossible. With almost any other 
 horse, trotting at such a rate of speed, such a maneu- 
 ver would have soured his temper or discouraged his 
 
70 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 resolution or staggered his gait so that he would have 
 indulged in a heart-broken, maddened, fatal break. 
 But not so the nicely - poised, grandly - determined 
 Smuggler. Instantly he resumed his wonderful 
 stride. On he came to his adversaries, with the fatal 
 swoop of an unerring eagle on its prey, rapidly pass- 
 ing the astonished Lucille and the strugghng Fullerton 
 till he overtook the fleet-footed Maid at the draw- 
 gates, and rapidly outfooting her, beat her to the score 
 in two minutes, nineteen and three-quarter seconds. 
 After such a splendid exhibition of balanced action^ 
 subjected to such an unexampled test, how futile is the 
 tape-line assertion of Mr. Helm that Smuggler is an 
 inch too short in the muscles of the forearm and too 
 heavy forehanded for trotting equilibrium. The elec- 
 tric rush of his finish fairly frenzied the excited multi- 
 tude. Their former deafening plaudits seemed almost 
 like the echoes that now came from the reverberations 
 of the surrounding forests. Again the water flowed 
 down Colonel Russell's face like a river, and the lady 
 spectator below him, overcome by the defeat of her 
 favorite, retired from public inspection, ashen-pale and 
 sick at heart. 
 
 " The fifth heat was called promptly on time. Smug- 
 gler seemed to be getting very lame in the off fore 
 foot, but otherwise he was as fresh and composed, ap- 
 parently, as when he first came out for the race. He 
 seemed to possess more determination to triumph than 
 ever before. On the second and fourth scores, so eager 
 was he to rush to the front that he pulled off his right 
 fore shoe. To replace it required considerable delay,, 
 which encouraged the backers of Goldsmith Maid. 
 
VICTORY. 71 
 
 They argued that the delay rested her, and that the 
 pulling of his shoes proved Smuggler was at least leg- 
 weary. She, therefore, sold in the pools about even 
 against the field, including Smuggler. But on that day 
 they counted without their host. Had they noticed 
 the grim resolution of the stallion during one of the 
 false starts, they would have saved much of their 
 wafj:ered o^old. On the fourth score so anxious was he 
 to get off, that, when Marvin took a strong pull to re- 
 strain him, he resolutely took the bit in his teeth, and, 
 stretching out the powerful muscles of his neck, he 
 bent over and straightened out the strong iron water- 
 hook on the saddle as if it had been only a bit of deli- 
 cate tinsel ornament. 
 
 " On the sixtn trial the start was announced. From 
 the score it was evident the conspirators had changed 
 their tactics. 
 
 "Goldsmith Maid was held back, trailing behind 
 Smuggler. At the turn Fuilerton was forced ahead to 
 set the pace. He rushed to the quarter in thirty-four 
 and one-half seconds, and sped on to the half-mile in 
 1:08^. Then he dropped back, giving way for the 
 mare; and the Maid, comparatively fresh, was sent 
 along to measure strides with the stallion, whose brush 
 wich Fuilerton was mtended to tire him. This is the 
 well-known jockey trick of 'two pluck one,' and in 
 nearly every mstance two horses can tire and vanquish 
 a third contestant, even though he has several seconds 
 the advantage in speed and endurance. But Smuggler 
 was more than a match against these fearful odds. 
 Goldsmith ^laid made a gallant brush for the lead ; 
 but the grand stallion had then attained to his greatest 
 
72 TKAmnia the trotting horse. 
 
 momentum. After a desperate struggle around the 
 upper turn the old mare gave up the contest, thor- 
 oughly discouraged and beaten. 
 
 " The stallion came away from her with tremendous 
 power, he trotted down the home-stretch alone, in ad- 
 vance of all his competitors, pulling hard for his 
 trainer to let him go up to his greatest flight of speed, 
 finishing the mile, in the early twilight, in 2:17^, and 
 winning the most remarkable race, taking in considera- 
 tion his obstacles and opposing combinations, ever re- 
 corded in the history of the trotting-turf." 
 
A HUKRIED PKEPAKATION. 73 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE FEEE-FOE-ALL BATTLES DOWN THE LINE FEOM 
 
 CLEVELAND TO SPRINGFIELD — GEEAT EACE AT HAET- 
 
 FOED — 1877 A POOE YEAE FOE SMFGGLEE TAKEN 
 
 TO CALIFOENIA — BEEAKS DOWN IN THE SPEING OP 
 1878 AND SENT HOME GOOD-BY TO SMUGGLEE. 
 
 Feom Cleveland we came down the line to Buffalo, 
 and again met Goldsmith Maid, Judge Fullerton, 
 Bodine and Lucille Golddast in the free-for-all. We 
 met them, and we were theirs. The perfectly seasoned 
 old campaigner, Goldsmith Maid, though the race at 
 Cleveland was a hard one for her, had quickly rounded 
 to, and was that da}^ as good a mare as ever she Avas 
 in her life, trotting three heats in 2:16, 2:15J, 2:15 — a 
 performance rarely equaled even in these days. On 
 the other hand. Smuggler was decidedly off, not having 
 recovered from the Cleveland race, and lacking both in 
 vim and steadiness. He could do nothing in the first 
 heat, and in the first half of the second made a stand- 
 still break, being two distances out before he settled 
 again, after which he went home from the half-mile 
 post to the wire in 1:0 7 J, though eased up when the 
 flag fell in front of him. Goldsmith Maid won in 
 straight heats, in the time above given, and was again 
 the popular idoL 
 
 This race illustrates a point in training that every 
 
74: TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 trainer must have observed many times. That is, that 
 a hurried preparation will not do for a campaign, 
 whatever it may accomplish for a race or two. 
 Smuggler had been blistered the previous winter, 
 and had been given no work, and not even enough 
 exercise to have him in good shape to begin work. 
 Therefore, when I commenced preparing him in the 
 spring for his engagement in Philadelphia in May, the 
 time was too short for gradual and proper conditioning. 
 So, while not in the best shape to receive a hurried 
 preparation he had to have it, and after his fast per- 
 formance at Philadelphia, and that hard five-heat battle 
 at Cleveland, it is not surprising that he " went back" 
 temporarily. I have learned both by experience and 
 by observation that, while you can sometimes hur- 
 riedly prepare a horse and get him up to pretty keen 
 edge for a race or two, he will likely soon fall away 
 from his best form, while the well-seasoned ones will 
 go on getting better, if raced judiciously throughout 
 the campaign. To fit a horse for a campaign in which 
 you expect to keep him in first-class form, week after 
 week, the preparation must be gradual and thorough. 
 The horses that break records very early in the spring 
 seldom are the winners of the first-class summer and 
 fall battles. 
 
 At Kochester, a week after the Buffalo race. Smug- 
 gler began to improve, and beat Judge FuUerton, 
 Lucille Golddust and Bodine in a pretty good race. 
 Goldsmith Maid not starting. Dan Mace got into 
 trouble at Buffalo, and was under expulsion, so that 
 another driver — Yoorhis — had to be put up behind Ful- 
 lerton, and he did well with him, but Smuggler won in 
 
THE HARTFORD RACE. 75 
 
 straight heats in 2:15|, 2:18, 2:19i, Lucille doing the 
 fio:htinof in the last heat, while Fullerton had trotted 
 fast and honest in the first two heats, being only 
 beaten about three lengths in the 2:15f heat,^nd right 
 on Smuggler's wheel in the next in 2:18. We did not 
 start at Utica the following week, and Goldsmith Maid 
 easily beat the same field Smuggler had to defeat at 
 Rochester, she not having to go better than 2:18^ to 
 do it. 
 
 ^ext came the great free-for-all a.t Hartford, 
 August 31, 1876, a contest rivaling in importance and 
 result the memorable one at Cleveland a few weeks 
 earlier. The four competitors at Hartford were also 
 in the Cleveland race when Smuggler won, and from 
 that point down there had been nothing to decisively 
 settle the question of superiority between Smuggler 
 and the Maid, and it was indeed one on which turfmen 
 were greatlv divided. It was expected that the con- 
 test at Hartford would settle the question, and when 
 Goldsmith Maid, Smuggler, Bodine and Judge Fuller- 
 ton answered the judges^ bell for the free-for-all, ex- 
 citement and feeling ran high. The expectations of 
 the crowed ran high too, but still had any one foretold 
 a six-heat race wherein the stallion record w^ould be 
 broken, and every heat would be trotted better than 
 2:20, he would probably have been jeered at. 
 
 The Maid, as usual, with that hop-skip-and jump trick 
 of hers, got away first in the initial heat, but Fullerton 
 went from the wire with the quarter horse rush of 
 which he seemed always capable at the start, and when 
 he reached the quarter at a 2:12 gait he was well clear 
 of Goldsmith Maid who led Smuggler and Bodine by 
 
76 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 a length or so. Still Fullerton kept his terrific clip and 
 passed the half at a record-breaking pace, the Maid 
 close up and leading Smuggler who was just getting 
 under proper headway. Fullerton and the Maid raced 
 in double team fashion to the turn, with Smuggler now 
 getting right up with them. Fullerton was the first 
 to w^eaken, Doble sending the Maid by him under the 
 whip, but half-way between the distance flag and the 
 wire Smuggler nailed her, and beat her home b}^ about 
 a length in 2:15^ — the fastest heat ever trotted by a 
 stallion up to that day. 
 
 In the second heat Smuggler got an even start, and 
 the rest had a stern chase from wire to wire, the time 
 being 2:17. 
 
 In this race the judges allowed Doble to score most 
 unfairly with his great mare, and she had no equal in 
 wearing her opponents out on the score, they trotting 
 and she skipping and relieving herself. Tired of this- 
 I nodded for the word somewhat back at tlie fourth 
 score in the third heat, believing that it was, if any- 
 thing, better to take the chances of a bad start than 
 to submit the horse to the tiresome scoring in which 
 the judges showed no inclination to protect him. 
 Smuggler, however, got up to the mare in the stretch 
 (she having, in the meantime, helped herself by re- 
 peated skips, or rather gaining breaks), and just out- 
 finished her in 2:16f . The best judges (including the 
 representatives of the Spirit of the Times and Turf^ 
 Field andFcmn\ who were so directly at the wire as 
 to be in a position to judge, delared that Smuggler's 
 white nose crossed the wire first, but even if they had 
 crossed perfectly even he should have had the heat 
 
UNFAIR JUDGING. 77 
 
 under the trotting rules, for he trotted it honestl}^ 
 without a skip or break which she did not, to say 
 nothing of her two or three lengths advantage at the 
 start. 
 
 Smuofo-ler was now a very tired horse, the three fast 
 fighting heats, with the great weight he carried on his 
 feet, leaving him thoroughly leg-weary. We now re- 
 moved the four-ounce toe-weights to partially relieve 
 him, but in the fourth heat he was beaten after a o^ood 
 struggle in 2:17^, and he again contended gamely in 
 the fifth heat which was won in 2:18, but in the sixth 
 heat a standstill break very nearly left him outside 
 the flag in 2:19f. Smuggler did not get first money 
 that day, but it was a race in which he gained honors 
 equal with the winner, and there was at least as much 
 difference of opinion as to the question of superiority 
 after the race as there was before it. 
 
 In consequence of criticisms of my asking for the 
 word in the third heat when not on even terms, 
 Colonel Russell wrote the following letter, which 
 speaks for itself : 
 
 Home Farm, Milton, Mass., ) 
 September 11, 1876. f 
 As most of the papers, whilst saying that Smuggler 
 was faii'ly entitled to the Hartford race, blame his 
 driver, Charles Marvin, for asking for the word when 
 some lengths behind Goldsmith Maid, I deem it only 
 my duty to a man who has served me most faithfully 
 to explain that his reason for acting as he did was the 
 simple fact that the judges allowed, and showed no dispo- 
 sition to prevent, the most unfair scoring on the part of 
 the Maid. Xo one who saw it will deny that she 
 was allowed to act just as seemed best for her own 
 
78 TRAINING THE TKOTTINa HORSE. 
 
 interests, irrespective of the good of others. Mr. 
 Marvin preferred a bad start to the chance of his 
 horse becoming fractious from the ill-usage which the 
 judges showed no spirit to prevent, and I, for one, 
 entirely indorse his action as the only wa}^ in which he 
 could protect my interests after being deserted by 
 those to whom had been entrusted a fair deal to all. 
 
 Furthermore, I will trot Smuggler three races 
 against any horse, mare or gelding, for stake, purse, 
 gate-money or charity, over such tracks as may be to 
 the advantage of both parties ; or I will trot him 
 against any combination, a fresh horse to start against 
 him in each heat, and all heats won by different horses 
 in such combination to be counted as if won by a single 
 horse in an ordinary race. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Henry S. Russell. 
 
 The remaining performances of Smuggler can be 
 summed up in few words. A week following he 
 started at Springfield, but was not at all himself, the 
 Maid winning easily. Then we took him to Bangor 
 and gave an exhibition performance against time, which 
 was followed by a match race against Judge Fullerton, 
 at Mystic Park, Boston, October 2d, which Smuggler 
 won. The next week we again trotted him a winning 
 race against Fullerton, this time at Dover, Xew Hamp- 
 shire, over a very heavy and deep track. In this race 
 he injured his hip, and never was quite himself again. 
 October 16th, in an unimportant match, or rather ex- 
 hibition, Great Easterit won in slow time, and ten days 
 later he trotted in the free-for-all at Fleetwood Park, 
 Kew York, which was won by Rarus, then just coming 
 into prominence. 
 
 In 1877 Smuggler did not come back to his old form, 
 
THE CLOSE OF A BRILLIA^'T CAEEER. 79 
 
 and only started twice, defeating Great Eastern in a 
 four-heat race in June at Boston, and bein^ defeated 
 by Hopeful in Jul3\ 
 
 It was Colonel Eussell's desire to give Smuggler a 
 faster record, and in November, ISTT, we started for 
 California, to give him the benefit of this genial climate. 
 But the most carefully designed plans do not always 
 succeed. Smuggler had a suspicious leg as early as 
 1ST6, and it interfered with his preparation in 1877. 
 "We arrived at Bay District track, San Francisco, Xo- 
 V ember 14th, and prepared winter quarters. Through 
 ,ne winter I worked Smuggler very "gingerly," but it 
 ^.oon became apparent that the great horse could never 
 race again, and in April, 1878, he finally broke down 
 and WcJ shipped home. Shortly afterward Colonel 
 Kussell sold him to AV. H. Wilson, of Cynthiana; and 
 after being denounced as a complete failure in the 
 stud and sold for a song, he has at last shown that he 
 can sire trotters, and I believe his services are now 
 sought at a high price at the stock-farm of F. G. Bab- 
 cock, Horn ells vi lie, Xew York. 
 
 I make no apology for takmg up a good share of 
 space in giving a history of Smuggler. Whether he 
 owes much of his fame as a great turf-horse to me or 
 not we will let pass, but I certainly owe much to him, 
 and the cha])ter or two of which he is the hero is only 
 just acknowledgment from his old driver. In esti- 
 mating his merits as a race-horse the truthful histo- 
 rians of the future will always record that "there 
 were giants in those days," and that he battled with 
 the giants and more than held his own. 
 
 Though he has yet no son or daughter as great as 
 
80 TKAININa THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 himself, his progeny are b}^ no means a degenerate 
 race, and among them are winners of high merit. 
 
 Smuggler was in man^^ respects a horse whose equal 
 I have not seen nor ever expect to see. Though his hock 
 action was not as free and exuberant as it might have 
 been, he had a beautiful roll of the knee in motion, and 
 his gait was direct and good. He went away easy and 
 frictionlesslv, and had abundance of vim and courage. 
 Could he have been balanced with light shoes, he would 
 no doubt have been a faster horse and a steadier one. 
 As it was, carrying his two-pound shoes it is not to be 
 w^ondered at that he sometimes '^tangled " badly ; that 
 in long drawn out races he had to contend with un- 
 usual leg- weariness ; that for these reasons he was some- 
 what unreliable, and that he did not always as quickly 
 recover from a hard race as did those whose gait was 
 less a matter of acquirement, and who did not require 
 such weight to balance them. He was a game and 
 resolute horse, and no man ever saw a trotter that 
 would do more on his courao^e in a fio:htino^ finish than 
 Smuggler. 
 
 I last saw the grand old horse on the 5th of April, 
 1878, the day he was taken East from the Bay District 
 track. 
 
PALO ALTO AND ITS FOUNDEE. 81 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 FIEST VISIT TO PALO ALTO — SKETCH OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS 
 FOUNDER AND PROPRIETOR, LELAND STANFORD — HIS 
 GENIUS AS A HORSEMAN, HIS PURE CHARACTER, AND 
 
 HIS MUNIFICENT CHARITIES THE HISTORY OF PALO 
 
 ALTO IN BRIEF OUTLINE A SCIENTIFIC DEMONSTRA- 
 TION OF THE POSITIONS OF ANIMALS IN MOTION. 
 
 Among the horses in my stable at the Bay District 
 track during the winter of 1878 was Gen. Benton, 
 that had just been brought from Xew York State, by 
 Governor Leland Stanford, to his farm at Palo Alto. 
 He was sent to me to work during the winter, and a 
 day or two after Smuggler went away, Gen. Benton 
 was taken down to the ranch in the Santa Clara Yalley, 
 and it so happened that I went with him. The result 
 was, that "the Governor," as all conditions of people 
 in California delight to call him, engaged me to train 
 the horses at Palo Alto, on trial. I came here April 
 10, 1878, and as the reader now knows am here still, 
 and now endeavoring to tell what I have learned from 
 twelve years work and experience, and I might add 
 experiment, on the largest horse-breeding and training 
 farm m the world. 
 
 For obvious reasons, this book would be incomplete 
 without some sketch of world-famous Palo Alto and 
 its renowned founder. Senator Leland Stanford, and 
 
82 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 we will devote this chapter to that purpose as an 
 appropriate preface to what follows, concerning the 
 achievements of its horses, and the exposition of the 
 S3^steiu of training that pertains peculiarly to Palo 
 Alto. 
 
 The story of Leland Stanford is too eminently a 
 matter of common history to call for recapitulation, 
 except in the briefest manner here. In the history of 
 the development of California — and, indeed, of the 
 whole farther West, for who can estimate what the 
 Central Pacific Kailway has done ? — his name will go 
 down as that of a master spirit just as it will in the 
 small sphere of development of the national American 
 horse — the trotter. The following sketch, by a Cali- 
 fornian writer, of the proprietor of Palo Alto, is a 
 concise and brief biography which will interest every 
 reader : " Leland Stanford was born in Albany County, 
 l^ew York, on the 9th day of March, 1S24:. The alter- 
 nation of work upon the homestead farm, with study 
 at a neighboring school, after the manner of the sons 
 of intelligent and thrifty farmers in those days, con- 
 tributed to give him that well-balanced mind, keen 
 perception and perfect equipoise of faculties for which 
 he has ever been distinguished. Endowed by nature 
 with a powerful physical organization, he was, in 
 youth, somewhat impatient of purely scholastic methods, 
 which imposed too much in-door constraint upon a 
 mind linked to a body full of vigorous life, which 
 demanded a lartre deo^ree of freedom and exercise in 
 the open air. But this very impatience of confinement 
 threw wide open to him the book of nature, laid the 
 foundation for an enthusiastic love of the natural 
 
83 
 
 sciences, and made him a keen and discriminatino- 
 observer of material things ; a kind of education well 
 adapted to fit him for the great enterprises and the 
 high and responsible trusts in which he has distin- 
 guished himself. At twenty years of age, with such 
 education as he had gathered by this somewhat desul- 
 tory method, he determined upon the study of the law, 
 and entered the office of ]Vressrs. Wheaton, Doolittle & 
 Hadley, an eminent law firm in the city of Albany, in 
 the year 1845. Having completed his studies, and 
 been admitted to the bar, he resolved to seek in the 
 AYest a field for his future ])rofessional labors, and 
 finally settled at Port AVashington, Wisconsin, in 1848. 
 Two years afterward he returned to Alb my and was 
 there married to a most estimable young lady, Miss 
 Jane Lathrop, daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a merchant 
 and one of the most respected citizens of Albany. His 
 professional career in his Wisconsin home was of brief 
 duration. While practicing law at Port Washington, 
 a circumstance transpired which some will regard as 
 providential, giving an entirely new direction to his 
 thoughts and energies. A fire occurred which destroyed 
 his law library and swept away nearly all his worldly 
 possessions. The loss was severe, and to one possess- 
 ing less self-reliance would have been disheartening. 
 It served, however, its purpose, and the result was, a 
 determination on his part to join his brothers, who had 
 already emigrated to California. He reached this State 
 on the 12th day of July, 1852, and found his brothers 
 engaged in mining and trade. Without any practical 
 knowledge of either of these occupations, Mr. Stanford 
 determined, for the time, to abandon the practice of 
 
84: TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 the law and engage in business witli his brothers. 
 After prospecting at various points he finally settled 
 at Michigan Bluff, in the famous mining county of 
 Placer, wliere he remained nearly four years conduct- 
 ing, in a very successful manner, the business in which 
 lie was engaged, and making a host of friends among 
 the hardy pioneers and miners who were his principal 
 patrons. In 1S56, he removed to Sacramento, and, as 
 a partner, became actively engaged in the mercantile 
 house established by his brothers whose business had 
 grown to large proportions, they being extensively 
 engaged in importing, and having branch houses 
 scattered through the State. The magnitude of the 
 firm's transactions, the multifarious knowledge de- 
 manded and the natural aptitude of Mr. Stanford's 
 mind for the administration of affairs of importance, 
 all combined to develop and enlarge those extraordi- 
 nary powers of observation and generalization which 
 were subsequently displayed in the execution of the 
 gigantic railwa}^ projects which he undertook and 
 carried through with such energy and success. At the 
 breaking out of the civil war, Mr. Stanford was a most 
 pronounced friend of the Union. He was chosen a 
 delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1860, and voted 
 for Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate for 
 the Presidency. The acquaintance which he there 
 made with Mr. Lincoln ripened into intimacy and con- 
 fidence, and Mr. Stanford spent many weeks at Wash- 
 ington after the inauguration, and became the trusted 
 adviser of the President and his cabinet in regard to 
 the appointments for the Pacific coast. It is not 
 one of the least of Mr. Stanford's honors, that in 
 
UNITED STATES SENATOR. 85 
 
 the perilous crisis of affairs which occurred in 1860, 
 when Cahfornia was in danger of following the bad 
 example of 'the South, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward 
 regarded him as the ablest and most rehable friend of 
 the government in tfiis State, and deferred to his 
 opinion accordingly. In 1861, Mr. Stanford, contrary 
 to his wishes, w^as nominated by the Republican party 
 for Governor of California, and, while he sought no 
 political preferment, he deemed it his duty, in the dis- 
 turbed state of affairs, to sacrifice his own wishes to 
 the welfare of the State and nation. He, accordingly, 
 entered actively into the canvass and was elected by a 
 plurahty of 23,000 votes. The period was one of unex- 
 ampled difficulty of administration, but Governor Stan- 
 ford was equal to all the demands made upon him, and, 
 however great his achievements, he never seemed to 
 have exhausted his resources or to have reached his full 
 possibilities. His messages, and indeed all his State 
 papers, were characterized by sound common sense and 
 a comprehensive grasp of State and national affairs, 
 remarkable in one who had never before held office 
 under either the State or national government. At the 
 close of his term he had the satisfaction of leaving the 
 chair of state, feeling that no State of the Union was 
 more thoroughly loyal than California. 
 
 " Governor Stanford was urged to accept a renomina- 
 tion, but being then thoroughly engrossed in the con- 
 struction of the great transcontinental railway, and 
 feeling that the crisis in the history of the State which 
 had compelled his acceptance in the first instance was 
 now passed, he declined the proffered honor. At the 
 last regular session of our^ State Legislature, he was 
 
86 TRAINING THE TKO'lTING HORSE. 
 
 elected United States Senator, which high position he 
 has since filled with marked ability and to the entire 
 satisfaction of the people. His establishment and en- 
 dowment of the great Leland Stanford Junior Uni- 
 versity, Avhich bears the name of his lamented son, will 
 go down to history as an act unparalled in the annals 
 of public benefactions, and his memory will ever be 
 cherished in the hearts of a grateful people." 
 
 Governor Stanford has done, by grand example, at 
 least as much as any man living to elevate the horse- 
 breeding interest, and clothe it in that respectability 
 which by right it should wear. Passionately fond of 
 horses, he is naturally a good judge of them. He is, 
 indeed, the best judge of form and of the proper con- 
 formation for speed that I have ever known. By a 
 sort of instinct he discerns the undeveloped merit that 
 the most of us do not recognize until it is demonstrated. 
 The matter of disposition and temperament he has 
 made a study of, perhaps to a greater degree than the 
 matter of form, and his success as a breeder, and es- 
 pecially his success in matmg thoroughbred-mares with 
 trotting stallions, is due in no small degree to his 
 intuitive analysis of temperament, and careful dis- 
 crimination in blending blood with regard to mental 
 as well as to physical qualities. Not only is "the 
 Governor " an adept in judging of individual qualities 
 in horses, and of valuing blood, but his ideas on train- 
 ing have to a certain degree revolutionized that art. 
 He is, as all the world knows — and as the reader of this 
 book will better appreciate a little further on — the 
 father of the Palo Alto system of training. That 
 system is the outgrowth jpf an idea of which he was 
 
THE NEW IDEA OF TKAINIXG. 87 
 
 the author. He believed that the way to develop the 
 highest rate of speed was to work horses fast for short 
 distances, and out of that idea a new system of train- 
 ing has evolved which has given the world the 
 majority of fast records for young horses. None of 
 the old trainers would entertain the idea — old trainers 
 are not in the habit of listening to anything that seems 
 averse to their practices — but in the yearling record of 
 Norlaine, the two-year-old and three-year-old records 
 of Sunol, the four-year-old record of Manzanita, the 
 record of Palo Alto, and many other brilliant achieve- 
 ments we see the triumph of an idea. 
 
 As a man Governor Stanford is admired, or rather I 
 should say loved, the most by those who know him 
 best — who have been brought near to him in every- 
 day life. With his employes he is just and consider- 
 ate. Many a well-meaning man is in the wrong while 
 he is trying to do right, and in such a case "the 
 Governor" has the rare faculty of showing him the 
 error of his ways effectively, but without hurting even 
 the most sensitive feelings. A man's faults or mistakes 
 he will not parade in the hearing of others; and while 
 appreciative of good men will not tolerate worthless 
 ones. The great charities of Governor and Mrs. Stan- 
 ford are known from California to Maine. The grand 
 "Leland Stanford Junior University," to build and 
 endow which the greater portion of his many millions 
 will go, is a gift to the people that can never be for- 
 gotten, and one that will carry down to future genera- 
 tions the memory of those who bestowed it. The sums 
 given monthly "for sweet charity's sake" by Mrs. 
 Stanford run high up into the thousands, besides 
 
88 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 which she maintains numerous schools and kinder- 
 gartens, where the children of the poor may be trained 
 for the battle of life. 
 
 The lands owned by Governor Stanford include the 
 Palo Alto Farm of 11,000 acres, devoted to the trotting- 
 and running-horse departments, besides the beautiful 
 park and residence grounds, vineyards, etc.; the Yma 
 Ranch, on the Sacramento Eiver, of 55,000 acres, sev- 
 eral thousand of which are in vineyards where the 
 finest varieties of wine grapes, such as the Zinfandel 
 and Charbonneau, are abundantly grown; and the 
 Gridley Eanch, in Butte County, of 17,000 acres, 
 principally devoted to wheat growing. All these lands 
 are given to the Leland Stanford Junior University 
 in the grant founding and endowing that noble institu- 
 tion, which is now being built at Palo Alto,' and which 
 will cost millions to complete. 
 
 The Palo Alto farm lies partly in Santa Clara and 
 partly in San Mateo Counties, in the beautiful Santa 
 Clara Yalley, a spot almost unrivaled among all the 
 gardens of the earth. This fruitful valley, where the 
 air is tempered by the breezes from San Francisco Bay, 
 is at least the equal of any favored region of the Pacific 
 Coast in its natural advantages; and wealth and enter- 
 prise have done perhaps more for it than for any other 
 spot w4iere Pacific breezes blow. Part of the Palo 
 Alto farm adjoins the little town of Menlo Park, on 
 the Southern Pacific Bail way, an hour's ride from San 
 Francisco. The farm lies nearly all between an arm 
 of San Francisco Bay on the east, and the Southern 
 Pacific Railway on the west, and is chiefly level, the 
 western limits running into the foothills of the Coast 
 
THE PALO ALTO FARM. 89 
 
 Eange of Mountains, the ocean being only thirty-five 
 miles distant. 
 
 I came to Palo Alto when it was new and crude — 
 the first of the tracts that form the Palo Alto of to-day 
 ■only having been purchased in 1876 — and from that 
 day to this the work of improving and building has 
 never ceased, until little either in the way of useful- 
 ness or ornamentation seems to be desired. AYhile he 
 who has an eye to the practical alone can see at Palo 
 Alto every facility and every improvement for the 
 accomplishment of practical ends, the lover of nature's 
 beauties can breathe the purest air, enjoy the brightest 
 sunlight and feast his eyes on the greenest of land- 
 scapes beautified with trees and shrubbery from every 
 clime. 
 
 When I beo^an work at the new farm the track was 
 just being built, new buildings were hardiv yet 
 planned, there was only about a dozen men employed 
 on the farm, and the stud consisted of Electioneer, 
 Gen. Benton, old Mohawk Chief and about twenty to 
 twenty-five brood-mares. I little thought that this 
 begfinnino: would even, under the stimulus of Governor 
 Stanford's limitless enterprise and capital, grow into 
 the most extensive trotting-horse breeding and training 
 establishment in the world. Speaking of its dimen- 
 sions, and of the scale on which the breeding and 
 training of horses is conducted here, a writer recently 
 said : 
 
 " The writer, who is accustomed to take the measure 
 of a stock-farm in a day and review it with a fair 
 degree of comprehensiveness in a single article, finds 
 himself in deep water at Palo Alto. My first impres- 
 
90 TRAINING THE TROTTINa HORSE. 
 
 sion of Palo Alto was, that if one spent a month 
 industriously here he might, at the end of that time, 
 have a fair and intelligent conception of the trotting 
 department of the great establishment in all its details. 
 To-day, after devoting two months to the subject, I am 
 sure that my first estimate was under the mark, and 
 that I have not yet seen all that can profitably be seen, 
 nor learned all that any intelligent horseman can 
 learn. An establishment where any one of tlie several 
 training stables equals the training de])artment of any 
 ordinary large stock-farm, and where from seventy to 
 eighty trotting-horses are daily in training — where 
 upward of twenty stallions are used more or less, and 
 where the trotting-harem numbers upward of 300 
 matrons — such an establishment is not to be intelli- 
 gently inspected in a day or a week. I have seen the 
 principal stock-farms of America, and it is easy to say 
 that no two or three of them rolled into one would 
 duplicate Palo Alto ; but saying so does not adequately 
 convey an idea of the scale on w4iich Governor Stan- 
 ford's 'nursery of trotters' is conducted. In the 
 extent of his enterprise, as w^ell as in some other 
 respects. Governor Stanford is easily the first trotting- 
 horse breeder in the world." 
 
 Mohawk Chief was purchased in 1875 b}^ Governor 
 Stanford, in 'New York, and brought to Sacramento. 
 He was a son of Pj^sdj^k's Hambletonian, a horse of 
 fine proportions and style, but he has proved a failure 
 as a sire of trotters, though some of his daughters have 
 produced well, notably Sontag Mohawk, the dam of the 
 great mare Sally Benton, 2:17$, Sport, 2:22f , Eros, 2:29^, 
 etc. Then, in 1876, the young son of Hambletonian 
 
< 
 
 O 
 
 < 
 O 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
THE FOUNDATION BLOOD. 91 
 
 that is now known world-wide as the great Electioneer 
 came, and, in 1S77, Gen. Benton followed. In 1883, the 
 famous campaigner Piedmont, 2:1 Tf, son of Almont, 
 was purchased, and a few years ago Xephew, son of 
 Hambrino, 2:21^, joined Electioneer, Piedmont and 
 Gen. Benton to complete the quartette of famous 
 Palo Alto sires. At different times lots of brood- 
 mares were brought from the East, and others had 
 been purchased in California, until, with the natural 
 increment, the brood-mares now number about 300. 
 The most famous of the mares imported from the 
 East are Elaine, 2:20, by Messenger Duroc, out of 
 Green Mountain Maid, Electioneers dam; Sontag 
 Mohawk, the dam of Sally Benton ; ^orma, the dam 
 of [N'orval, 2:17i; Lady Thorn Jr., the dam of Santa 
 Glaus. 2:17i-; Sprite, by Belmont, out of the great 
 mare Waterwitch; Gazelle, 2:21, by Hambleton- 
 ian, out of Hattie Wood, by Harry Clay ; the noted 
 trotting -mares Lula, 2:15, and May Queen, 2:20, 
 Lucy, 2:1-1, the great white pacer, and many other 
 Eastern mares of note. Among those of Californian 
 origin that were brought to Palo Alto were Beautiful 
 Bells (the greatest dam of trotters, age considered, 
 that ever lived), by The Moor, out of Minnehaha, also 
 a famous producer ; Addie, the dam of Manon, 2:21, 
 and AYoodnut, 2:16^; Aurora, 2:27, by John JS^elson ; 
 Columbine, the dam of Antevolo, 2:19^, and Anteo, 
 2:164; Mayflower, 2:30^, the dam of Manzanita, 2:16, 
 and Wildflower, 2:21 ; and May Fly, 2:30^, the dam 
 of Bonita, 2:1 8^. 
 
 In this chapter I only propose to outline the found- 
 ing and history of Palo Alto, but later on in the book 
 
92 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 I will devote a chapter to some of the great horses of 
 Palo Alto, giving some sketch of each in detail. In 
 like manner I will outline the campaigns of the Palo 
 Alto horses, and in following chapters will give full 
 particulars of the training and trotting of those that 
 proved stars on the turf. 
 
 The thoroughbred department at Palo Alto is kept 
 entirely separate from the trotting department, the 
 stables, track, etc., being located about two miles east 
 of the trotting headquarters. The most noted sires 
 there are Flood and Shannon, and among the best 
 mares in the stud are imported Flirt, dam of the good 
 race-mare Gorgo and of Faustine; imported Fairy 
 Rose, dam of Shannon Rose; Glendew, the dam of 
 Guenn and Geoffrey ; Lady Evangeline, dam of Flood- 
 tide, and other mares of the richest racing-blood of 
 America and England. The superintendent and 
 trainer of the thoroughbred department is Mr. Henry 
 Walsh. 
 
 The business management of Palo Alto has been for 
 years in the hands of Mr. Ariel Lathrop, who has 
 general charge and direction of all Governor Stanford's 
 vast financial interests, and the mere mention of this 
 fact is sufficient evidence of Mr. Lathrop's business 
 capacity and upright character. 
 
 The illustration and the diagram on the opposite 
 page will give an idea of what the trotting department 
 at Palo Alto is to-day. The reader will better under- 
 stand the establishment by a comparison of the photo- 
 graphic view and the diagram, noting that the former 
 was taken, looking northwest, from a point approxi- 
 mated by the star in the left lower section of the 
 diagram, somewhat to the left of the center. 
 
94: TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 In order to accommodate it to the size of this work 
 the diagram had to be drawn on a very small scale, 
 and this must be remembered by the reader who 
 tries to form a conception of the magnitude of the 
 establishment. It will be noticed that there is a 
 mile and a three-quarter mile track, an open training 
 paddock about one tenth of a mile in circumference, 
 and a covered one about one - sixteenth of a mile 
 around. These as well as the other training appli- 
 ances will be fully described and discussed in the 
 proper place We have generally about seventy colts 
 and horses in training at Palo Alto, there being always 
 six to seven assistant trainers. In all about eighty men 
 are employed on trotters, not including the blacksmiths, 
 harness-makers, etc., farmers or Chinese laborers. 
 
 J^o sketch of Palo Alto would be complete witljout 
 some reference to Governor Stanford's great contribu- 
 tion to science, in demonstrating, through the agency 
 of the camera, the actual movements and positions of 
 animals in motion. Governor Stanford had for a long 
 time entertained the opinion that the accepted theory 
 of the relative positions of the feet of horses in rapid 
 motion was erroneous. He believed that the camera 
 could be utilized to prove that the conventional idea of 
 the positions and movements in rapid motion was 
 wrong, and that by instantaneous photographs the 
 actual position of the limbs at each instant in the 
 stride could be shown. He ens^ao^ed Mr. Muvbrido-e, 
 an expert photographer of San Francisco to conduct 
 the experiments, and by an elaborate arrangement and 
 equipment of twenty-four cameras, after many weeks' 
 work, pictures were prepared showing the relative 
 
95 
 
 position and movement of the limbs at every in- 
 stant in motion, and the actual action of the trot- 
 ting: and runnino^-horses, heretofore a matter of much 
 speculation and supposition, was with exactness and 
 certainty reduced to one of scientific truth. The pub- 
 lication of the ekiborate work detailing these experi- 
 ments — "The Horse in Motion" — caused surprise, and 
 one might say created, too, an almost painful impres- 
 sion, showing as it did that the supposed graceful mo- 
 tions of the trotter and runner were chiefly an optical 
 delusion, and that every stride or "revolution" of a 
 horse in rapid motion is an almost unbroken succession 
 of ungraceful and angular positions. 
 
 In this short chapter I have sought to outline Palo 
 Alto as it was and as it is, and though I may have 
 mentioned what may appear some unimportant mat- 
 ters, they will all, I think, assist the reader to follow 
 understandingly the chapters that follow on the cam- 
 paigns of the great horses, which will end our histori- 
 cal work and launch us into the closer discussion of 
 the art of training trotters as pursued at Palo Alto. 
 
96 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 HISTORY OF PALO ALTO CONTINUED FIRST TRIALS OF THE 
 
 PALO ALTO SYSTEM UNSUCCESSFUL REASONS THERE- 
 FOR SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON TRAINING AND 
 
 TRAINERS OCCIDENT AND ABE EDGINGTON CAMPAIGNS- 
 
 BRIEFLY OUTLINED FROM 1878 TO 1889 THE GREAT 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1886 PLANS FOR 1888 FRUSTRATED BY 
 
 FIRE FURTHER SUCCESSES. 
 
 The first horses I worked at Palo Alto were Abe 
 Edgington and the more famous Occident that had 
 made a record of 2:16f some years before. These 
 horses were at Sacramento when I came to Palo Alto, 
 but shortly were brought home. After some little 
 work on the usual plan of training, I drove Edgington 
 a mile in 2:22, and Occident worked in 2:19. 
 
 Then Governor Stanford explained to me his ideas 
 of training, fully outlining a theory, the general prin- 
 ciples of which are those now followed at Palo Alto, 
 and which is properly called "the Palo Alto system." 
 He explained the advantages he saw in the " brush 
 plan" of teaching a horse to trot fast. He did not be- 
 lieve that the best way to teach a horse speed was by 
 incessant jogging or working mile after mile in a drill- 
 ing way. On the other hand, he contended that by 
 sending a horse short distances nearly up to his limit 
 but not far enough to tire him, allowing him to get his 
 
AN UNSUCCESSFUL BEGINNING. 97 
 
 breath between clashes, he would make speed faster, 
 and do bis work with eagerness, spirit and relish. He 
 saw that speed was the great essential, and that the 
 best results would be attained b}" making speed and 
 then conditioning the horse to carr\^ it, rather than by 
 drilling him into condition without first teaching him 
 to trot at a high rate. In short, he outlined to me the 
 central features of the plan of training that is ex- 
 plained in detail in coming chapters of this work, 
 though of course years of experiment and practice have 
 modified in some details the projected system then un- 
 folded by Governor Stanford. After endeavoring to 
 give me a clear understanding of the methods he 
 wished followed, he instructed me to train Occident, 
 Edo^ino;ton and the other horses accordinHv. 
 
 This was new and rather strange to me, and I am 
 free to say that while I was determined to do the best 
 I could to carry out my employer's instructions, I had 
 very little faith in the ultimate success of the experi- 
 ment. Horse-trainers are probably the hardest men in 
 the world to teach — not because they are slow to learn 
 when they want to, but because they know so much 
 already that they cannot learn any more, and I pre- 
 sume I was no better in this respect than the majority. 
 AYe are all too apt to think that our way is necessarily 
 the best, and that no other possible plan can be better. 
 I have also, in traveling along the highway of a busy 
 life, observed that few mechanics work well with new 
 and strange tools; that we never travel a new road 
 quite so rapidly and steadily as over the beaten paths ; 
 and, moreover, it has seemed to me to be a rule that 
 when a man starts in to do a thing believing that it is 
 
98 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE, 
 
 bound to be a failure, it generally is one. The great 
 majority of men who succeed in any certain undertak- 
 ing are those who begin it with faith that they will 
 succeed. These characteristics of human nature in 
 part explain why my first essays with the new system 
 of training were almost heart-breaking failures. It is 
 my duty to detail these failures, not only as incidents 
 in the history of Palo Alto, but to point out that 
 should others try this plan of training and not at first 
 succeed, it would not be a surprising thing, and should 
 not be a discouragement. 
 
 After I had worked Occident and Abe Edgington on 
 the new plan for about ten days, instead of improving 
 on their 2:19 and 2:22 trials, it would keep them work- 
 ing all the time to trot in 2:40. Just as an}^ other 
 trainer would, I at once jumped to the conclusion that 
 this new system of training trotters was one of the 
 many pretty theories that won't do in practice. So, I 
 went back and worked the horses on the old plan, 
 which I knew something about, and got them going 
 pretty well again. But then the Governor insisted 
 that I should follow his instructions, and the new idea 
 was worked on again with the same result. The horses 
 lost their speed apparentl}^ as completely as if we had 
 worked them over soft ground in a harrow. This was 
 in September, 1878. One day Governor Stanford 
 came down to the farm to see the horses work, as 
 both had engagements that week. The best Abe 
 Edgington could do was to get to the half in 1:14, and 
 it took him 0:47 to come home from the head of the 
 stretch. Occident's trial was even worse. Then I re- 
 peated Edgington, but he was unable to do better. 
 
EAELY CAMPAIGNS. 99 
 
 Governor Stanford asked me to repeat Occident, but 1 
 succeeded in having botli the horse and myself excused, 
 until he got over that attack of "the slows." 
 
 Xow, however certain it seemed to me then that the 
 fault was all with the system, I now know that this 
 was not the true explanation of the lamentable tem- 
 porary degeneration in the speed of Abe Edgington 
 and Occident. The plan was all right, but I did'^not 
 know how to use it, and I gave the horses too much of 
 it. A man used to working horses mile heats natu- 
 rally does not think he is doing anything in quarter- 
 mile or furlong brushes, and in under-estimating the 
 amount of fast work I was really doing, the job was 
 overdone. An old horse, one that has been very 
 long trained, cannot, it must be remembered, stand 
 as much fast work as a young one can at the 
 gait he can go. A child can play until tired, and 
 after a little rest will be quite refreshed again, 
 where a man will tire and remain tired. You can 
 work a yearling colt twice a day to advantage, wlien 
 a similar system of irroixjrtionate work will stale a 
 mature horse. Once a horse develops a high rate of 
 speed, it must be remembered that he cannot stand as 
 much sharp work as one that has not reached high- 
 speeding capacity. So after I became more familiar 
 with training on the Palo Alto plan it was not neces- 
 sary for me to seek any explanation of the first unsuc- 
 cessful experiments, other than that I was working a 
 system that I did not understand, and did not know 
 how to apply with proper judgment. 
 
 When Electioneer came to Palo Alto thirteen of the 
 get of Messenger Duroc came with him, and candor 
 
100 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 compels me to say that with the exception of Elec- 
 tioneer and his half-sister, Elaine, there was nothing in 
 the lot of any great account. When I first came to 
 Palo Alto, however, Mohawk Chief was at the head 
 of the stud, and I spent two hard seasons' work in 
 trying to make trotters of his get, but I never saw one 
 that any amount of training could make even a 2:40 
 trotter of. Once it was plain to Governor Stanford 
 that Mohawk Chief was not a gifted sire of trotters. 
 Gen. Benton became lord of the harem, and when, in 
 1880, the then phenomenal performances of Fred 
 Crocker gave a slight token of Electioneer's coming 
 greatness, he became the pride of Palo Alto. Mohawk 
 Chief has long been retired to " private life." 
 
 For the purposes of this sketch of Palo Alto history 
 merely a brief recapitulation of its campaigns are 
 necessary, as the notable horses that have from time 
 to time iDrought the stable fame and prestige are dealt 
 with in their order in succeeding chapters. 
 
 The principal horses in the " string" in my first cam- 
 paign (1878), under Governor Stanford's colors, were 
 Occident and Abe Edgington. Though Occident was 
 only successful in one race, he was second to Col. 
 Lewis when that good horse made his record at Oak- 
 land, Cahfornia, going three heats in 2:18|, 2:19i, 2:21, 
 Judge Fullerton being third. 
 
 About a month later Occident beat Judge Fullerton, 
 at Sacramento, in 2:23, 2:23J, 2:22. At Santa Clara, 
 October 1st, Abe Edgington beat Doty, Coquette and 
 Frank Ferguson in straight heats, taking a record of 
 2:23J, which stands as his fastest mark. 
 
 In 1879 we did not campaign to any extent, starting 
 
WILDFLOWER AXD HINDA ROSP:. 1()1 
 
 only Occident and the brown gelding Capt. Smith, by 
 Locomotive, out of the famous mare Maid of Clay, the 
 dam of the stallion Clay, 2:25, and Carrie C, 2:24, two 
 of Electioneers get that have since distinguished them- 
 selves. We started at Sacramento, September 11th, 
 where Ca])t. Smith was beaten by Del Sur, and Occi- 
 dent by Xutwood. "We started Occident a couple of 
 weeks later, at San Jose, against Graves, and Graves 
 won in straight heats in 2:20, 2:20, 2:23. This race 
 ended the turf career of Occident. 
 
 The following year, 1880, was a busier and more 
 successful one for the stable, and it marked the debut 
 of the first of the sensational youngsters that have 
 come from Palo Alto, for in that year Fred Crocker 
 lowered the two-year-old record to 2:25 J. We also 
 campaigned Elaine, the half-sister to Electioneer, that 
 season, and gave her a record of 2:20, and with Capt. 
 Smith we beat Del Sur at Sacramento, giving him a 
 record of 2:29. In 1881 Palo Alto brought out two 
 other world-famous young performers in the yearling 
 filly Hinda Kose, and the two-year-old TTildflower, 
 daughters of Electioneer. Hinda Eose made a yearling 
 record of 2-Mi, and Wildflower a two-year-old record 
 of 2:21, and the former record stood unbeaten for six 
 years, while the latter was at the head of the list for 
 seven years. On the same day that Hinda Eose made 
 her record we gave Bonita a two-year-old record of 
 2:24^, beating all performances except Wildflower's; 
 and now the star of Electioneer was fairly started in 
 its ascendant flight toward that high pinnacle of 
 supremacy as a sire of young trotters where no rival 
 has been able to approach it. 
 
102 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 In 1882 I started East with Wildflower and Hinda 
 Rose, lea\dng Sacramento September 20th, and after 
 winning the two stakes we went after, we returned 
 home. In 1883 we again went East with Bonita, 
 Hinda Rosa, and Wildflower, and the chief triumph of 
 the campaign was Hinda Rose's lowering the three- 
 year-old record to 2:19J, and Bonita also lowered the 
 four-year-old record — 2:19, by Jay-Eye-See — to 2:18f. 
 Wildflower suffered from distemper all through the 
 season. 
 
 In 1884, owmg to the death of the bright and well- 
 beloved 3^outh, Leland Stanford, Jr., the Palo Alto 
 stable did not campaign; but as Elvira, daughter of 
 Cuyler, had taken the four-year-old honor back to Ken- 
 tucky by trotting a mile in 2:1 8|^, we took a few young- 
 sters up to the Bay District track in the autumn, and 
 besides giving Manzanita a two-year-old public trial of 
 2:25, drove the four-year-old Sallie Benton, daughter of 
 Gen. Benton, a mile in 2:17f , and thus the four-year-old 
 banner w^as pulled down from the Glenview staff, and 
 hoisted over Palo Alto, where it yet remains, with 
 "Manzanita, 2:16" blazoned on it. 
 
 In 1885, about the last of July, we shipped East a 
 strong stable of twelve trotters, among them Man- 
 zanita, Sallie Benton, Sphinx, Carrie C, Palo Alto, 
 Hinda Rose, St. Bel, Rexford and Chimes. We w^ent 
 direct to Rochester, thence to Albany, where Manzanita 
 and Palo Alto each "walked over" for stakes. At 
 Rochester two of the best strings in our bow snapped 
 when Sallie Benton and I^ellie Benton (a very promis- 
 ing mare) broke down. Among our successes were the 
 victory of Manzanita in the great three-year old race 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1886. 103 
 
 at Chicao^o, of Carrie C. over Princeton at Chicago, 
 and of Sphinx over Nutbreaker at Albany. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1886 we started East again 
 with nine car-loads of horses, eight of which were con- 
 signed to :N'ew York for sale, the other containing the 
 trotting stables, which consisted of ]Manzanita,°Palo 
 Alto, Hinda Eose, Sphinx, St. Bel. Chimes, Suisun and 
 the bay o:elding Commotion. We shipped this car 
 direct to Louisville, whence I went to Xew York. On 
 my return I found the horses all sick, and but for the 
 assistance of Dr. Coster, of the Haggin racing stable, 
 we would have fared badly. From Louisville we went 
 to Kalamazoo, where Palo Alto beat Victor and others, 
 July 29th, in straight heats; and on July 1st he 
 defeated Anniversary and five others in straight heats 
 in a good race. Xow we went to East Sagina^'w, where 
 Palo Alto beat Wilton, Lucy Fry and others, taking a 
 record of 2:2oi in the fifth heat. Manzanita was 
 second to Belle Hamhn in a fast race at the same 
 meeting. At Detroit, Wilton turned the tables on 
 Palo Alto in a grand race ; and at Cleveland the four- 
 year-old Manzanita was beaten, but not on her merits, 
 by Belle Hamlin and a strong field of other aged 
 horses. Xext we went to ATaysville, Kentucky, wh'^re 
 St. Bel took a four-year-old record of 2:21^ in his first 
 race. At Covington, Manzanita easily beat Eagle Bird 
 in a stake race, and Palo Alto defeated Tom°Pogers 
 and others after a six-heat battle; and at the same 
 place St. Bel, Suisun and Sphinx also won races. Then 
 we went to Lexington, where Manzanita beat Green- 
 Jander, trotting the third heat in 2:16, which still 
 stands as the best on record for a four-year-old. Here 
 
104 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 also Sphinx beat Castalia, and Suisun beat Ben Hur 
 and others. I^ext we went to Cleveland, where Palo 
 Alto defeated Deck Wright and other seasoned cam- 
 paigners after a six-heat contest, and St. Bel won over 
 a good field. Manzanita, Palo Alto, St. Bel and Sphinx 
 put other victories to their credit before we returned 
 to Lexington for the fall meeting. In the three-year- 
 old stake Sphinx was beaten by Bermuda and Nut- 
 breaker, and Hinda Kose was unequal to the task of 
 beating the great Patron, but Manzanita carried the 
 stable's colors to victory over Greenlander and August 
 Haverstick in the four-year-old stake. At St. Louis, 
 October 5th, St. Bel was beaten by Astral, but on the 
 7th Manzanita decisively defeated the Kentucky cham- 
 pion four-year-old. Patron, in a great race in straight 
 heats, and on the following day Palo Alto, by beating 
 Charley Hogan and others, closed what was certainly 
 a very successful season for the Palo Alto stable. The 
 greatness of Electioneer now received marked recogni- 
 tion, for Mr. Brodhead, of Woodburn, shipped with us 
 Miss Eussell (the dam of Maud S., 2:08i), two of 
 Maud S.'s sisters, a sister to Nutwood^ and the dam of 
 Pancoast to be bred to him. Though we got back 
 home only three days before the Stanford Stake was 
 trotted for, we started Kexford in that race, and beat 
 Alcazar handily. 
 
 In 1887 our stable was not in the best of condition. 
 Clifton Bell, after bemg beaten by Tempest at Sacra- 
 mento, came to the Bay District track and won a good 
 race, afterward taking a record of 2:24|^. He was a 
 four-year-old of great promise. Besides Clifton Bell 
 we gave Ansel a record of 2:20, Maiden a three year- 
 
A DISASTROUS FIRE. lUO 
 
 old record of 2:23, Alban a record of 2:2i, Carlisle a 
 record of 2:28|, and Whips a record of 2:27^. But the 
 triumph of the year \yas not with the "grown-up" 
 colts, but with a tender youngster. After the news 
 came from Kentucky that Sudie D. had lowered the 
 yearling record of Hinda Eose to 2:35| on October 
 15th, we went to work with i^orlaine (by Xorv^al, son 
 of Electioneer, out of Elaine, 2:20), and on ^November 
 12th sent them back an answer of 2:31|^ for a yearling 
 record. 
 
 A great calamity befell Palo Alto in April, 1888. 
 AYe had a formidable stable ready for the summer cam- 
 paign, when, on the night of April ITth, a destructive 
 fire broke out in the training-stable nearest the track, 
 in which were twenty -two horses, including the cream 
 of our '-string." :Xine were burned to death, viz.: 
 Rexford, 2:23 ; Clifton Bell, 2:21: ; Xorlaine, 2:31J, the 
 great yearling ; Kriss Kringle, that had gone a mile in 
 2:21:; Cedric and Lowell, three-year-olds, that could 
 both beat 2:30 in their two-year-old form ; Howard, a 
 phenomenon that I regarded as one of the greatest 
 young horses we ever had, and two geldings that had 
 beaten 2:30. Palo Alto and Arodi, by Piedmont, were 
 badly burned. Thus as strong a stable as Palo Alto 
 ever had was utterly demoralized. ^Ve had then to 
 take up a new lot of horses, including some that had 
 been turned out as not being very promising. Xot- 
 w^ithstanding this, we in 1888 lowered the two-year-old 
 record to 2:18 with Sunol and gave the following other 
 horses records : Palo Alto Belle (two-year-old), 2:28J ; 
 Azmoor, 2:21f ; Cubic, 2:28i; Ella, 2:29, and Express, 
 2:29i. 
 
106 TRAINING THE TROTTING HOESE. 
 
 The Palo Alto triumphs of 1889 are fresh in every 
 one's memory. Sunol lowered the three-year-old rec- 
 ord of the world to 2:10^, and Palo Alto trotted in 
 2:1 2i, faster than any stallion ever trotted previous to 
 1889. Express lowered his record to 2:21 ; Sport and 
 Lorita, both by Piedmont, each trotted to a record of 
 2:22i; Carlisle lowered his record to 2:26J, Marion 
 trotted in 2:26f , Arol made a record of 2:21, Emalinu a 
 record of 2:271-, Pedlar a two-year-old record of 2:27^, 
 and Del Mar a two-year-old record of 2:30. This 
 makes certainly a brilliant record for a season. 
 
SKETCHES OF FAMOUS ANIMALS. 107 
 
 CHAPTEE YIII. 
 
 SKETCHES OF FAMOUS ANIMALS TRAINED AT PALO ALTO — 
 
 THE STARS OF TEN YEARS AGO OCCIDENT THE FIRST 
 
 HORSE TO BEAT 2:17 THE STRANGE HISTORY OF HIS 
 
 SIRE OLD ST. CLAIR — ABE EDGINGTON THE HALF 
 
 BROTHERS, CLAY AND CAPT. SMITH THE GREAT MARE 
 
 ELAINE, 2:20 — FRED CROCKER, THE FIRST PALO ALTO 
 RECORD-BREAKER. 
 
 I HAVE now outlined in as brief a manner as possible 
 the general history of Palo Alto, but the scope of the 
 foregoing chapters would not admit of justice being 
 done each of the greater horses mentioned that have 
 earned world-wide fame. Every horseman will, I 
 know, be glad to have some more definite account of 
 such great horses as Palo Alto, Sunol, Manzanita, 
 Hinda Rose, etc., and I now propose to give sketches 
 of each in turn, relating their individual characteristics, 
 their breeding, their history, and important facts bear- 
 ing on their training. Though I am averse to devot- 
 ing too much of the space of this book to historical 
 writing, or to story-telling, the reader will not fail to 
 appreciate the fact that this matter is really illustra- 
 tive of our system of training, and is necessary to a 
 proper understanding of it, and of Avhat it has accom- 
 plished and can accomplish. Just as the history of 
 Smuggler had its lessons to the tr^'ner. so the history 
 
108 TRAINING THE TROTTING HOKSE. 
 
 of every one of the Palo Alto stars has had its lessons, 
 and the training of each one contributed its share in 
 showing where improvements can be learned in the 
 details of developing trotting horses. I will not, of 
 course, attempt to sketch all of the horses I have 
 trained and driven to fast records, but will confine my- 
 self chiefly to the great performers, who have made 
 themselves an enduring name in trotting history. 
 
 It being desirable in a measure to observe chrono- 
 loo'ical order, we will beo^in with the earher trotters 
 rather than with the greater ones. As already noted, 
 Occident and Abe Edgington were the first horses I 
 worked at Palo Alto, and as these horses were " made'^ 
 before they reached my hands, I must be brief with 
 them, 
 
 Occident was a brown gelding, foaled in 1863, and 
 was bred by a Mr. Shaw in the Sacramento Yalley. 
 His pedigree did not amount to much, but the blood of 
 his grandsire, St. Clair, has been made famous by such 
 trotters as Manzanita, 2:16; Bonita, 2:18^; Wildflower, 
 2:21, and Fred Crocker, 2:25i. Old St. Clair, the 
 pacer, was an "overland horse" that came across the 
 plains, from no one knows where to California in 1849. 
 He worked as a dray-horse in the streets of Sacra- 
 mento, and later as leader in a stage team, but was 
 finally, after he was foundered and good for nothing 
 else, put into the stud in that city by Mr. John Miller, 
 and was burned to death about 186-1. Besides Doc, the 
 sire of Occident, he sired Lady St. Clair that has the 
 fastest five-mile pacing record in the world — 12:541, 
 made in 1874. His son, Doc, got onlv a few foals, and 
 died on his way to Oregon r,bout twenty-five years ago. 
 
THE SIRE OF OCCIDENT. 109 
 
 Occident's dam was a little bay mare, not quite 15 
 hands high, that came probably from Lower California. 
 Occident had the usual life of a scrub with more than 
 the usual hardships, until when he was three or four 
 years old he in some way got into a '-scrub race" and 
 won it. Then a man named Eldred bef^-an traininor- 
 him, and with such good results that he became quite 
 a sensation. Finally, Governor Stanford paid about 
 $5,000 for him, and he had gone so fast that his first 
 race was against no less a competitor than Goldsmith 
 Maid. This was in October, 1872, and the Maid 
 won in straight heats. Xext he tried conclusions with 
 old Lucy, at San Francisco, and she distanced him in 
 2:20 in the second heat. The fastest heat that had ever 
 been trotted up to this time was 2:17^, made by Gold- 
 smith Maid when she defeated Lucy in September, 
 1872. In 1873 the California State Fair offered a 
 valuable piece of plate for Occident to beat this record, 
 and at the Fair at Sacramento, September 17, 1873, he 
 broke that record, trotting the mile in 2:16|. The next 
 year he was beaten by Sam Purdy, but later beat 
 Judge Fullerton, trotting the second heat of his race 
 in 2:18. Then he was taken East by Budd Doble, but 
 never started, owing to trouble with his feet. Doble 
 "Dunbared" his feet, which process consists in cutting 
 down- the foot, sole, and frog, and shoeing with the 
 shoe nailed well back on the heel, after Avhich a 
 ^'spreader," with spreading screws, is put in. He was 
 brought back, and, after a long vacation, came into my 
 hands in 1878, and won another good race against 
 Judge Fullerton, as related in the last chapter. 
 
 Occident was a mixed gaited horse, and would amble 
 
110 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 and break in the most annojang manner, and, as usual 
 with a horse so strongly indined to pace when he 
 broke, he made standstill breaks. After I had him 
 awhile I taught him to break better, and once drove 
 him a quarter, with a break in it, in thirty-three 
 seconds. He Avent a mile for me over the Palo Alto 
 track, which was forty-five feet long, in 2:19. He was 
 a little dark bay, or brown horse, weighing about 900 
 pounds, very compactly built, of pacing form, with a 
 very steep rump, a handsome head, and legs of iron. 
 He never was Occident while I had him, and Governor 
 Stanford has expressed to me his belief that had our 
 methods been followed with him Avhen young he 
 would have trotted as fast a mile as any horse of 
 our day. 
 
 The grey gelding Abe Edgington was an Ohio bred 
 horse. He was by Stockbridge Chief Jr., a grandson 
 of Vermont Black Hawk. His first notable perform- 
 ance was at San Francisco, May 11, 1875, in a match 
 with the brown gelding Defiance, by Chieftain. This 
 horse had made a pacing record of 2:171 two years 
 before, and had then been put to trotting, and in the 
 sprmg of 1875 was matched against Edgington for 
 $10,000 a side. Defiance was beaten, though he won 
 the first heat in 2:21^, and the third in 2:29. Governor 
 Stanford, I understand, paid a long price for Edging- 
 ton — $20,000 it was said to be. Doble took him East 
 when he took Occident, and had better luck with him, 
 winning two or three good races, and once beating 
 among others the fast mare Belle Brasfield. I have 
 already detailed what he did after I went to Palo Alto 
 in 1878. 
 
CAPT. SMITH AND CLAY. Ill 
 
 Abe Edgington was a peculiar sort of horse to train. 
 He (lid best with about thirteen ounces on his front 
 feet, though he could trot faster with eight, but could 
 not get away fast. Hence he was at a disadvantage in 
 startinof. When he came into mv hands he was in 
 about as bad condition as a horse could be to prepare, 
 and we experimented on him with the new system of 
 training before we understood how to apply that 
 system. So some allowances must be made, and I will 
 here say that though his record is only 2:23f , I have 
 always believed that Edgington was the superior of 
 Occident as a race-horse. He was an iron-gray, sixteen 
 hands high, and would turn the scale at 1,050 pounds 
 when in good shape. He was a stoutly-built horse, 
 high at the wither and up-headed and lofty in carriage, 
 and, as 4^ show-horse or " parader," would attract 
 marked attention anywhere. He was used m Governor 
 Stanford's photographic work, illustrating the actual 
 movements of the fast trotting-horse. 
 
 Capt. Smith, the brown gelding by Locomotive, out 
 of Maid of Clay, was a much faster horse than his 
 record indicates, but he became a bad puller, and little 
 could be done with him. We drove this horse a quar- 
 ter close to thirty-one seconds, and a mile in 2:21 as a 
 four-year-old, but this clip made his head swim. The 
 onh^ race he ever won was against Del Sur, at Sac- 
 ramento, September 21, 1880, and there are certain 
 things connected with that race that fastens it pretty 
 securely in my mind. We won it finally, but, as Splan 
 would say, I had to " hustle " all I knew how to get there. 
 Capt. Smith won the first heat in 2:29, and then Del 
 Sur cut loose and won the second and third in 2:25 and 
 
J 12 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 2:28. The betting was now $100 to $8 against Capt. 
 Smith, and the prospect looked rather shady. In the 
 next heat I hiid Capt. Smith right on Del Sur's wheeJ. 
 and stuck "closer than a brother" to him for about 
 seven- eighths of the mile. Then I pulled the Captain 
 out, and cariying Del Sur to a tired break, just won in 
 2:32. Now consternation reigned around the pool-box. 
 Strong influence was brought to bear on me not to win 
 the deciding heat — influence not from the Del Sur peo- 
 ple, but from parties who had " got into the box " the 
 wrong way, and who, though it was their duty to look 
 after Governor Stanford's interests, endeavored, by 
 coaxing and threatening, to have me allow the I*alo 
 Alto horse to be beaten. I told these gentlemen that 
 if they wanted to save their mone\^, and could not 
 " hedge," I failed to see any help for them unless night 
 or "something else would suddenly come and cause a 
 postponement. Del Sur was not a game horse, and I 
 had not much trouble in beating him in the last heat. 
 
 The gelding Cla}^ was a half brother to Capt. Smith, 
 being by Fred Low (or St. Clair, 656, as he is recorded), 
 out of Maid of Clay. He was a little black fellow that 
 would not weigh more than 710 pounds, but he was a 
 much faster horse than Capt. Smith. Judigiously 
 handled, 2:20 would not have stopped him, but we gave 
 him too much fast work against the watch. Like 
 Capt. Smith, he became an inveterate puller— one of 
 the kind that would look the driver square in the face. 
 He won a few good races for the farm, and took a 
 record of 2:25iin 1881. 
 
 Elaine was another trotter whose career was marred 
 by that generally incurable fault — pulling. This mare 
 
THE GREAT ELAINE. 113 
 
 was bred by Mr. Charles Backman, at Stony Ford,Xew 
 York, and was got by ]\[essenger Duroc, out of Green 
 Mountain Maid, the dam of Electioneer. When Gover- 
 nor Stanford bought Electioneer and a number of 
 others from Mr. Backman in 1ST6, the brown filly 
 Ekiine was among them, and for her he gave ST,000. 
 She did not come to California with the others, but 
 was left in Carl Burr's hands. Burr worked her easily 
 through the winter of 1ST6-TT, and fitted her for her 
 eno^aofement the followino^ summer. At Hartford, in 
 September, 1S7T, in a three-year-old stake, she dis- 
 tanced her field in the second heat in 2:28, thus break- 
 ing the three-year-old record. A year later, Burr gave 
 her a record of 2:21J, making the four-year-old record 
 of that da}^ She then came home to Palo Alto. We 
 did not work her much as a five-year old, she having 
 injured her leg by stepping in a gopher hole. She 
 developed into a mare of fine size, standing about 15.2, 
 and of good form, with a great deal of natural speed. 
 In her six-year-old form — 1880 — Ave started her at San 
 Francisco, September 22d, against Gibraltar, Reliance, 
 and Echora, and won in straight heats in 2:21J, 2:22|-, 
 2:21. At San Jose, October 6th, she beat Bateman 
 and Brigadier in a better race. Time — 2:2nf, 2:21|^, 
 2:21^. I should here state that she was not an abso- 
 lutely^ sound mare in these races, nor in the one with 
 Santa Claus to which I am about to refer. In 1879 I 
 worked her a fast half, and not wishing to send her 
 right up to her limit, I twice took her back in the trial, 
 but still she covered the distance in 1:05 flat, xlfter 
 tliis one of the rear flexor tendons gave way, and 
 though we kept her up pretty well the two races just 
 
Ill TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 mentioned had their effect, and when she started 
 against Santa Clans, November 13th, she was lame, 
 and wore a rubber bandage to support the strained 
 ligament. Still she made Santa Glaus trot five heats 
 to win. The time of the race shows that it was a good 
 one— 2:20, 2:18, 2:20^, 2:18^, 2:20— Elaine Avinning the 
 first and third heats. Santa Glaus was a good race- 
 horse, and it took a good horse nine years ago to force 
 one of his class to trot five heats averao^ing' better than 
 2:20. Elaine was a very rapid-gaited mare, and had, 
 as I have shown, a world of speed, but her propensity 
 for pulling on the bit made it difficult, and, indeed, 
 impossible to properly control that speed, and so dis- 
 tribute or rate it over a mile as to show by the 
 figures of a mile record just what her capacity 
 was. She was somewhat peculiar in her gait. She 
 might be going well and fast, and you could 
 chirrup to her and she would respond, but the 
 increase in her speed would be so gradual that she 
 would have gone perhaps a hundred yards before 
 you could detect that she had quickened her pace, but 
 by that time it would be terrific speed. Her increase 
 of speed was almost imperceptible, like the gradual 
 gain of a wheel gathering speed from its own 
 momentum. Elaine has better legs than the most of 
 the Messenger Duroc family, and, barring Electioneer, 
 was b}^ far the best of Governor Stanford's purchases 
 from Mr. Backman. Her daughter, the fleet and 
 beautiful, but ill-starred Norlaine, had not exactly her 
 action, but we have, at Palo Alto, in Anselma, a 
 daughter of Ansel's and her's, a young mare gaited 
 exactly like Elaine. 
 
FRED CROCKER. 115 
 
 Even in tnese fast days two-year-olds that can trot; 
 in 2:25^ are rather scarce, and when we remember that 
 the record of 2:31, which So So made at Lexington, 
 Kentucky, in 1877, stood unchallenged for three 
 years, it is easy to understand the sensation made by 
 Fred Crocker and Sweetheart in ISSO, for untd that 
 3'ear no one had ever seen a two-3^ear-Gld that could 
 beat 2:30. 
 
 Fred Crocker was foaled March 23, 1S7S, the son of 
 Electioneer, and Melinche, a mare by old Saint Clair, 
 whose history we have already referred to. He was a 
 well-shaped bay colt, and has developed into a tall and 
 stout good-looking horse. I broke him in the winter 
 of 1880, little having been previously done with him, 
 as Governor Stanford had decided not to trot any colts 
 under three years of age. The summer previous he 
 and Eentonian, son of Gen. Benton, had shown the 
 best of all our yearlings lot-trotting, and it was exer- 
 cising these youngsters in this way that we first 
 thought of the idea of the miniature track that has 
 since plaved so great a part in our system of training. 
 At the proper place the evolution of this " kinder- 
 garten" will be fully related. In the spring of 1880, 
 the directors of the California State Fair advertised a 
 stake race for two-year olds, and then Governor Stan- 
 ford reconsidered his resolution about not trotting 
 colts under three years old. AYe pitched upon Fred 
 Crocker as the most likely one of our two-year-olds to 
 represent the farm in the stake, and, on June 5th, I 
 began preparing the young gelding for the event. I 
 found that he could brush fast, but could not go a 
 quarter faster than forty-five seconds. I worked him 
 
116 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 along on a sort of compromise between the old and 
 the new way of training colts, very seldom working 
 full miles, but giving him a good manj^ fast halves, and 
 under this treatment he progressed very well, but not 
 so fast as we have since brought along youngsters 
 whose early education was more intelligently directed. 
 Tlie race was advertised for September 15th, at Sacra- 
 mento. We were not over-confident, for we knew that 
 Mr. L. J. Eose's filly Sweetheart, by Sultan, had 
 trotted in 3:07 as a yearling, and the reports of the 
 doinofs of the Los An oleics mare were verv favorable. 
 She won the stake in straight heats— 2:31|, 2:32J — 
 but Crocker gave her a good race, and in the esti- 
 mation of many the second heat should have been, 
 awarded to him. The next dav — the same day that 
 Capt. Smith beat Del Sur, as already related — Mr. 
 Eose sent his great mare against So So's tw^o-3^ear-old 
 record (2:31), and she beat it handsomely in 2:26^, and 
 all California w^as fired with honest pride, for a Cali- 
 fornian youngster had beaten the two-year-old record 
 of the world, and those who foretold the great possi- 
 bilities of the State as a horse-breeding region felt that 
 their arguments had been eloquently and conclusively 
 vindicated. It was a great day for the flowery land 
 south of the Sierra Madre range — a great day for the 
 San Gabriel farm, for the popular Mr. Eose, and for 
 Sultan. And w^hile w^e of the Palo Alto neighborhood, 
 believing that California should have the tw^o-year-old 
 record, rejoiced and were proud of Sweetheart's per- 
 formance, we still thought that the record-holder 
 should hail from the Santa Clara valley, rather than 
 the San Gabriel Valley, and accordingly set to work to 
 
CHAMPION TWO-YEAR-OLD. 117 
 
 eclipse Sweetheart's triumph. We were handicapped 
 by Crocker's having a bad leg, and we had to proceed 
 cautiously ; and finally the leg gave way altogether, 
 but not until he had done what was asked of him. So, 
 on the day that Elaine raced with Santa Claus, we 
 started Crocker to beat 2:30, and he did it in 2:28^, and 
 a week later — November 20th — he started to beat 
 2:28J, and not only did that, but broke Sweetheart's 
 record, trotting the mile at the third attempt in 2:25^, 
 and he was at once the sensation of the day. Palo 
 Alto had achieved its first great triumph as a " nursery 
 of trotters," and Electioneer had given thus early an 
 earnest of what he would accomplish with time and 
 opportunity as a producer of phenomenal trotting- 
 speed. Still no one dreamed then that the triumphs 
 of Palo Alto would be what they have been — no one 
 dreamed that Fred Crocker was a forerunner of that 
 glorious host of record-breakers that have so irresisti- 
 bly demonstrated the greatness of its blood and the 
 fitness of its methods of breeding and training. 
 
118 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GREAT TRIO, WILDFLOWER, BONITA AND HINDA ROSE 
 
 WILDFLOWER, THE TWO-YEAR-OLD CHAMPION OF HER 
 DAY BONITA A GREAT TWO-YEAR-OLD, AND CHAM- 
 PION FOUR-YEAR-OLD HINDA ROSE, CHAMPION YEAR- 
 LING AND CHAMPION THREE-YEAR-OLD OF HER TIME 
 
 HER GREAT CAMPAIGN OF 1883 HOW SHE WAS SHOD 
 
 AND BALANCED THE CAREER OF THE FASTEST YOUNG 
 
 TROTTERS THAT HAD YET BEEN PRODUCED A STORY 
 
 OF RECORD-BREAKING BY PALO ALTO COLTS HINDA 
 
 rose's famous brother, ST. BEL HIS PURE GAIT, 
 
 AND HIS RESOLUTE PERFORMANCES. 
 
 The next two year-old sensation after Fred Crocker 
 was the bay filly Wildflower, by Electioneer, out of 
 Mayflower, by St. Clair. Mayflower was an old-time 
 California trotter herself, having a record of 2:30^, and 
 besides Wildflower, she produced the famous mare 
 Manzanita, who holds the four-^^ear-old record of the 
 world. Wildflower was foaled March 23, 1879. Al- 
 though I did not handle her in her babyhood or drive 
 her to her record, I studied her in all her work, and 
 became very thoroughly acquainted Avith her after- 
 ward. Wildflower had perhaps as much natural speed 
 as any animal bred at Palo Alto, and great as was her 
 two-year-old achievement, it was hardly made under 
 the most favorable auspices. Wildflower was not 
 judiciously worked in her two-year-old form — indeed, 
 
119 
 
 she was greatly overworked — and it is but fair to say 
 that she had never shown anything to warrant the ex- 
 pectation that she would beat Fred Crocker's record. 
 Indeed her doing so was a genuine surprise to all, and 
 to none more than her driver. But owing to bad 
 weather and other causes she got just the rest she 
 needed, and was fresh and full of speed when the hour 
 of trial came. This was the 22d of October, 1881, at 
 the Bay District Track, San Francisco. She was 
 driven by Henry MacGregor, and he drove her with 
 much patience and excellent judgment. She took the 
 word at the first score, went to the quarter in 0:35^; 
 to the half in 1:09|^ ; made the third quarter in 0:35^, 
 and finished m 2:21 — thus handsomely beating the two- 
 year-old by four and a quarter seconds, and setting a 
 mark that the world aimed at in vain for seven years, 
 and that was not beaten until another Palo Alto filly — 
 Sunol — did it in 1888. 
 
 My first trip from Palo Alto, aiming at conquest on 
 Eastern tracks, was with Wildflower and Hinda Eose, 
 in 1882. AVe started the former at Fleetwood Park, 
 New York, October 5, 1882, in a three-year-old stake 
 worth winning against Meander, by Belmont, Senator 
 Sprague, Lucy Walters, and Ernest Maltravers. She 
 won the first heat very easily in 2:32. Maltravers 
 Avas then drawn, and in the second heat, which 
 Wildflower won in 2:2Ti, Lucy Walters and Sena- 
 tor Sprague were distanced. Meander getting second 
 money. This is the only race that Wildflower ever 
 trotted. She had no further enD:ao:ements in the 
 East that year, and after Hinda Rose iiad filled hers 
 we returned home, i'he next spring when we again 
 
120 TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 crossed the mountains Wildflower got down with dis- 
 temper, from which she has never recovered and the 
 evidence of which she will always carry. She broke 
 out in sores, which have left their scars, and the 
 membranes of the nostrils were so affected that she 
 " whistles " in her ordinary breathing. This attack 
 Avas very unfortunate, for we expected — and had a 
 right to expect — brilliant things of Wildflower in her 
 maturer years. She was a great mare after the Fleet- 
 wood race, and could most undoubtedly have pla\^ed 
 with any three year-old of her year. She was a pure- 
 gaited, easy-going mare, had abundant natural speed, 
 and was game and resolute. She would respond to 
 the extent of her abihty to every call. She is now a 
 fine-looking brood-mare, and has alread}^ given evidence 
 that it is not unreasonable to expect that some of her 
 children will be as great as herself. 
 
 The little mare Bonita was another wonderfully fast 
 two year-old, and, more fortunate than Wildflower, 
 encountered nothing to prevent her training on "to 
 greater things." She was foaled May 21, 1879, and is 
 bred in lines of blood almost identical to those of 
 Wildflower and Manzanita, being by Electioneer, out 
 of Mayfly, 2:30i, by St. Clair. Mayfly was, like May- 
 flower, among the fastest Calif ornian trotters of twenty 
 years ago, and it is something of a coincidence that 
 these two daughters of St. Clair, great trotters in their 
 day and with records almost equal, should each in her 
 turn produce, by the one sire, a daughter to break the 
 four-year-old record of the world. It is only another 
 proof that speed is not accidental, but an inherent 
 quality of the blood. Though from the loins of Elec- 
 
THE FAST LITTLE BONITA. 121 
 
 tioneer greatness has sprung in all places and flour- 
 ished in all directions, the success, in a speed-producing 
 sense, of the combination of his blood with that of 
 these trotting-daughters of old St. Clair has been most 
 striking, and has brought the name of the plebeian 
 old-timer out of the obscurity that would have forever 
 enveloped it but for the speed of Electioneer's gifted 
 daughters — Manzanita, Bonita and AYildflower. 
 
 Bonita Avas worked in her younger days by Henry 
 McGregor, and shortly after Wildflower took her 2:21 
 record, Bonita made a two-year-old record of 2:24|, 
 thus placing the first, second and third fastest two- 
 year-old record to the credit of Palo Alto. Had 
 Bonita accomplished this hefore Wildflower trotted in 
 2:21 it would have made a great sensation ; but good 
 as her performance was, it was made under the shadow 
 of the dazzling feat of Wildflower. The glamor thrown 
 around the latter's achievement made the record of the 
 former seem somewhat commonplace, and the applause 
 was measured accordingly. Whether you are first or 
 second makes all the difference in the world. 
 
 I worked Bonita as a three-year-old, but did not 
 start her that year, I being most of the season in the 
 East with Hinda Rose and Wildflower. But she was 
 taken East, in 1883, in company with the mares just 
 named, and, after an unsuccessful start against Eva and 
 others, at Chicago, had a walk-over at Hartford, for a 
 four-year-old stake, October l:th. The day was bad 
 and no attempt was made to go a fast mile, but Bonita 
 showed the public a quarter in thirty-one and three- 
 fourths seconds. The four-year-old record of 2:19 that 
 had been made by Ja\^-Eye-See still stood, and, as 
 
122 TRAINING THE TROTTING HjRSE. 
 
 Bonita had now rounded to, I determined to send her 
 against it. 
 
 This was done at the Lexington meeting October 
 11th, and the rapid httle mare beat old Father Time 
 in fine style in 2:18i, thus putting another best on-record 
 to the credit of the Electioneers. As already stated 
 our horses did not campaign in ISS-l, nor did we start 
 Bonita in 1885, though she was kept in training. In 
 the spring of 1886 she was sold to Colonel Lawrence 
 Kipp, of New York, and in due time went into the 
 hands of my friend, James Golden, of Boston, who 
 campaigned her down the Grand Circuit in the 2:19 
 class, where she encountered such good race-horses as 
 Arab, Mambrino Sparkle and Oliver K. She won at 
 Alban}-, beating Felix and Billy Button in 2:21, 2:20i, 
 2:19i, and at Hartford she defeated Charles Hilton, 
 'Charley Hogan, William Arthur and Felix in straight 
 heats in 2:22^^, 2:18^, 2:20f, thus lowering her record a 
 fraction. Later she was sold to Mr. Shults, of Park- 
 ville, and campaigned, but with no success, and as, 
 indeed, none of the Parkville horses have been very 
 successful, it may be that Bonita, a difficult mare to 
 train and manage at best, and a somewhat " sour " one, 
 did not take kindly to the training at the big Long 
 Island Farm. 
 
 Hinda Rose was our first youngster that earned 
 fame at the early period of yearling form. She was 
 foaled February 22, 1880, and is a brown mare, by 
 Electioneer, out of Beautiful Bells, 2:29^, by The Moor, 
 the sire of Sultan. Beautiful Bells, all things consid- 
 ered, is the greatest producer of speed that ever lived. 
 Four of her get are in the 2:30 list, and two of them— 
 
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HOW HIND A ROSE WAS WOKKED. 12'3 
 
 Bell Bo}^ and Hinda Rose — beat 2:20 in their three 
 3^ear old form, while another — Palo Alto Belle — has a 
 three-year-old record of 2:22^. The dam of Beautiful 
 Bells was Minnehaha, the dam of Sweetheart, and four 
 others in the 2:30 list ; so our filly was bred well enough 
 for a world-beater to begin with. She was well broken 
 earh^, and in her yearling form I began working her. 
 Her serious training began Jul}^ 5, 1881 ; I had now 
 gotten well into the Palo Alto system of training, and 
 could work " the new fangled ideas " pretty skillfully. 
 She was worked on the method described in cha]:)ters 
 further on, until Xovember 5th, the date of her first 
 public performance. The yearling record was then 
 2:56f , and at the Bay District Track a set of harness 
 was offered to yearlings to trot against this record. 
 The first trial was made by the filly Pride, by Bucca- 
 neer, owned by Count Yalensin, and driven by John 
 Goldsmith, who has since handled Guy Wilkes, Sable 
 Wilkes, and other horses so successfully for Mr. Cor- 
 bitt. Pride made the mile in 2:11^. I then drove 
 Hinda Rose and she went from wire to wire in 2:13|^. 
 On the 21:th we gave her another trial, when she went 
 in 2:36|-, and this stood as the yearling record until 
 1888, when it was lowered successfully by the Ken- 
 tucky filly, Sudie D, and our lost Palo Alto star, Xor- 
 laine. In her two-year-old form Hinda Rose was quite 
 Tinsteady. She had carried a nine-ounce shoe as a year- 
 ling, and in her first easy work as a two-\^ear-old I 
 began with her barefooted, the only weight she carried 
 being her quarter boots. Then she was lightly shod, 
 and still acting as tho^igh she wanted more weight to 
 balance her, I kept increasing until she carried eighteen 
 
124 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 ounces. She, as I have said, acted unsteadily, and the 
 then superintendent of Palo Alto declared that the 
 fault was in her head, that her dam was rattle-headed^ 
 and that before Hinda Kose ever amounted to any- 
 thing the driver would have to furnish her with "a 
 new set of brains." My next experiment was to take 
 off the shoes, and drive her barefooted awhile. Then 
 I put on eight-ounce shoes, and fixed her out with 
 three-ounce toe-weights. I would jog her about two- 
 miles, and when ready to speed would put on the toe- 
 weights. I had no more trouble with her after this,, 
 and she was trained successfully in this wa}^ without 
 performing an}^ operation on her brain. According to 
 the old-fashioned rule, I should have kept on piling on 
 weight, but when I got up to eighteen ounces I con- 
 cluded that we had got past the right point, and would 
 have to 0*0 back and start over ao^ain. More horses are 
 suffering from carrying too much weight than from 
 carrying too little weight. 
 
 I took Hinda Kose East in 1882, as she was engaged 
 in a stake race at Lexington. She had a good field 
 against her, those that afterward became most noted 
 being Fugue, 2:17^, by King Kene; Early Dawn, 2:21^^ 
 Wilkes Boy, 2:21:i, and Lizzie Wilkes, 2:22f, a great 
 ao^crreo^ation of Wilkes talent. I need not take up the 
 reader's time in details of the race. Fugue won the 
 first heat in 2:36i, distancing two of the field, Lexing- 
 ton AViikes and Strathblane. Then Hinda Eose went 
 on and won the second heat in 2:32, distancing all but 
 Fugue, and in the deciding heat she easily beat Fugue 
 in the same time, 
 
 Hinda Rose opened her campaign of 1888 at Chi- 
 
HIND A ROSE AND ELVIRA. 125 
 
 cago, July 20th, starting for the Ashland Stakes, for 
 three -year-olds, against the great Glenview mare 
 Elvira, by Cuyler, and Major MacDowelFs Fugue. 
 Hinda won the race in straight heats without much 
 trouble. She moved a trifle lame before the race, but 
 won the first heat from Fugue in a jog in 2:31^, the 
 track being heavy. Elvira made a bid for the second 
 heat, but could not drive Hinda Rose out faster than 
 2:29f, which, however, left Fugue outside the flag. 
 The third heat we won very easily from Elvira in 
 2:31J. Hinda Rose's next race was at Cynthiana, 
 Kentucky, where she again easily beat Fugue, in an 
 uneventful contest ; and at Lexington, a week later, she 
 won the Mechanical Stakes in straioht heats, beatino: 
 Fugue, Lizzie Wilkes and Early Dawn, trotting the 
 third heat in 2:23 We had Hinda Rose entered in the 
 three-year-old stake, worth 82,500, of the Xational 
 Breeders' Association, so we now journeyed Xorth to 
 Hartford, Connecticut, to win it. The fastest three- 
 3^ear-old record at this time was 2:21, made by Phil 
 Thompson, at Chicago, in 1S81. As Hinda Rose was 
 now rounding into great form, I determined to send her 
 against that record at Hartford. It so happened that 
 no other three-year-old cared to meet her for the rich 
 stake, and she had a walk-over ; but the public knew 
 better after the walk-over than before it that there was 
 no three-year-old on the turf that could give Hinda 
 Rose a race. The day, October 3d, was raw, cold and 
 windy, the track heavy and damp in spots, and the 
 conditions not at all favorable for record-breaking. She 
 trotted the first quarter in thirty-four seconds, went to 
 the half in 1:10, and, though meeting a strong wind 
 
126 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 when she turned into the stretch, she made the second 
 half as fast as the first, finishing the mile without a 
 skip or a falter in 2:20. In the full flush of this honor 
 she went to Lexington, and on October 10th eclipsed 
 her own performance. AVilkes Boy and Fugue started 
 against her in the stake for three-year-olds at this 
 meeting. It is not necessary to take much space to 
 tell so short a story even though the race resulted in 
 putting on record a mark that stood unbeaten for four 
 3^ears. The first two heats she had only an exercise 
 jog in 2:2Si and 2:32, but in the third heat I drove her 
 for a record, and she trotted the mile in 2:19^, Wilkes 
 Boy and her old enemy Fugue being distanced. Fugue 
 was a good mare, but she could never meet Hinda 
 Rose at any time or place but she met her master. 
 
 With this race Hinda Kose finished her campaign of 
 1883 in a blaze of glory. She had won everything she 
 started for durmg the year, never being beaten a 
 single heat, and outclassing everything of her age in 
 the East. 
 
 Hinda Rose did nothing in public in 1884 beyond 
 trotting a mile in 2:20^ at San Francisco in an unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to beat Elvira's four-year-old record of 
 2:18^, which we, after failing with Hinda Rose, suc- 
 ceeded in beating witn Sallie Benton. Though Hinda 
 Rose was in our stable in the East in 1885 she was 
 never ready to start, and in 1886 she only started once, 
 at Lexington, October 1st, where she, in company with 
 Tom Rogers, C. F. Clay and Olaf, was beaten by 
 Patron ; but the defeat was handsomely avenged a 
 few days later at St. Louis by her stable-companion 
 Manzanita, when, in a great race, she defeated Patron 
 
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 w 
 
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 C 
 
 
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 C/2 
 
 
THE BLACK COLT ST. BEL. 127 
 
 for the champion four-year-old honors. Hinda Eose 
 was not herself either in 18S5 or 1886, showing symp- 
 toms of breaking down, which precluded a proper 
 preparation. Indeed, as in the case of Wildflower, 
 though of course to a much smaller extent, distemper 
 left its permanent effect on Hinda Eose. We have 
 waited and worked patiently but vainly with this great 
 mare in recent seasons, hoping that she would stand 
 training again, beheving that if she could be thor- 
 oughly prepared she would trot to a record "not far 
 from the head." 
 
 The black colt St. Bel was the third member of the 
 Beautiful Bells family in point of age, and was the 
 next after Hinda Eose to earn distinction on the turf. 
 I broke him at eight months old, and had him going 
 nicely for his age, when I went East in 1883 with 
 Hinda Eose, Bonita and AVildflower. On returning, I 
 found him and Manzanita somewhat broken up, and 
 both were some time in ''roundino^ to" ao^ain. He did 
 not make his first public appearance until 1885, in 
 which year he accompanied the stable in its Eastern 
 campaign. His maiden race was on a muddy track in 
 the "JN'ational Trotting -Stallion Stakes for foals of 
 1882," at Albany, September 14th, and he won it easily 
 in straight heats, quite outclassing his only opponent, 
 and not having to go faster than 2:45 to win. This 
 was his only start in 1885, but he was a colt that 
 took his work well and showed steady improve- 
 ment, and was quite a "bread-winner" in our sta- 
 ble the following season, although he contracted a 
 severe cold crossing the mountains that year. Hi& 
 initial race was at Maysville, Kentucky, August 18th, 
 
12S TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 ill the 2:35 class, and there were among others in 
 the field Baron Wilkes, Strathblane, Oriana and 
 Guitar, that are all performers of good reputation. 
 St. Bel won in straight heats, trotting the first heat in 
 2:2Sf, the time of the other heats being 2:30 and 2:31. 
 Two days later he started in the 2:27 class, the best 
 material in the field against him being iistral, that has 
 now a record of 2:18, and Olaf, present record 2:22. 
 St. Bel had not shown liking for trotting in compan3\ 
 He suffered all summer from the effects of his cold 
 and lacked education especialh^ in scoring. He would 
 break badly in starting, and as a temporary expedient 
 I put a little weight on him and it did steaih^ him, but 
 took away some of his speed. Olaf won the first and 
 second heats in 2:23, 2:21^, St. Bel second in each, and 
 in the third heat St. Bel beat Olaf to the wire in 2:2-11, 
 but the latter won the deciding heat in 2:22f . On the 
 25th, St. Bel easily beat a field of six in the 2:35 class 
 at Covington, in straight heats, in 2:27f, 2:29, 2:29. 
 Three days later he got third place in a field of ten, 
 the winner being the feay gelding Clipper. It was a 
 five-heat race, and St. Bel did better in the last heats 
 of the race than at the beginning for he was always 
 resolute. Greenlander won the first heats in 2:24^, 
 2:25, St. Bel being seventh and eighth. The third heat 
 Clipper won in 2:23^, Greenlander second, and St. Bel 
 fourth. In the fourth and fifth heats St. Bel beat 
 Greenlander out, finishing second in each. He did 
 himself credit, for though he had scarcely speed enough 
 that day, he showed great stamina. The horse that 
 fights a game and determined losing battle meets the 
 true race-horse test. In his next race St. Bel demon- 
 
ST. BEL SOLD. 129 
 
 strated that he was a stayer in a still more emphatic 
 manner. This was at the Cleveland Fall Meeting, 
 September loth, when we started him against a strong 
 field of aged horses in the 2:25 class. St. Bel was only 
 four years old, while with the exce]:)tion of Issaquena, 
 five years old, the others ranged from seven up, and 
 with a single exception everv one has a record faster 
 than 2:24, Hiram Miller, 2:22f, and Billy, 2:23f, mak- 
 ing their records that day. Hiram Miller won the 
 first heat in 2:23f ; Lottie K, second ; Hunter, third ; 
 Wallace, fourth ; Mambrinette, fifth ; St. Bel, sixth, 
 and Little Billy, Issaquena and Justina bringing up the 
 rear. Little Billy won the next heat in 2:27^, and in 
 the third heat St. Bel drove him out in 2:23|. Then 
 St. Bel went on and beat his field gallantly in 2:25, 
 2:25, 2:25i, outlasting and outtrotting them all at the 
 end. The next day it was raining when a gentleman 
 and lady came to our stables to look over the horses. 
 They were Mr. J. C. Sibley, of Franklin, Pa., and 
 Mrs. Sible}", and having been in California the conver- 
 sation turned on Electioneer. In speaking of his sons 
 I said : "I think St. Bel will make a great stock horse," 
 and referred to his exceptionally good action. When 
 my visitors left I had no idea that they thought of buy- 
 ing St. Bel, but shortly after the purchase was made, 
 and Mr. Sibley secured him for $10,000 — perhaps the 
 best bargain that ever went from the Palo Alto 
 stables. 
 
 From Cleveland we went to Albany, where St. Bel 
 had a walk-over, and then made our way southwest 
 again for the great St. Louis Fair, where our stable 
 had important engagements. St. Bel started, October 
 
130 TRAINING THE TEOTTING HORSE. 
 
 5th, in the 2:25 class, against Astral, Alert, Consul and 
 other seasoned campaigners. Astral and Alert were 
 the favorites, and the former won the first heat in 
 2:22 J. In the second heat Astral and Almont led into 
 the stretch, but St. Bel finished strong on the winner's 
 wheel in 2:2 J:, Almont getting the heat ; and the third 
 heat St. Bel beat Alert home in 2:25. I drove for the 
 next head and led to the turn into the stretch where 
 St. Bel made a wild break and lost a great deal of 
 ground, but he went fast after he got his feet again, 
 finishing second to Astral in 2:22^, and the big mare 
 just beat him out in a driving finish in the last heat 
 in 2:23. 
 
 St. Bel is a handsome black horse, a trifle under the 
 medium size, but verv compact, stoutly muscled and 
 highly finished. He is one of the purest gaited, and, 
 perhaps, the most perfectly balanced horse that I ever 
 sat behind, and, as for his speed, I can say that I think 
 I have ridden behind him as fast as I ever rode in a 
 sulkj^ He wore ten-ounce shoes in front as a rule. As 
 I have already mentioned, St. Bel could never do him- 
 self full justice in his last campaign. He developed a 
 splint that season which made us cautious, and inter- 
 fered with his training, and, besides, he suffered all 
 the season from the effects of a cold contracted in 
 crossing the mountains. Though, for these reasons, 
 he could not do himself full credit in the matter of 
 speed alone, his gameness and resolution made it neces- 
 sar}' for another horse to have a good deal more speed 
 than he had to beat him when the heats were split. 
 He is what I may call a round-gaited horse ; his gait 
 is perfect for a race horse, true, rapid and direct, w^ith- 
 
ST. BEL^S PURITY OF MOVEIMENT. 131 
 
 out the slightest friction. He seems to roll along 
 without effort, right on top of his gait as if it were a 
 wheel, and when he increases his speed to its utmost 
 limit there is no sprawling, spreading, or striking a 
 certain position, but just a gradual, smooth increase 
 after the manner, as I have said of Elaine, of a w^heel 
 gathering speed from its own momentum. He has a 
 splendid head— both as to its beauty and as to the 
 qualit}^ of brain — and this, in addition to his compact, 
 muscular make-up, his pure action and his great blood, 
 should make St. Bel a successful sire. I shall expect 
 to see him prove like Electioneer in power to get 
 trotters out of thoroughbred mares, or, indeed, out of 
 almost any kind of a mare, w^hile from choice se- 
 lected mares his colts should be sensational young 
 trotters. 
 
132 TEAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE GREAT FOUR-YEAR-OLDS OF 1886 — MANZ ANITA AND 
 
 PALO ALTO THE BREEDING, TRAINING AND HISTORY 
 
 OF MANZANTTA THE MEMORABLE THREE - YEAR - OLD 
 
 BATTLES OF 1885 MANZANITA BEATS PATRON, SILVER- 
 ONE, EAGLE BIRD AND GREENLANDER AT CHICAGO 
 
 THE SMART MEN DISCOVER A " QUITTER " AND PAY FOB 
 
 THE INFORMATION THE MEMORABLE RACE FOR THE 
 
 GASCONADE STAKES AT THE ST. LOUIS FAIR PATRON 
 
 WINS THROUGH BAD STARTING A GREAT STABLE IN 
 
 1886. 
 
 The main reliance of our stable in its successful 
 campaign of 1886 was placed in the two great four- 
 year-olds Manzanita, full sister to Wildflower, and 
 Palo Alto, by Electioneer, out of the thoroughbred 
 mare Dame Winnie, by Planet. Manzanita was faster 
 than Palo x\lto as a four-year-old, and indeed the fact 
 is that had she stood training to his age she would 
 most certainly have taken a record closer to 2:10 than 
 2:12. There was no four-year-old of her year that 
 could give Manzanita a race, and her easy defeat of 
 Patron demonstrated that fact so conclusively that our 
 good Kentucky friends could almost see it. Barring 
 Patron, it is doubtful if any four-year-old outside of 
 our stable could beat Palo Alto, so that we had the 
 races for that age practically at our mercy. But this 
 
. MANZAXITA AND PALO ALTO. 133 
 
 condition of things was not without its disadvantages, 
 for Manzanita and Palo Alto were compelled to trot, if 
 they trotted at all, against aged horses, and in consider- 
 ing their campaign the reader will not forget that 
 (except in stake races for four-year-olds) they were 
 compelled to concede years of age to their opponents ; 
 and whatever we may believe as to mere speed, age 
 undoubtedly tells in a long and trying race. 
 
 Taken on her public performances alone, Manzanita 
 must be adjudged one of the most remarkable trotting- 
 mares that this fast age and the fast family from which 
 she sprung has produced, but to fully appreciate her 
 real worth one must know what the public does not 
 know — must know the ailments and the mishaps, in 
 spite of which she was the champion of her age ; and 
 after all she has publicly accomplished under these 
 handicaps her real capacity has never been shown to 
 the world, for she broke down just at the height of 
 her powers, and when to an absolute certainty she was 
 on the eve of trotting to a record faster than any 
 mare, with the single exception of Maud S. and Sunol, 
 has ever made. This mav not meet the approbation of 
 some critics, who, knowing nothing whatever of the 
 real facts concerning Manzanita's history, her s])eed or 
 her capacity, and who may have seen her in one race 
 or who may have never seen her at all, presume to 
 judo^e of her adversely, basing their whole judgment 
 on the cast-iron and preconceived opinion that nothing 
 great could come from her " plebeian-bred dam," May- 
 flower — that the blood of St. Clair must necessarily 
 carry "softness" with it. However, as I trained and 
 drove this great mare throughout her career, I will, I 
 
134 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 trust, not be considered presumptuous in assuming that 
 I have had a rather better chance to form a correct 
 opinion of what class of trotter Manzanita really was 
 than the general public have had, and the estimate I 
 have given above of her qualitv is a conservative one. 
 If it errs at all it errs certainly not on the side of 
 flattery. 
 
 Mayflower, the dam of Manzanita, "encumbered 
 with fore-shoes which weighed nearly two pounds each, 
 and with rolls of shot almost as ponderous on each 
 fore pastern, made a mile in 2:30^ " back in the days 
 when that was " about the top-notch in California." 
 Her first foal, by Electioneer, Avas May bell, the dam of 
 Maralia, 2:25 j- ; the second was the distinguished Wild- 
 flower, whose history has already been given, and the 
 third was Manzanita. She was foaled Februar}^ 2, 
 1882, and grew into a splendidly-made light bay mare, 
 about 15 hands high, with a well-cut head, a long, 
 nicely-shaped neck, heavy shoulders, lengthy barrel, 
 with a strong though rather straight back and stout, 
 muscular quarters; and her "traveling-gear" was good 
 from the ground up. 
 
 Manzanita was broken in her yearhng form and 
 showed great promise on the miniature track. If it 
 w^as true that "lot-trotters" never amount to anything, 
 we should not have taken the trouble to train Man- 
 zanita, but we did not pa}^ anj^ more attention to such 
 " wise old saws " then than we do now. She kept on 
 improving until I left for the East in 1883, but on my 
 return the boys had a sorrowful story to tell about the 
 mare whose future we had all built hopes upon. They 
 assured me that she " was no good," that she " could 
 
manzaxita's misfortunes. 135 
 
 not untrack herself," and, to cap the climax, they pro- 
 nounced her "foundered." However, I did not give 
 her up as wholly degenerate ; in four or five months 
 there was no sign of "founder," and she could show 
 me a quarter in 0:42 — or say, a 2:50 gait. In her year- 
 ling form she attempted to come out of her box when 
 the upper half-door was closed. She got her foreparts 
 out all right, and then naturally raised herself, the 
 door taking her across the back at the most sensitive 
 spot — right over the kidneys. The result was that her 
 hind parts were practically paralyzed, and the sprawl- 
 ing and dragging-motion of these parts plainly pointed 
 to severe injury across the loins and in the region of 
 the kidneys. It took two months of assiduous treat- 
 ment and care before she could jog well ; and, indeed, 
 I cannot say that she ever recovered from the injury, 
 for, as will be seen further on, she was attacked more 
 than once with this partial parah'sis in her campaigns. 
 After we had gotten her, seemingly, over this disaster, 
 and she could trot along in about 2:40, another barrier 
 loomed up across her path. She threw out a nasty 
 curb, and I thought of giving her up for the year. But 
 after looking over the material I had in training, I 
 could not reconcile myself to the idea of turning the 
 filly out — for, in spite of her ill-luck and consequent 
 backwardness, I liked her — and decided to endeavor to 
 keep on training her and treat the curb at the same 
 time. The double task was successfully acccomplished. 
 I cured the curb with iodine — the application of w^hich 
 I will refer to at another place-^and on the day that 
 Sallie Benton lowered the four-year-old record to 
 2:17f I drove Manzanita to a two year-old trial of 2:25 
 
136 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 She accompanied the stable East in her three-year- 
 old form, and had walk-overs in her two first engage- 
 ments — the Annual Nursery Stake and the Stallion 
 Stake for three-year-olds. The stakes were worth 
 $1,250 and $750 respectively, and we were "in luck'^ 
 in having no opposition, for the mare was far from 
 i-igljt. Her old ailment, partial paralysis in the rear 
 quarters, attacked her, and she grew worse before we 
 left Albany, so much so that I hesitated about shipping 
 her to Chicago with the rest of the stable, fearing the 
 risk. However, she went with the stable, and rounded 
 to sufficiently to start at Chicago, September 25th, 
 though she had not wholly recovered from her Albany 
 sickness. 
 
 The field was the best three-year-old material of the 
 year. Patron, Silverone, Eagle Bird and Greenlander 
 are names that all trotting horsemen will remember as 
 giants of the three-year-old class of that great three- 
 year-old 3^ear 1885. George Fuller was behind Patron, 
 Crit. Davis drove Greenlander, Maxwell took care of 
 Silverone, and Eagle Bird had the advantage of Badd 
 Doble's piloting. Before the first heat Eagle Bird was 
 the favorite, Manzanita second choice, while the after- 
 wards mighty Patron was the outsider in the betting. 
 AYe scored nine times before we got the word from 
 Charles M. Smith, the starter, and Patron at once 
 rushed to the pole, and led to the home-stretch, where 
 Eagle Bird closed up, and I also sent Manzanita up to 
 Patron s head. There was a short and sharp fight in 
 the stretch, but Manzanita beat the Kentucky-bred 
 youngsters at the finish, winning the heat in 2:23|, 
 Patron beating Eagle Bird for second place. In the 
 
PATRON^S DEFEAT. 137 
 
 second heat Manzanita got away a little back, but re- 
 gained the pole before they went a quarter, and com- 
 ing on won without any great exertion in 2:23^ from 
 Eagle Bird. The backers of Eagle Bird and Patron 
 were now in trouble, and Manzanita sold a three-to-one 
 favorite over the field. The next was a warm heat, as 
 a blanket would have covered Manzanita, Patron and 
 Eagle Bird from the start to the three-quarter pole, 
 where they were racing head and head. Half-way up 
 the stretch I had Patron and Eagle Bird beaten, and 
 begun to ease up a little, when Silverone unexpectedly 
 came with a great rush, carried Manzanita to a break, 
 and won by about a length in 2:25f. Silverone, I 
 rather think had the speed of the party that day, but 
 had to go back to the one-eighth to score, which killed 
 her chances. Xow all the wise men of the turf talked 
 of jManzanita, and were dead sure she was "a quitter" 
 and "done for," and acting on the hasty conclusion 
 dumped good money into '* the box " against her. It 
 would have been just as well invested in Lake Michi- 
 gan, for in the last heat Manzanita made the pace so 
 strong from the half that she had things her own way 
 in the f^tretch, and won by two or three lengths in 
 2:241 
 
 The " talent," after losing hard in learning the simple 
 lesson that it is a fool's act to jump at sudden conclu- 
 sions, had a tiresome and disconsolate task in figuring 
 out how it was that a sore three-year-old filly trotted 
 two heats in 2:23^, quit in 2:25f, and then, after being 
 " dead beat," " quitting," " setting down," and all that 
 sort of thing, came back easily in 2:2-1^ in the fourth 
 heat. There is this peculiarity about men whose 
 
138 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 chief sharpness consists in finding quitters. They first 
 look at a colt's breeding and they find a strain that 
 some old campaigner has sworn by all the stable-oaths 
 is "soft." They put it right down in their book that 
 that colt not only will quit but m ust quit. Then when 
 he comes on the turf they, before they have ever seen 
 him, solemnly impart the information to all their 
 friends that that colt is a quitter. And it don't matter 
 how he trots, win or lose, whether he is a game one or 
 not, whether he is sick or well, whether he loses a heat 
 by an accident, by a break, or is beaten b}^ a speedier 
 horse, these sharp turfites, having once said that a 
 horse 7nust he a quitter, consider themselves under a 
 solemn obligation to carry that belief intact to their 
 graves. And every time they back their theory and 
 lose, they believe in it all the harder, like the Salvation 
 Army men who declare that unless we keep on " believ- 
 ing hard " we will lose our faith. Xothing will convince 
 some talented observers of trotting-horses that they 
 ever made a mistake about anything, and especially 
 about '' quitters " that they know nothing of. I have 
 often, in remembering the criticisms passed on Smug- 
 gler and Manzanita, thought, " What fools these mor- 
 tals be." 
 
 The close and logical observer will never jump at a 
 conclusion about the qualities of a race-horse. You 
 must see him not in one race, but in several races, and 
 you must know about his condition in his races before 
 you can determine that a horse is faint-hearted. The 
 most resolute horse in the world will not trot resolutely 
 if he be ailing, and he cannot trot resolutely if his 
 physical machinery be out of repair. The gamest 
 
MANZ ANITA AT ST. LOUIS. 139 
 
 horse will " stop " if short of work, and if you do not 
 know that he has had sufficient work, that he is not 
 sore or sick, how are you going to know whether he 
 " stops " from physical causes, or from true quitting^ 
 which is a mental quality — cowardice, faint-hearted- 
 ness ? 
 
 Manzanita's next race was at the St. Louis Fair of 
 1886 in the Gasconade Stake, and that race will long 
 be remembered as a battle royal between the best field 
 of three-year-olds that has perhaps ever faced a starter. 
 The field against Manzanita was composed of Patron, 
 driven by Fuller; Silverone, driven by Maxwell; Eagle 
 Bird, with Simmons in the sulky; lona, driven by 
 Bowerman, and the two Princeps stallions Granby 
 and Greenlander — all the best three-year-olds of the 
 year, in fact. There were 100,000 people on the Fair 
 Grounds that day. Eagle Bird got away in front, with 
 Manzanita second, and she disposed of Mr. Simmons' 
 roan stallion at the half. Patron made a strong fight 
 in the stretch, but my mare carried me home in front 
 with something to spare in 2:23|^. In the next heat it 
 was Silverone that challenged Manzanita in the stretch, 
 and she came so fast that the Blue Grass cheers began 
 to swell, but they died away with true Kentucky loyalty 
 when Manzanita beat the great daughter of Alcyone 
 out in the final tussle in 2:21^. When Manzanita came 
 out for this heat she was so sore that she could scarcely 
 put one foot on the ground, but she warmed out of it 
 in jogging. Mr. H. D. McKinney — better known as 
 ^'Mambrino" McKinney — the starter, was thinking so 
 much of the Mambrino blood in Patron that in start- 
 ing the third heat he forgot the very first of a starter's 
 
140 TRAINING THE .TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 duties — to protect the pole-horse. Patron was sent 
 away in front, lapped by Silverone and Eagle Bird, 
 with Manzanita away back and shut in at the pole. 
 The start was so unfair that even the local reporters 
 noticed it, and the turf papers mentioned the fact in 
 their reports. In trying to rush the mare through to 
 the position that the starter deprived her of I forced 
 her to a break, and being shut off, eased her up and 
 did not drive for the heat, which Patron won from 
 Eagle Bird in 2:23^. The public, seeing that Man- 
 zanita was not beaten on her merits, still kept her 
 favorite in the betting. Patron was now the pole- 
 horse, and he was very carefully protected, getting 
 away in front, but I brought Manzanita up from 
 the rear and carried him to a break before the half 
 was reached, and led to the three-quarters, with. 
 Silverone and Patron close up. We were all driv- 
 ing for all we were worth in the home-stretch, but 
 Patron left his feet, the two mares fighting it out to 
 the finish, with Silverone just beating Manzanita in 
 2:24J. Both Silverone and Manzanita broke as the 
 word was given in the fifth heat, and I at once saw 
 that it was best to lay up that heat, wherein Silverone 
 went on and drove Patron out in 2:24f. The starter 
 ao^ain "took care" of Manzanita in the sixth heat, and 
 gave a start that can only be explained on the theory 
 that he was so much interested in the great race that 
 he failed to watch the field closely. Even yet so plain 
 Avas it that Manzanita with a fair start could win, that 
 she sold in the pools for $25 to $20 over the entire 
 field; but in this last heat, though it was only the first 
 score, and Manzanita ran all the way up the score, the 
 
AT HOME AGAIN. 141 
 
 starter gave the word, sending her away on what the 
 Chicago Horseman properly called " a wretched break." 
 She was a good distance out before she settled, and of 
 course her last chance was killed by the disgracefully 
 bad start. Patron won in 2:26^. Patron was a good 
 horse, and a courageous horse, but it was not Patron 
 that beat Manzanita that day. Patron met Manzanita 
 only twice under fair conditions and she beat him both 
 times, and had she been given an even start she would 
 have beaten him that day, just as decisively as she did 
 a year later. And in sayino^ this I am not detracting 
 from the merits of Patron in the least. I always 
 admired him as a true, good horse, and next to Man- 
 zanita one of the best of the youngsters of 1885 and 
 1886. 
 
 At the close of the St. Louis Fair we shipped our 
 stable across the mountains to seek refreshment in the 
 winter-summer of their home fields, and to prepare 
 under California's genial skies to make greater conquests 
 in 1886. And when we were ready to start East 
 again we had the most formidable stable of young trot- 
 ters that ever crossed the Eockies. There were in it 
 Manzanita and Palo Alto, then just about inyincible in 
 their class; Hinda Pose, who shared with Patron the 
 honor of the fastest three-year-old record ; the good 
 four-year-old St. Eel, and his two-year old brother 
 Chimes ; the promising three-year-old Sphinx, and the 
 two-year-old Suisun, one of the best youngsters we 
 have trained. These were all by Electioneer, and 
 "though stars of differing magnitude," they were 
 all stars in their classes. It was natural that we 
 should haye expected a yery successful campaign witli 
 
142 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 this material, and the best evidence of the realiza- 
 tion of our expectations was that furnished by the 
 ^National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders of 
 deciding to in future bar California colts from their 
 stakes. 
 
MANZANITA AS A FOUR-YEAR-OLD. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MANZANITA AS A FOUR - YEAR - OLD — A RACE LOST BY 
 
 LAYING UP HEATS SHE STARTS AGAINST A GREAT 
 
 FIELD OF AGED HORSES AT CLEVELAND — LO AVERS THE 
 
 FOUR - YEAR - OLD RECORD TO 2:16^ BEATS EAGLE 
 
 BIRD EASILY AT MAYSVILLE DEFEATS GREENLANDER 
 
 AT LEXINGTON THE FOUR - YEAR - OLD RECORD LOW- 
 ERED TO 2:16 WINNING FROM GREENLANDER AND 
 
 HAVERSTICK IN A JOG THE GLORIOUS VICTORY AT THE 
 
 ST. LOUIS FAIR OVER PATRON THE DEFEAT OF 1885 
 
 WIPED OUT, AND MANZANITA's SUPERIORITY AS THE 
 
 GREATEST OF FOUR - YEAR- OLDS ESTABLISHED HER 
 
 RETIREMENT HER GREAT QUALITIES AS A RACE- 
 MARE. 
 
 Manzanita's first start in her memorable campaign 
 as a four-year-old, was against a field of aged horses 
 in the 2:21: class at East Saginaw, Michigan. As else- 
 Avhere related, on my return from Xew York, where a 
 consignment of oar horses went for sale, I found 
 the trotting stable sick at Louisville, and, after the 
 horses rounded to and were well over the effects of the 
 long journey, we went to Kalamazoo. From there we 
 shipped to East Saginaw to take a hand in the meeting 
 at that place in July. Palo Alto began the campaign 
 for the stable bv beatino^ Wilton, Lucv Frv and a o-ood 
 field, in fast time, on the loth and 16th, and Man- 
 zanita's race was set for the ITth. The storv can be 
 
144 TEAINIXa THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 easily told. I laid Manzanita up in the first two heats 
 which Belle Hamlin won in 2:21i and 2:22J. This left 
 me in sixth place for the third heat and I drove for it. 
 From the first turn the two mares had it nip and tuck ; 
 it was head and head up the stretch, and Belle just 
 won in 2:1 SJ. Manzanita was separately timed in 
 2:18, and she went a long mile, trotting around the 
 field in the first quarter. I laid up the first two heats 
 according to an agreement which certain other parties 
 failed to respect, and, undoubtedly, the breach of faith 
 gave Belle Hamlin the race. The two mares far 
 outclassed the rest of the field. Had both gone for it 
 from the start, Belle Hamlin, with her advantage of 
 three 3^ears in age — she then being seven — would have 
 made a great race with Manzanita. From East Sagi- 
 naw the scene shifted to the Grand Circuit tracks, and, 
 in the 2:23 class, at Cleveland, July 28th, the two 
 mares met again, and again the diplomatic owner of 
 Belle Hamlin got the money. Besides the mares there 
 were in the field such hardened campaigners as Long- 
 fellow Whip, Lowland Girl, Spofford, Charles Hilton 
 and Kitefoot — rather formidable company for a four- 
 year-old filly to fight, especially in combination. In 
 scoring for the first heat Hilton upset Hickok out, 
 and ran away, and he, of course, was drawn. When 
 the word was given Belle Hamlin and Lowland 
 Girl had the best of it, and went away at a hot 
 pace, going to the quarter in 0:31-, and the half 
 in 1:08. I trailed about a length behind Lowland 
 Girl, and my mare was going easy enough to satisfy 
 me that Belle Hamlin would have to go another half 
 in 1:08 or I should have a word to sav about the finish. 
 
THE BELLE HAMLIX EACE. 145 
 
 Kow Lowland Girl gave it up, but Belle kept up the 
 clip fast and hot, and at the three-quarters, in 1:42|, 
 ^xe were lapped. In the stretch I called on Manzanita, 
 and after trotting head-and-head for nearly a furlong 
 with Belle Hamlin, the latter '' cracked," and Man- 
 zanita won in 2:16^, lowering the four-year-old record 
 by one and one-half seconds and trotting the last quar- 
 ter in thirty-three and one half seconds — a 2:14 gait. 
 The next heat Belle Hamlin was laid up, and Lowland 
 Girl and Longfellow Whip undertook to entertain me 
 during the journey, my mare winning in 2:19^. Man- 
 zanita broke at the first turn in the next heat, and I 
 laid her up, Belle Hamlin Avinning from Spofford in 
 2:1 8|^. A number of the drivers now began getting in 
 fine work on the score, the judges failing to show 
 ability to control them ; and finally Colonel Edwards 
 let us go, with Belle Hamlin well in the lead and Man- 
 zanita away back of the field. I again saw it useless 
 to move for the heat, and Belle was never headed, win- 
 ning in 2:19. The race was then postponed until the 
 next day. The most shameful scoring was permitted 
 by the judges in the deciding heat, and when the}^ were 
 finally sent off at the tu^enty -fourth score Belle Hamlin 
 was in front, and none of us could ever catch her. She 
 won in 2:1 S^. The Sjjirit correspondent, in comment- 
 ing upon this heat, said : " Manzanita never had a fair 
 show to get at her (Belle Hamlin), but it would have 
 been in vain, anyway. AY hen she has a couple more 
 years on her head she can, if right, give Belle Hamlin 
 or any other in her class a red-hot race." 
 
 These two races against aged horses convinced me 
 that we had a gem of the first water in Manzanita^ 
 
146 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 especially as she had little fast work in her prepara- 
 tion. When I get a four-year-old that can go in the 
 old and tried company she did, where every heat is 
 better than 2:20, I am satisfied, for it has been one en- 
 deavor of my life to be a reasonable man. 
 
 We left the Grand Circuit line for the South, the 
 colts having engagements in Kentucky, and Manza- 
 nita's next race was in a four-year-old stake at Mays- 
 ville, August 26th, where her only competitor was 
 Eagle Bird, who could not give her the semblance of a 
 race. I gave her three easy miles in 2:25^, 2:25J, 2:22. 
 Her next race was one of the same kind, in that she 
 had nothing near her own class against her. This was 
 at the Lexington Fair, September 8d, in the Association 
 Stake for four-year-olds, and Greenlander was the 
 only competitor that faced Manzanita. I jogged the 
 mare the first two heats in 2:22 and 2:22^, and then 
 distance was waived, and I drove her the mile, without 
 a skip, a falter or a waver, in 2:16, lowering her own 
 record by a quarter of a second and making a four- 
 year-old mark that stands unbeaten to this day, and 
 one that has never been equaled or even approached 
 in a race. This race was followed by a walk-over at 
 Albany, September 21st, at the meeting of the National 
 Association of Trotting-Horse Breeders. As Palo Alto, 
 St. Bel, Sphinx and Chimes also had walk-overs at this 
 meeting, our Eastern friends practically conceded that 
 they could not compete with our colts by deciding to 
 bar them from their stakes in future. 
 
 From Albany we turned southward and av est ward 
 again to trot at the Lexington breeders' meeting, and 
 at the " Great St. Louis Fair." Manzanita easily beat 
 
PATRON AND MANZANITA. 147 
 
 August Haverstick and Greenlander in a four-year-old 
 race at Lexington in slow time — for her. We started 
 Hinda Eose against Patron, and the latter won com- 
 fortably enough in 2:20^, 2:21^, and 2:24^, Hinda Kose 
 winning the first heat in 2:21 J. In their three-year-old 
 form the two duels of Patron and Manzanita had been 
 the great features of the colt-racing of 1885, and in a 
 manner honors were easy, each once defeating the 
 other. All this made the prospective meeting between 
 them at St. Louis, to settle the question of supremacy 
 and demonstrate which was the greater four-year-old, 
 one of intense interest. Patron's fine form at Lexing- 
 ton was encouraging, and our Kentucky friends were 
 impatient to see the apple of their e3^e make the Palo 
 Alto mare " set down," as they would have it, at St. 
 Louis. 
 
 So, when Patron and Manzanita met on October 2d, 
 it was the event of the day. It is said that there were 
 many more than one hundred thousand people on the 
 ground that day, and I never remember to have seen 
 so dense and interested a crowd as was packed on all 
 sides when we scored for the word. The night before, 
 and the day of the race, the Patron party were fairly 
 bubbling over with confidence. My mare had im- 
 proved steadily with every race, and, although I did 
 not shout it on the grand stand, I felt sure that she 
 was better that day than she had ever been before. 
 My friend, George Fuller, the driver of Patron, was all 
 confidence, and kindly informed me in advance that 
 "Patron was going to make Manzanita set down,^' and 
 that he was backing his horse well. I told him that my 
 mare was right, and that neither Patron nor any other 
 
148 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 four-year-old could make ber *' stop.'^ As a friend I 
 advised Fuller in all sincerity and candor not to back 
 his horse for veiy much, and I further expressed my 
 belief that he and indeed all the Patron people over- 
 rated their colt and under-rated the mare. That 
 slirewd horseman, Colonel John Y7. Conley, Avas one of 
 those who backed Manzanita. When talking with a 
 party, an enthusiastic Patron man told him that 
 Patron had "gone a half in 1:08." Conley quickly re- 
 joined: "But Manzanita went two halves in 1:08 the 
 other day." Colonel Conley came to me for my opinion 
 that day, and told me that Fuller assured him that he 
 would certainly "make Manzanita stop." I told the 
 Colonel that if Patron beat Manzanita that day he 
 would see the greatest four-year old race that was ever 
 seen on earth. The Colonel stuck to the mare with 
 confidence and pluck, while all the gentlemen who 
 had discovered her "soft spot" a year before, with 
 customary fatuity, bet their money that she would 
 "stop." The betting was even before the first heat, 
 with Eagle Bird, who was of no consequence in the 
 race, almost unbacked at any price. I mention these 
 details of betting and of opinion for the reason that it 
 was said after the race that Patron was not right. 
 Xow if he was not himself why did his driver and his 
 friends bet their money with such freedom and con- 
 fidence? Surely Fuller, his trainer and driver, knew 
 whether he was right or not. He was a good horse 
 a little while previous at Lexington, and I have not 
 any doubt that he was as good a horse that day as 
 ever he was up to that time. It took a good four-year- 
 old to trot the race he did, and the simple explanation 
 
t < 
 
 Z Q 
 
 -[^ 
 
 jg3>"y<j yvf^j 
 
TUEF TALK. Ii9 
 
 of it all is that he met his master, and his friends 
 sought quite unsuccessfully to find an excuse for a 
 performance that needed none. 
 
 As to the race, Patron had the pole and Eagle Bird 
 the outside, with Manzanita between them. Mr. 
 McKinney, the starter, had trouble in getting us away, 
 and warned me to keep Manzanita well back, which 
 Avould have been easier to do if the others could score 
 with her. Finally, after about a dozen scores, the 
 starter succeeded in getting the field of three off fairly 
 well, and Fuller at once started out '• to make some- 
 thins- crack." I laid Manzanita rio'ht at Patron's 
 shoulder, and, when he passed the quarter in 0:34, I 
 was enjoying a comfortable ride. Xow he made the 
 pace hotter, but at the half, in 1:07^, Manzanita was 
 huo^Dfino^ him still closer, and I had not made a move 
 behind her yet. I was not ver}^ anxious when we 
 passed the three-quarters, locked head and head in 
 1:41|^, for the mare was going something within herself 
 and Patron was out to the last link and straining hard. 
 The pace was hot and fast, but the mare never flinched. 
 Turning into the stretch I said jocosely to Fuller, " Hit 
 him on the back." Fuller looked around with an 
 expression I shall not forget, and shouted, " I'll beat 
 you yet," whereat I answered, '' Well, let us go along 
 a little this heat,", for I did not realize how fast we had 
 trotted it so far. Manzanita abated not in her speed 
 in the stretch, but maintained the killing pace with 
 absolute evenness, and, though Patron made a game 
 struggle, he was not the filly's match, and broke just 
 the wrong side of the wire, Manzanita winning in 
 2:1 7f. The fill}^ cooled out to please me, did not 
 
150 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 " blow " the least, and I considered that race as good 
 as won. I found in the previous heat that the footing 
 was best just about one position, or sulky-width, from 
 the pole, and as soon as the word was given in the 
 second heat I took that ground. I did not drive the 
 mare any faster than w^as necessary, allowing Patron 
 to keep close company, and won it in hand by half a 
 length in 2:1 9 J. Fuller now saw he was beaten, but I 
 afterward heard that the owners of Patron gave him 
 great encouragement in the remark: "You have 
 always said you can make her stop, and we believe you 
 can." The heat had been an easy one, and the mare 
 showed not the faintest shadow of distress, but Fuller 
 clung to the forlorn hope founded in the belief that 
 Manzanita was a quitter, and so, in scoring for the 
 third heat, he was full of "snap," and evidently 
 intended to try to " make her set down " by hard scor- 
 ing. We scored ten or eleven times very fast, but the 
 wear and tear of this business was not telling on the 
 horse it was intended for. Finally we went aw^ay with 
 Fuller attempting to find that " soft spot " that was to 
 help him out. He found it— but in the wrong place. 
 At the word 1 again took the position I wanted and 
 led Patron a merrier dance than he really enjoyed. We 
 w^ent down the back-stretch at a red-hot clip, with 
 Patron under a hard drive and the mare gradually but 
 surely wearing him down. The pace made his head 
 swim, and just after we passed the half in l:08i he 
 gave it up in a tired, heart-broken break. He w^as an 
 utterly beaten horse, and Manzanita came home alone 
 in 2:20, far in front of Eagle Bird, who passed Patron 
 after his collapse. The victory was brilliant, but the 
 
PATRON AGAIN DEFEATED. 151 
 
 race was a very easy one for Manzanita, and the work 
 so helped her that she was fit the next day for the 
 effort of her life. She clearly demonstrated her 
 superiority over Patron, which was questioned after 
 her race against him the year previous. We have not 
 yet seen the four-year-old that could have beaten Man- 
 zanita that day. In the form she was when she played 
 with Patron, she could out-trot and out-stay any four- 
 year-old that ever lived. She had so much speed, and 
 could rate so well from wire to wire that nothing of her 
 age could have lived with her for a mile, and certainly 
 no other horse could have even made as good an 
 attempt, vain though it was, as did Patron. 
 
 As to Patron I may say here that I did not wholly 
 like his gait. His stroke forward was quick, but some- 
 what spasmodic and peculiar. But he was a horse of 
 great speed, determmed and level-headed, and all in 
 all was one of the greatest young horses that has yet 
 campaigned. His defeats in his three and four-year-old 
 form, by Manzanita, were nothing to his discredit. He 
 had a superior, and it was no disgrace to lower his 
 colors to the champion of his age. He was not first, 
 but he was next to first. It has always seemed to me 
 that Patron's misfortune was that his trainer, his 
 owners and his friends have over-rated him as a turf- 
 horse, and have asked of him what was beyond his 
 capacity. Their confidence in his ability to beat Man- 
 zanita, at St. Louis, where she really had him at her 
 mercy every yard of every heat, and in later times 
 their attempting to beat Atlantic one day and " the 
 demon," Clmgstone, the next, and then asking him to 
 campaign against so great a horse as Prince Wilkes, 
 
152 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 seems to me evidence of the lack of judgment to which 
 I refer. A good horse on the turf, and grandly bred, 
 he will be sure to gain further honor as a su^e of 
 trotters. 
 
 I have referred to what has often seemed to me one 
 of Georo^e Fuller's occasional errors as a trainer — over- 
 confidence — and it is not fair that I should not tell the 
 rest of my opinion of him. To put it short I know 
 George Fuller to be not only an able and very superior 
 trainer, and a great driver, but, as a man, I have found 
 him upright, honorable and manly — one whose word 
 is as good as his bond, and for no driver have I more 
 esteem, and in none have I greater confidence. 
 
 The victory at St. Louis was Manzanita's last race — 
 a fitting close to a very brilliant career. We trained 
 her the following year with the intention of driving 
 her against St. Julien's California record, 2:12^. She 
 took the preparation very well, and all was ready for 
 the attempt at Los Angeles that fall. But I gave her 
 a last trial and it proved one trial too much. I drove 
 her a quarter in 0:30J, and she shortly after broke 
 down in a pastern suddenly and beyond repair. I have 
 not the least doubt tlmt not only would the 2:12|^ of 
 St. Julien been beaten, but that she would most cer- 
 tainly have taken a record of from 2:10 to 2:11|^. This 
 is no wild estimate, without foundation, but a con- 
 servative and safe conclusion based on wdiat she 
 actually did in her work. 
 
 Her retirement at the early age of five was unfortu- 
 nate, in so far as her own record goes, for had she 
 trained on to the age when the average horse is in his 
 prime Manzanita would have surprised all but those 
 
153 
 
 who knew her best. She improved with age, and was 
 of the kind that would go on improving. She was a 
 good feeder ; had pure action, carrying ten-ounce shoes 
 forward; had nerve-force enough without being fret- 
 ful or irritable ; improved under the wear-and-tear of a 
 campaign ; had a good, level head ; was a good actor 
 under all circumstances, and would go to her utmost 
 limit on her courage. She had, in short, all the essen- 
 tial qualities of a great race-mare. As to her game- 
 ness, all I have to say is that I knew her through and 
 through, and when she was fit and well she was game 
 enough to suit me, and I am not suited vfery easily in 
 that regard. I do not know of any mare I would 
 sooner trust for a brood-mare than Manzanita, and 
 with life and a fair chance in the stud she will be 
 pretty sure to produce something that will do credit to 
 so great a dam. She started eleven times, was victo- 
 rious eight times, and two of her defeats were by an 
 aged horse. She had not the cheap honor of being the 
 best racer of her age in a bad year. As a three-year- 
 old she met giants — met the best fields of three-year- 
 olds that had ever come out in one year, and captured 
 more than her share of honors ; and she did not stop 
 there, but came out as a four-year-old and demon- 
 strated in the most marked degree her unquestionable 
 superiority over the same champions with which she 
 battled as a three-year-old, and she lowered the four- 
 year-old record to a point which none have surpassed. 
 That is glory enough to retire upon and laurels bright 
 enough to remain forever fresh and green in the annals 
 of the trotting-turf. 
 
154: TRAININa THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 PALO ALTO, THE SON OF THE THOROUGHBRED MARE, DA^IE 
 
 WINNIE HIS EARLY PROMISE THE NAME OF *' PALO 
 
 alto" entrusted TO HIM TO UPHOLD ALMOST A 
 
 CLEAN SWEEP IN HIS CLASS IN 1886 BEATING AGED 
 
 CAMPAIGi^ERS IN LONG RACES ONLY ONE DEFEAT 
 
 AND EIGHT VICTORIES NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH 
 
 BY FIRE — THE BRILLIANT CAMPAIGN OF 1889 
 
 INVINCIBLE AND UNBEATEN RECORD, 2:1 2^. 
 
 The second of our great four-year-olds in the 1886 
 campai^'n was the now famous Palo Alto, Avhose 
 record of 2:12^ was one of the sensations of last 
 season. Palo Alto is further noted as being the only, 
 horse out of a strictly thoroughbred mare that has 
 ever beaten 2:20 ; and his performance demonstrates 
 that it is quite possible to unite the blood of a positive 
 and potent trotting sire with that of a good repre- 
 sentative of the running race-horse, and get the action 
 of the trotter combined with the finish and quahty of 
 the thoroughbred. 
 
 Palo Alto was foaled February 15, 1882, and was 
 got by Electioneer out of the thoroughbred mare 
 Dame Winnie (the only thoroughbred mare that ever 
 produced three trotters to l)eat 2:30, and one to beat 
 2:20), by Planet, next dam by imported Glencoe, and 
 she out of a daughter of imported Margrave, etc. "We 
 
o 
 
 ^ Q 
 
 o ^ 
 
155 
 
 began working " the Dame Winnie colt " as the others 
 were worked, in his yearling form, and he trotted from 
 the start. At two years old he came directly under 
 my charge, and his impro\'Tement was marvellous. 
 Excepting Sunol we never had a two-year-old so 
 promising as Palo Alto, and for those who do not 
 believe that those that trot young train as a rule, it 
 will be in order to note that these two most precocious 
 youngsters have the fastest records to the credit of 
 Electioneer. He could trot a quarter in 0:33 as a two- 
 3^ear-old, and he showed us at that age a full mile in 
 2;23|. After that he was named Palo Alto, for then 
 Governer Stanford thought him worthy to bear the 
 name of the farm.- He was always a favorite with 
 the Governor, owing to his high form and his breed- 
 ing, but he would not confer the name Palo Alto upon 
 'him until he showed himself worthy of it. His two- 
 year-old trial met the requirement. 
 
 In his three-year-old form Palo Alto was still a 
 great colt, but not as good, relatively, as in his two- 
 year-old form, and until the past season (1SS9) he has 
 never seemed to me to come up to the high promise of 
 the time when he was enthusiastically named Palo 
 Alto. The spring that he was four years old he was a 
 very siek horse, and though his campaign of that year 
 was splendidly successful, he was not the horse he 
 would have been had he suffered no set-backs. That 
 season, too, he developed a nasty splint, which at times 
 troubled him quite seriously. He was also lame in the 
 hip that spring, and, on Fuller's advice, I consulted the 
 noted veterinarian, Dr. Sheppard, who located the 
 trouble and successfully prescribed treatment. 
 
156 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 Palo Alto opened our campaign of 1886 auspiciously 
 at Kalamazoo, and he also rounded it up victoriously 
 at St. Louis. His first start at the former place was on 
 June 29th, in the 3:00 class, against Victor, by Hermes,, 
 and four or five others. Palo xilto won very easily in 
 2:32|-, 2:33i, 2:33, outclassing his field entirely. July 
 1st we started him in the 2:40 class against a bet- 
 ter field, comprising among others Col. Bowers and 
 the good mare Anniversary. We won the first two 
 heats comfortably in 2:30^ and 2:30J. I was aware 
 that the Grand Circuit was ahead, where the colt 
 would have to go against aged horses, and I wanted to 
 Avin without putting him out of the 2:30 class. In the 
 third heat A»nniversary crowded me so hard that I 
 slowed up to avoid beating 2:30, and the pablic jumped 
 to the conclusion that she "could win if she wanted 
 to." In this heat Col. Bowers ran away, throwing out 
 his driver, McLaughlin, and breaking several of his- 
 ribs. The judges called it no heat. In the next heat 
 I went off at a hot pace, and trotted to the three-quar- 
 ters in 1:45 — a 2:20 gait — and then almost walked home 
 in 2:29i, to show the public whether Anniversary 
 " could win if she wanted to " or not. Our next battle- 
 ground was the fast track at East Saginaw, where 
 Palo Alto struck hot company in the 2:29 class. . There 
 Avas that good horse Wilton that in his next race made 
 a record of 2:19^, and the fast Blue Bull mare Lucy 
 Fry, 2:20f (whose dam was the well-known old gray 
 campaigner, Kitty Bates, 2:19), besides Frank Middle- 
 town and others. I had third position at the start, Lucy 
 Fry being between me and the pole-horse, Wilton hav- 
 ing the bad luck to draw the tenth and last place in 
 
PALO ALTO AND WILTON. 157 
 
 the field. It was not unusual for Palo Alto to blunder 
 a little in the first heat of a race, and he lost his feet 
 just as we got off. Wilton shot to the front before we 
 had o^one far ; Lucy Fry and Palo Alto chased him up 
 the stretch, but failed to catch him, Wilton winning 
 in 2:2tl:, with my colt second. Wilton and Palo Alto 
 had it to themselves from the start in the second heat, 
 and trotted like a team nearly the whole route. Mike 
 Bowerman called on Wilton in his most energetic and 
 approved style for a finish ; I did not give Palo Alto 
 any peace either, and he won the heat for us pretty 
 handily in 2:22. It was now late, rapidly getting dark, 
 and the judges postponed the race The next morning 
 was warm and the track was fast. The race was con- 
 fined really to Wilton, Palo Alto and Lucy Fry, the 
 rest having no chance with these. Lucy was quick at 
 the start, and generall}" got away in front of us. but in 
 both the third and last heats she was overtaken by 
 Bowerman with his pony, and myself with the four- 
 year-old colt, before she got much more than round the 
 first turn. In each heat Wilton made a great fight, 
 and the two horses were so closely matched that the 
 slightest mistake mio^ht have chano^ed the result. In 
 both heats I managed to beat him in the last hundred 
 yards by very hard driving, the time being 2:22 and 
 2:20^. This race showed that Palo Alto was a good 
 race-horse, for Wilton had just as much and probably 
 a shade more speed than Palo Alto then had, and he 
 had, moreover, the advantage of two 3^ears in age. A 
 four-year-old record of 2:20^ in a fourth heat would 
 have been highly creditable under much more favor- 
 able circumstances. 
 
158 tkaininCt the trotting horse. 
 
 The close and exciting contest at East Saginaw 
 showed Wilton and Palo Alto to be jDretty well 
 matched, and as both were entered in the $5,000 stake 
 for the 2:30 chiss, to be trotted July 22d at Detroit, 
 that event became decidedly interesting. Palo Alto 
 had not had a sufficient preparation to meet the strain 
 of a fighting-race like that at Saginaw without feehng 
 its effects, and he was not as good a horse at Detroit 
 as he was at Saginaw. He was a trifle muscle-sore, 
 and consequently unsteady when the pinch came. 
 There were only five starters in the race, the now 
 famous Guy with Splan behind him being one, but 
 about all the good he did that day was to make trouble 
 at the start, and give exhibitions of various ways of 
 going, exchisive of the trot. He has kept up his reputa- 
 tion, thouo^h when he takes it in his head to trot he is 
 " a whirlwind " sure enough. Palo Alto went into the 
 air at the start in the first heat, and I just steadied 
 him and made no move for the heat. Wilton never 
 was headed and won in fine style in 2:19|. The next 
 heat I kept Wilton pretty close company all tlie way, 
 but Palo Alto left his feet in the stretch and lost 
 the heat in 2:19i. In the third heat Palo Alto made 
 a still better fight, and had the best of it at the head 
 of the stretch. He carried Wilton to a break, but just 
 at the critical moment he broke also, by which time 
 Wilton had recovered and come fast to the wire, 
 ^vinning the third heat and the big stake in 2:20 flat. 
 Palo Alto was beaten, but he ^vas by no means dis- 
 graced in this the only defeat he has ever met. Indeed 
 this race is a brighter mark in his brdliant career than 
 many of his easy victories for the best test a race 
 
CAMPAIGNING. 159 
 
 horse can meet is to make a ^ood fight against odds, 
 and struggle bravely and with undaunted courage 
 throughout a losing battle. 
 
 Palo Alto's next race was at the Cleveland Grand 
 Circuit Meeting, in the 2:29 class, July 22d. The field 
 was not nearly of the class that he was in at Detroit, 
 and, though he lost the first heat to Mabel A. in 2:23J, 
 he won the subsequent heats too easily to call for any 
 lengthy remarks. Clipper and Mabel A. were the best 
 of the lot, and they finished, alternately, second and 
 third, Palo Alto winning in 2:23, 2:22^, 2:21|^, improv- 
 ing as the heats went on. 
 
 At Covington, Kentucky, August 2Sth, he met a fast 
 field in the 2:20 class, among them being old Deck 
 AVright, Tom Rogers and C. F. Clay. I decided that my 
 best chance for victory was in letting the rest do the 
 fighting for awhile, and so I laid Palo Alto up in the 
 first three heats. Tom Rogers won the first in 2:20|-, 
 and Deck AYright the second in 2:22^. As my time 
 for action was at hand I trotted for a fair position 
 only in the third heat, finishing third to Tom Rogers 
 in 2:23J. Then I cut Palo Alto loose and won the 
 race in 2:22f, 2:25^, 2:24|, Palo Alto again demon- 
 strating that his forte was staying rather than 
 "sprinting.'' 
 
 At Cleveland, September 18th, he again met fast and 
 thoroughly seasoned company in Harry Roberts, the 
 perennial Deck Wright, Alert and George AY. Deck 
 AYright won the first heat in 2:20J, and Harr}^ Roberts 
 the next in 2:20. Then I got Palo Alto settled for 
 business and he won the third and fourth in 2:21, 2:21-J. 
 The fifth heat I lost to Deck AYrio'ht, a bov fricj:hten- 
 
160 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 ing Palo Alto by running across the track. Darkness 
 now stopped the contest, and it went over till the next 
 Monday, with Palo Alto and Deck Wright having two 
 heats each, and Harry Roberts one. The following 
 Monday Palo Alto won the deciding heat and the 
 race comfortably enough in 2:20J. Two daj^s later he 
 "walked over" for a stake at Albany, and then we 
 headed for St. Louis. Here he was brought to the wire 
 again in the 2:20 class, the field against him being 
 Charley Hogan, 2:181; Albert France, 2:20J; Libby S., 
 2:19i, and C. F. Clay, 2:18. I concluded before the 
 race that some of these horses had a trifle too much 
 speed for me, and that it would be better to let them 
 work oif a little of it between themselves, and reserve 
 my effort until they came back a trifle toward my notch. 
 C. F. Clay went off with a rush in the first heat, and 
 Charley Hogan and Libby S. fought it out with him. 
 Clay beating Hogan in 2:18. The same horses cut out 
 the work in the next heat, but the mile in 2:18 took 
 the fight out of C. F. Clay, and the finish was between 
 Libby S. and Charley Hogan, Doble landing the latter 
 winner in 2:20^. After we got by the half-mile post 
 in the next heat I began to take a hand in the dispute 
 with Palo Alto, and beat Libby S. home easily in 2:21. 
 The fourth heat Libby S. and Palo Alto trotted neck 
 and neck nearly the entire distance, and Palo Alto 
 nearly lost it by a break in the stretch, but I caught 
 him on time to snatch it out of the fire in 2:21^, In 
 the next trip Horace Brown, the Buffalo driver, was 
 put up behind Libby S., and in some way he and Van 
 Ness, driving Albert France, got into collision at the 
 first turn, and in the general confusion Palo Alto became 
 
NINE STARTS EIGHT VICTORIES. 161 
 
 "rattled " and made a very bad break, not settling until 
 he was back of the field. Tan Kess got out of the 
 tangle best, and went after Charley Hogan, with Palo 
 Alto hard on his track. But there was too much 
 ground to make up in the stretch, and Palo Alto broke 
 in a muscle-tired fashion, Albert France winning in 
 2:24^. My horse cooled out very well and he won the 
 deciding heat without much trouble in 2:25. It was a 
 trying race, and everv horse was tired, making it all 
 the more creditable for the four-year-old to stay and 
 win in the end. 
 
 This campaign showed him to be a true and 
 game four-year-old race-horse. Out of nine starts he 
 scored eight victories. He had, like all horses, his 
 peculiarities. He generally had to trot a heat in com- 
 pany before he was ready to go out for the mone\% 
 and in driving him you had to strike a very happy 
 medium. He required vigorous and constant driving, 
 but there was a line beyond which it meant disaster to 
 go. He could not be driven with an over-check — he 
 liked a side-check with an independent snaffle-bit. His 
 gait is good and pure, carrying ten-ounce shoes in 
 front and five behind, and the usual protecting-boots 
 all around. Notwithstanding that his dam is thor- 
 oughbred, he is a good-headed horse, being certainly as 
 steady as the average purely trotting-bred horse, and 
 showing certainly no more disposition to leave his feet 
 under hard pressure than fast trotters usually do. 
 
 Palo Alto suffered in the fire of April, 1888, and had 
 indeed a narrow escape from being burned to death. 
 But few of the scars have lasted, his most conspicuous 
 loss being the demoralization of his tail (as our faithful 
 
162 • TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 picture shows), which, never very full, is now light 
 enough to suggest " bangfng." Indeed, he would pass 
 for a very fair-looking thoroughbred. 
 
 Trouble developed in 1888 in one of his fore feet 
 or pasterns — in fact, it was a little difficult to exactly 
 locate the ailment, and he had to be thrown out of 
 training. The past spring I began, with many mis- 
 givings — "doubting, hoping, fearing" — to work him 
 again. He did not go wholly sound, and indeed was 
 lame in some of his best performances ; but, as the 
 brief summar\^ below of Avhat he did in 1889 shows, he 
 demonstrated himself about as great a trotting-stallion 
 as has yet appeared on the turf, taking a record of 
 2:1 2i, the fastest mile ever trotted by a stallion, with 
 the single exception of the wonderful colt Axtell. 
 After standing unequaled for five years, it is some- 
 what strange that the stallion record should be wiped 
 out in a single season, both by a three-}^ ear-old colt 
 and a stallion whose dam was thoroughbred. But it is 
 the unexpected that always happens. 
 
 For a long time the trouble in Palo Alto's foot 
 puzzled me. Though I never gave up hope entirely 
 that he would train again, the prospect was not cheer- 
 ing. I thought the trouble was in the ankle, but kept 
 watching and finally found that the fore foot had 
 spread too far. I then shod him with a bar shoe, and 
 had clips put on the outside of the shoe to prevent 
 spreading, and the horse commenced to improve at 
 once, though he showed soreness several times last 
 summer. 
 
 Palo Alto's first start in 1889 was at Napa, August 
 13th, where, in the 2:20 class, he beat Bay Kose, Jim 
 
PALO ALTO IN 1889. 163 
 
 L. and Victor in straight heats in 2:21^, 2:20, 2:18. At 
 Petakmia, August 28th, he again won the 2:20 class 
 race, his time being 2:201, 2:21i 2:23^, Bay Eose 
 winning the second heat in 2:20^. September 2d, at 
 Oakland, he beat the same field in straight heats in 
 2:221 2:20, 2:19^ At the same track on the Tth, 
 he defeated Lilly Stanle}^ in 2:18^, 2:19i, 2:2Ui At 
 Stockton, Palo Alto trotted the most brilliant race 
 trotted by any horse in 1889. He had Direct and Bay 
 Eose to beat, and he did it in 2:16^-, 2:lTf, 2:13|, the 
 last being the fastest third heat ever trotted by a 
 stallion, xlt tha Bay District track, Xovember 2d, he 
 trotted against time in 2:15. On Xovember 9th he 
 trotted this track in 2:12^, with a losing break at the 
 finish. Then we took him to Xapa, Stamboul going 
 also, and on Xovember 16th both stallions made 
 records of 2:12^. Palo Alto's feet hurt him and he 
 broke in the last quarter, but settled in time to finish 
 well. Eain prevented further attempts to break the 
 stallion record which Axtell had set at 2:12, but had 
 the weather remained fair it is not certain that there 
 would not at the end of 1889 have been two stallions 
 with records faster than Axtell. 
 
 Palo Alto's campaign of 1889 needs no eulogy or 
 elaboration. Only a bare statement of the recorded 
 facts is necessarj^ to show its briUiancj. 
 
164 TKAmma the trotting horse. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SUDIE D. TAKES THE YEARLING HONORS TO KENTUCKY FOR 
 A BRIEF SEASON NORLAINE, THE CHAMPION YEAR- 
 LING — HER TRAINING SHE BREAKS SUDIE D.'s REC- 
 ORD IN 2:3 1-J- — NORYAL, 2:1 7|-, her sire — sallie 
 
 BENTON, 2:lTf, the CHAMPION FOUR - YEAR - OLD OF 
 
 HER DAY HELEN, 2:22f SPHINX, 2:23 — BELL BOY, 
 
 2:19|^ CHIMES AND SUISUN OTHER STARS. 
 
 From the day that Hinda Eose made her record of 
 2:36^ in 18S1 there was no yearhng produced in 
 America to threaten that record until the season of 
 1887, and as long as it \vas not menaced we made no 
 effort to improve it. But a surprise came from Ken- 
 tucky in the year last mentioned, when the deeds of 
 Sudie D. made her famous. This filly is by Sherman's 
 Hambletonian, out of a daughter of American Clay, 
 and must have shown great promise early in the sum- 
 mer, for it was said that Bowerman Bros., of Lexing- 
 ton, bought her in August for $1,300. After George 
 Bowerman drove her a trial in 2:36, John S. Clark, of 
 New Jersey, gave — so the papers said — $5,000 for her. 
 He started her at Lexington, October 16th, and she 
 went the mile in 2:35|. When the news arrived that 
 the Palo Alto yearling record had been eclipsed we 
 at once set to work to bring the honor back. The 
 time was short, and we had to pick a good one of 
 
NOKLAIXE. 165 
 
 our youngsters and push development at high pres- 
 sure. The most forward of our yearlings was the 
 filly Xorlaine, by Xorval (present record, 2:lTi), out of 
 Elaine, 2:20 — the fast mare by Messenger Duroc, out 
 of Green Mountain Maid, whose history I have 
 already given. She was a rather dull brown in color, 
 a trifle pony-built in some respects, but with a long, 
 low-set body, short, sloping hip of the pacing forma- 
 tion, and low at the wither. Her legs and feet were 
 of the best quahty, and she had a level head. JSTorlaine 
 was not impressive in appearance until you saw her 
 go. She was always fast from her first lesson on the 
 miniature track, and I began working her in April, 
 but gave her only the easiest of work, as the intention 
 was not to start her until she was two years old. But 
 Sudie D.'s brilliant performance in October changed 
 all this, and I then began training the filly in earnest, 
 working her twice a day. In doing this, of course, I 
 took chances of injuring her, and, indeed, of breaking 
 her down. Had we began earlier she could have been 
 given more work, and could have been developed to a 
 higher point, with little or no risk ; but we never allow 
 such considerations to stand in the way when the 
 supremacy of Palo Alto in colt records is at stake. 
 The filly took her hard work with relish, and improved 
 under it until November 12th, when we felt that she 
 was equal to the task of plucking the fresh laurels 
 from Sudie D.'s brow. The trial was made at the Bay 
 District track, San Francisco, and she trotted the mile 
 in 2:31^, a yearling record that has a good chance to 
 last as long as Hinda Kose's. The time by quarters 
 was 0:39, 0:36, 0:38, 0:38^. Xow I wish to say that I 
 
166 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 made a mistake in driving this trial, and had my " fore- 
 sight been as good as my hindsight" on that occasion 
 the record would surely have been a trifle faster. She 
 faltered in going away, and the time to the eighth was 
 0:20. Then she again made a little mistake, but went 
 to the quarter in 0:38 J. From this point on the Bay 
 District track there is an up-grade, and without think- 
 ing of this I began urging the filly and sent her the 
 second quarter in 0:36 — a 2:24 gait, which is certainly 
 a terrific pace for a yearling baby. My error was in 
 beginning the drive too early ; had I gone easy to the 
 three-eighth pole and come down the grade fast to 
 the finish the time for the mile would have been 
 faster. 
 
 After making this marvelous mile the filly was 
 turned out until March. A few weeks before the fire 
 she was taken up, and showed great improvement as 
 soon as work was begun. She had a world of speed, 
 and gave such promise that I expected her to take a 
 record at two years old as fast as the record of her 
 dam — 2:20. In the fire of April, 1888, the little queen 
 was burned to death, and in her Palo Alto lost a star 
 that would have ranked among its brightest. 
 
 She had a right to be a great mare, for not only was 
 her dam Elaine a great trotter, but so was her sire 
 Norval. This horse was foaled in 1882, and therefore 
 got Norlaine in his three-year old form, and she was 
 the only foal he sired previous to 1888. He is by 
 Electioneer, out of the gray mare Norma, 2:33|, by 
 Alexander's ISTorman ; second dam by Todhunter's Sir 
 Wallace, and next dam Eagletta, by the race-horse 
 Grey Eagle. Besides Norval, Norma produced Lucy 
 
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 K. 
 
 
SALLIE BENTOX. 167 
 
 Cuyler, owned by Eobert Bonner, and she is credited 
 with having gone a mile in 2:15|^ — privately. Xorval 
 was worked young and was one of our fastest colt- 
 trotters. I have driven him quarters close to 0:33, 
 and in his two-year-old form he was almost as fast as 
 Palo Alto. But he went wrong- in a leo^, and we 
 decided to give him a long rest. In the fall of ISSS he 
 began to round to, and was then sold to Colonel Robert 
 P. Pepper, of Frankfort, Kentucky. Good fortune fol- 
 lowed him, and in Colonel Pepper's hands he trained on 
 so well that last summer he took a record of 2:1 TJ. 
 He is one of the most magnificent sons of Electioneer 
 in form, in quality, in action, and indeed in every par- 
 ticular, and in him Colonel Pepper has a horse that I 
 believe will prove one of the greatest sires in Kentucky. 
 "With a sire and dam whose average record is 2:18f, 
 and both splendid individuals and richly bred, JS'orlaine 
 had the right to be a trotter. 
 
 I have already referred in several places to the 
 famous gray mare, Sallie Benton, but have given no 
 sJxetch of her, and, though it is a little out of the 
 chronological order, we may without impropriety pay- 
 due tribute to her at this place. She is a gray mare 
 of racy and good form, and was got by Gen. Benton, 
 out of Sontag Mohawk, a daughter of "Mohawk Chief. 
 I worked her considerably in her two-year-old form, 
 and as a three-year-old she, besides having a walk-over, 
 won two good races, taking a record of 2:30. We 
 worked her through the following winter, until the 
 death of Leland Stanford, Jr., when all work was 
 stopped and she ran out nearly all summer. In Sep- 
 tember, at Cleveland, Ohio, the Glenview mare Elvira 
 
168 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 trotted in 2:18|^, beating Bonita's four-year-old record, 
 and then we had the task before us of regaining the 
 four-year-old honors. I began preparing Sallie Ben- 
 ton, Helen (by Gen. Benton) and Hinda Rose to go 
 againsf Elvira's time. The trials were at the Bay 
 District track, December 13, 1881. First I tried with 
 Hinda Rose, and her time was 2:20^. Then I drove 
 Helen, and the best she did was 2:22f . The last string 
 left was Sallie Benton, and right nobly she answered 
 the question that was asked of her. She made the 
 mile in 2:17f, and this four-year-old record stood un- 
 beaten until Manzanita's day. 
 
 When going slow, say at a 2:30 gait, Sallie Benton 
 seemed rather awkward and tumbling in her gait, but 
 at high speed her action was pure and beautiful. 
 She did not pull, and was very resolute in carrying her 
 speed. In making her 2:lTf record she made a break, 
 and her great speed is shown by the fact that I drove 
 her a quarter in 0:30J as a five-year-old. In that year 
 she developed trouble in a rear tendon, and though 
 with our stable in the East, she gave way at Rochester 
 and we had to throw her out of training. She is now 
 a brood-mare at Palo Alto, and we have seen enough 
 to warrant high expectations of her in the stud. 
 
 Helen, the mare that trotted in 2:22f, is not as well 
 known to fame as she should be. She was a bay mare 
 by Gen. Benton, out of Alameda Maid, 2:27^, by Whip- 
 ple's Hambletonian. At Lexington, Kentucky, August 
 31, 1883, she won the third heat of a race against 
 Fugue in 2:30^. The next year, as stated, she trotted 
 the Bay District track in 2:22f, and in her five-year- 
 old form I worked her a mile in 2:19. At Chicago 
 
SPHINX. 169 
 
 that season we started her in the 2:30 class, against 
 Harry C, Endymion, and ten others. In the fourth 
 heat there was a collision in which I was thrown out, 
 and the mare ran away two miles, and was of course 
 distanced. Her only other start was on a muddy 
 track at St. Louis where she could do nothing in the 
 going. She had a big swinging gait, was slow and 
 awkward in getting away, and had a great deal of 
 speed, but required plenty of education in races. 
 
 In drawing our historical portion of this book to a 
 close, I cannot refer to all the trotters I have trained 
 at Palo Alto that are entitled to consideration, but 
 there are two or three more that we cannot pass by 
 without some measure of just remark. One of the most 
 prominent and most meritorious of the horses to which 
 no special reference has yet been made is Sphinx, son 
 of Electioneer, out of Sprite, by Alexander's Belmont, 
 and next dam the famous AVater witch, by Pilot Jr. 
 He was foaled in 1SS3, was worked considerably as a 
 yearling, and went East as a two-year-old. He was 
 twice beaten by Xutbreaker and beat that good two- 
 year-old once. He took a two year-old record of 2:29^. 
 At St. Louis, where he met Xutbreaker for the last 
 time that year, he won the first heat, and I thought 
 the second too, but both colts broke just at the finish, 
 and the judges curiousl}^ gave the heat to Xutbreaker 
 because Sphinx made the best break. The next year, 
 in his three-year-old form, he started eight times, win- 
 ning four times. August 25th, at Covington, Ken- 
 tucky, he beat Geneva and Phythias in straight heats, 
 and at the same place, a few days later, he beat Cas- 
 talia in a four-heat race, taking a record of 2:2^^ in the 
 
170 TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 fourth heat. He was beaten by Bermuda, at Lexing- 
 ton, September 1st. At Albany he walked over twice, 
 and again met Bermuda and Nutbreaker in that great 
 three-3"ear-old race, which it took six heats to decide, 
 Kutbreaker winning a heat and making two-dead heats 
 with Bermuda, who then won. Sphinx was now a little 
 stale. He was also defeated by Kutbreaker at St. 
 Louis, and again by Wild Kake in fast time — 2:241, 
 2:21:i, 2:22f. The following year, in the hands of his 
 present owners, Sutherland & Benjamin, East Saginaw, 
 Michigan, he made a four-year-old record of 2:23. 
 Sphinx was a good race-horse, and has the action, 
 blood and individual force for a successful trotting 
 sire. 
 
 Among the best youngsters we have sold that were 
 partially developed at Palo Alto may be mentioned 
 Bell Boy, Suisun and Chimes. It is my belief that 
 each of these three horses would now have had records 
 in the 2:20 list, or very close to it, had the}^ remained 
 at Palo Alto ; whereas, as it is, only Bell Boy has done 
 nobly, while Suisun and Chimes hang on the out- 
 skirts of 2:30, though the former has repeatedly 
 beaten that figure, and the latter showed speed enough 
 to do so. 
 
 Bell Boy, the brother of St. Bel, Hinda Eose and 
 Palo Alto Belle was broken and worked by me as a 
 yearhng, and, after trotting a quarter in 0:38, he was 
 sold to S. A. Browne, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, for 
 $5,000. In Mr. Browne's hands, trained by Sam 
 Caton, he made a two-year-old record of 2:26. Mr. 
 Browne sold him for $35,000 to Seaman & Jefferson, 
 and in the fall of 1888, Caton brought him to Call- 
 
BELL BOY, SUISUN AXD CHIMES. 171 
 
 fornia, and in a rainstorm gave him a three-year-old 
 record of 2:19^. Later on he was sold by auction to 
 Clark & Hopper, at Lexington, for S51,000 — the 
 highest price ever paid for a horse at public sale — and 
 has since been burned to death. 
 
 The filly Suisun was among the best of the young 
 Electioneers I had trained up to her time. She is bred 
 to trot and stay, being out of Susie, 2:26J, by George 
 M. Patchen Jr., 2:27, son of George M. Patchen, 2:23^, 
 and her grandam was by Owen Dale, son of William- 
 son s Belmont. We campaigned her in her two-year- 
 old form — 1886 — and she won each of her two races, 
 beating in the first Chastelard and Estelle, and in the 
 second Ben Hur, Victor Wilkes and Georgette, trotting 
 the third heat of her last race in 2:31|^. At Cleveland, 
 after she had gone a public trial in 2:28, we sold her to 
 W. B. Fasig for J. B. Houston, of Xew York, for $5,000. 
 Last spring Mr. Houston sold her for over §10,000, and 
 "General" Turner campaigned her in the Circuit, but 
 without getting her out of the class in which he began 
 with her. 
 
 Chimes (brother to Bell Boy, St. Bel, Hinda Kose 
 and Palo Alto Belle) we sold to C. J. Hamlin, at the 
 beginning of our campaign of 1886 at East Saginaw, 
 for §12,000. That year he made a two-year-old record 
 of 2:33|-. I began working this colt when he was nine 
 months old, and before he was fourteen months old he 
 showed a quarter in thirty-five seconds. I regarded 
 him as one of our most promising youngsters. In his 
 two-year-old form he worked three-quarters at a 2:24 
 gait. This was at East Saginaw, after Mr. Hamlin 
 bought him. Had I kept him in my stable he would 
 
172 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 surely have had a two-year-old record below 2:25. But 
 after he went into Mr. Hamlin's stable he went back, 
 for when I saw him later at Cleveland he was not at 
 himself. After this I was informed that Mr. Hamlin 
 had toe-weights put on him. and if that be true I can 
 readih' understand his falling away from his true form. 
 We wore a ten-ounce shoe on him, and he had no need 
 of toe -weights. He has, I understand, grown very 
 large, not being so compactly, strongly and closely 
 built as his more distinguished brothers, and under his^ 
 new training he has never been the horse he was be- 
 fore he left Palo Alto. 
 
 Bat the list of the good ones seems endless, and after 
 I have w^ritten far more than I intended of a historical 
 nature I find that a brilliant galaxy of trotters that I 
 ha7e trained and developed must be passed by without 
 justice being done them. Ansel, 2:20; Azmoor, 2:24|^-y 
 Carrie C, 2:24; Chfton Bell, 2:24; Maiden, 2:23; Ger- 
 trude Kussell, 2:23^ : Rexford, 2:23, and many others, 
 would afford good material for additional chapters, but 
 we must hasten on to the chapters on training, and so 
 will end our historical chapters with a strong finish — 
 the history of the greatest trotter the world has yet 
 seen, the peerless and unrivaled Sunol. 
 
 •'' None but herself can be her parallel." 
 
STINOL. 173 
 
 CHAPTEK XIY. 
 
 STJNOL, THE PHENOMENAL TROTTER OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 CENTURY — HER BREEDING AND HER FORM HER 
 
 TEMPER AND NERVOUS ORGANIZATION HER FIRST 
 
 LESSONS — TRAINING ON TO GREATNESS DETAILS OF 
 
 HOW SHE WAS WORKED WINS HER FIRST RACE 
 
 LOWERING THE TWO-YEAR-OLD BECORD TO 2:20^ — • 
 LOWERING IT AGAIN TO 2:18 — THE WINTER OF 1888-9 
 
 A LIST OF BRILLIANT PERFORMANCES CHA^klPION 
 
 THREE-YEAR-OLD OF THE WORLD — 2:10|^. 
 
 The filly Sunol was foaled April 14, 1886. Her 
 ■sire was Electioneer, and her dam is the chestnut mare 
 Waxana, by Gen. Benton, and Waxana's dam was the 
 mare Waxy, whose pedigree has been the subject of 
 SO much controversy. AYaxy was always represented 
 to be by Lexington, but until Sunol trotted in 2:18 at 
 two years old no serious attempt was made to establish 
 it. After Mr. Wallace, the compiler of the Trotting 
 Eegister, questioned it, Governor Stanford employed 
 Mr. Levi S. Gould, of Boston, a gentleman of much ex- 
 perience in tracing pedigrees, to investigate it. The 
 controversy over this pedigree would fill many pages 
 of this book, and of course I will not burden it 
 with the dreary details, it being unnecessary to say 
 more than that Mr. Gould reported, after a long and 
 thorough investigation, that Waxy was a thorough- 
 
174 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 bred daughter of Lexington, out of a mare by Grey 
 Eagle, and that she was a full sister to Annette, the 
 dam of Ansel, 2:20. AVhether this pedigree is proven 
 or not is a matter of opinion — Governor Stanford and 
 the general public accepting, and Mr. Wallace disput- 
 ing it — but be the exact blood lines what the}^ may, it 
 is conceded by all who knew AYaxy and knew her 
 history that she was a thoroughbred, or we might say 
 a racing-bred mare, that she raced, and that she pro- 
 duced in Alpha a good race-horse. That, after all, is 
 the most important point about it. 
 
 SunoFs dam, AVaxana, is a stout, big mare of excel- 
 lent make-up. She was well-broken and driven, and 
 though she never was transferred from the breaking 
 barn to the training stables she could show about a 
 2:40 gait, and her action was good. 
 
 Sunol grew into a bay mare of rather unusual and 
 peculiar form, one of the most "speedy-shaped'' ever 
 seen, and a veritable racing-machine in appearance. 
 She stands 15.2 hands high at the wither, and measured 
 at the quarter she stands full 16 hands. She has an 
 exquisitely fine head, clean cut, expressive and bespeak- 
 ing determination, the nostril full and delicate, and the 
 eye prominent and striking. Her neck is long and 
 shapely, delicately cut out at the throat ; the shoulder 
 lays well back; the barrel is very deep through the 
 heart region, and the back a little on the roached 
 order, and very strong. Her height over the quarters, 
 and her short, steep rump give her a somewhat re- 
 markable appearance. The stifles are good, and her 
 thighs of great length sweep down muscular and sinewy 
 to the hocks, which like her knees are excellent. Her 
 
BREAKING SUNOL. 1 i O 
 
 legs are clean and flat and of fine quality, and she 
 stands on first-rate feet. 
 
 She was fast in the paddock, but we had trouble in 
 breaking her. She \Yas terribly high strung and 
 cranky from the outset, and every time it was neces- 
 sary to bring her under any sort of control or direction 
 there was trouble. In the hands of a rough, harsh or 
 bad-tempered trainer Sunol would have been ruined 
 beyond a doubt. We began to break her to harness at 
 a year old, We were as gentle as possible with her, 
 had every consideration for the high tension at which 
 her nerves were strung, and endeavored to gain her 
 confidence. After we had her used to the harness, and 
 to being guided by bridle and rein, she was worked a 
 little while bv the side of a steadv-o;oiuf]: horse, and 
 was then asked to go in single harness. But this the 
 haughty spirit of the coming queen would not calmly 
 brook. It was a difficult thino^ to get her into the 
 shafts, and after she was in she would do about every- 
 thing possible except go ahead in a decorous and 
 proper manner. In the skeleton-wagon she was 
 mean — would go sideways, stop, turn, etc., and in short 
 her course of education, in the breaking- barn, was a 
 rather turbulent one — and she did not graduate with 
 the highest honors, as to docility and rehabihty, when 
 she was transferred from that primary department 
 into my training-school in the fall of 1887. But that 
 great sieve, the miniature track, had sifted her out as 
 pure wheat, and we knew before we broke her that 
 she was the rough stone that only required tlie 
 trainer's polish to transform into a gem of the bright- 
 est ray. 
 
176 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 For a good while after she came into my stable we 
 could count upon an hour's time as the average dura- 
 tion of the process of hitching Sunol to a sulky. Not 
 that she was exactly vicious, but she had and has a 
 will, a temper and a determination of her own, and 
 at that time every individual hair seemed to contain 
 a nerve. 
 
 I worked her very carefully through the winter of 
 1887-88, stepping her fast for a short distance every 
 other day or two. I strove to " gentle " her and never 
 to do anything to make her dislike her exercise and 
 work on the track. After she began going fast I 
 would usually take her first to the back-stretch, where 
 there was less to disturb and annoy her than on the 
 stretch near the stables; and, after working there 
 about long enough, I would step her around and down 
 the stretch at the rate of about 0:35 to the quarter. I 
 never would drive over half a mile fast at one brush, 
 and, generally, the brushes were nearer a quarter than 
 a half. This system of Avork continued until July, 
 when we shipped to Los Angeles, where she was 
 entered in a two-year-old race to be trotted August 5th. 
 We arrived at Los Angeles about July 20th, and up till 
 this time Sunol had never been driven a mile at 
 speed in her life. Four days before the race I gave 
 her a full mile in 2:40^, which was her first work at 
 a mile, although, as I have remarked, she had before 
 this shown me the ability to speed at a 2:20 gait. 
 I repeated her in 2:38. The next day she was 
 merely exercised, and the second day before the race 
 I gave her another mile and repeat in 2:36 and 
 2:33^^. In the race her only opponent Avas Hon. L. J. 
 
JJ- 
 
 in 
 
 •"7 CO 
 
 CO Q 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 tJ 
 
 C4 
 
BREAKING THE RECORD. 177 
 
 Eose's filly Yesolia, by that great horse Stamboul, 
 2:12J, and she was quite a good filly, by the way. 
 My single fear was that Sunol would become so fright- 
 ened at the crowd that she might not steady herself. 
 So before the race I endeavored to accustom her to the 
 people, driving easily up and down the stretch on two 
 or three occasions. Still she was hardly reconciled to 
 the noise and excitement of the race-track, but she won 
 the race in 2:314 and 2:25. We then went home and 
 trained her as usual, driving no more miles, but speed- 
 ing fast quarters, with an occasional "pipe-opener"' at 
 a half. Her next engagement was at Petaluma, 
 August 22d. After going to Petaluma I drove her a 
 mile and repeat in 2:38 and 2:33. This was on the 
 20th. In the race she had Margaret S. (by Director) 
 and Fortuna agamst her. She broke going away in 
 the first heat, but settled and won it in 2:28^. The 
 next heat she won m 2:26|, almost walking under the 
 wire. AVe returned to Palo Alto, and kept her at 
 home until the second week in October, when we went 
 to the Bay District track, at San Francisco. Here she 
 was driven a mile and repeat on two occasions — the 
 first in 2:32 and 2:35, and the second in 2:2S|^ and 2:23. 
 The latter work was on the 18th. On the 20th she 
 was to start against the two-year-old record — 2:21 — 
 made by AYildflower, but she was not in condition to 
 do herself full justice. She was suffering from troubles 
 peculiar to her sex, and being naturally of a nervous 
 temperament, was not near her best. But she suc- 
 ceeded in breaking the record in 2:20|^. I was not 
 satisfied with this, and decided to remain at the track 
 for another week and o^ive her another trial on the 
 
178 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 27th. AVe worked her no more full miles in the mean- 
 time, bat endeavored to have her on edge as to speed, 
 and to feel as well as possible under the circumstances. 
 The track was good that day, excepting immediately 
 in front of the grand-stand, where it had not dried out 
 perfectly. My friend Orrin Hickok drove tiie run- 
 ning-horse in this trial, and no man could do it with 
 better judgment. I carried my watch as usual — in my 
 hand — and according to its showing we went the first 
 quarter in 0:35, the second in 0:35, the third in 0:34 
 and the fourth in 0:34 — 2:18. The judges caught the 
 same time for the mile, but their official verdict as to 
 the fractional time differed slightly from mine, they 
 making it 0:35, 0:341, 0:34i, 0:34^. This performance 
 of course made Sunol's name world-famous, and it was 
 conceded to be, all things considered, the greatest per- 
 formance ever seen ; and, excepting her own 2:10^ at 
 three years old, I know of no more creditable trotting 
 performance on record than 2:18 for a two-year-old. 
 
 After this Sunol was taken home and given a vaca- 
 tion for the winter. She was not turned out, but had 
 her exercise regularh^ in the skeleton- wagon, never, 
 however, being speeded fast. About midwinter I had 
 her turned out one day in a grassy paddock, and she 
 was so full of animal spirits that, in rearing and pranc- 
 ing, she strained a tendon in the right hind leg. This 
 swelled up, and at one time gave me some reason to 
 fear that it might have a serious influence on her future 
 as a turf star. But I treated it constantly with cooling 
 lotions, and two or three good cold shower-baths a 
 week, and in time all signs of the trouble disap- 
 peared. This gave rise to an erroneous rumor that 
 
SUNOL AND LILLIAN WILKES. 179 
 
 I had been trainino^ her under pretty high pressure 
 during the winter, and that she had broken down. 
 
 She was given only exercise until my return from 
 JSTew York, May 19th. Then I found her hind ankles 
 not in the best of shape, but commenced joggmg her. 
 It was about a month before I dared give her fast 
 work ; and she was brushed very little until I had her 
 legs well seasoned. Then I worked her on our usual 
 speed-making plan until she could step a quarter in 
 about 0:30. Having the necessary speed, I gave her 
 mile and repeat work, and when I left home she was 
 in splendid form, and fit to race with anything. At 
 the Bay District track she caught cold, and this 
 developed a case of distemper so severe that she did 
 not eat for five days. At ^"apa the weather was 
 intensely hot, which did not agree with her. Her 
 appetite was not good, and being a very highly organ- 
 ized mare, of nervous temperament, she became much 
 reduced. I skipped the Santa Eosa Meeting, thinking 
 she would have ample time to recover her strength 
 before filling her engagement at Petaluma. But she 
 was more reduced than I supposed, and was far from 
 being right when she met Lillian Wilkes and Margaret 
 S., at Petaluma, August 29th. My friend Goldsmith 
 had Lillian Wilkes in fine shape, and Margaret S. made 
 me go the first heat in 2:21^. Then Lillian was cut 
 loose and won the race in 2:17f, 2:22, 2:25. I think, 
 however, even in the condition Sunol was, I could that 
 day have beaten Lillian single-handed. 
 
 A week later, at Oakland, Sunol again met Lillian 
 Wilkes and Margaret S., and avenged the Petaluma 
 defeat, winning in straight heats in 2:21, 2:24J, 2:20. 
 
180 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 Here is a list of her other achievements in 1889 : — 
 
 Sacramento, September 12th, walk-over. Time, 
 2:16i. 
 
 Sacramento, September 17th, beat Margaret S. Time, 
 2:20i, 2:26i, 2:18. 
 
 Fresno, October 2d, against time — 2:13f. 
 
 San Francisco, October 12th, walk -over. Time, 
 2:15i. 
 
 San Francisco, November 9th, walk -over. Time, 
 2:101 
 
 Napa, November 16th, against time — 2:15. 
 
 The fight between Axtell and Sunol, for the three- 
 year-old championship, Avas the all-absorbing event of 
 the trotting turf of 1889. When Axtell trotted in 
 2:14, at Chicago, our Eastern friends were confident, 
 but SunoFs 2:13i set them at work again, and at Terre 
 Haute Axtell trotted in 2:12. Then all the East was 
 ablaze with joy, and hardly a man dared be so rash as 
 predict that Sunol would beat it, but when she trotted 
 in 2:10|^ all candid men recognized that, great as Axtell 
 is, the world has never seen Sunol's equal. For a three- 
 year-old to beat 2:12 by one and one-half seconds is 
 certainly conclusive. Seconds are big things when you 
 go down around 2:12. So the season of 1889, opening 
 somewhat unfavorably, was one of great triumph for 
 Sunol, for she closed it as plainly the greatest of all 
 three-year-olds, as she proved herself in 1888 the 
 greatest of all two-year-olds. If no mishap befalls 
 her she is destined to reign queen of the turf ! 
 
 Though I have left many really great young trotters 
 unsketched, here we must conclude the historical por- 
 tion of this work. It has already gone far beyond the 
 
WHAT OUR SYSTEM HAS DONE. 181 
 
 limit intended in my original plan, but when I come to 
 write it I find so much that should be said that greater 
 condensation was hardly possible. Though not as 
 instructive, perhaps, as the chapters that follow, the 
 history we have given is not, I think, without its 
 lessons, and certainly not without much bearing on the 
 remaining chapters of this work. The little glimpses 
 I have given of how we trained these famous trotters 
 will show that we have not followed altogether in 
 beaten paths, and that our departures from old- 
 fashioned grooves have not been barren of good results. 
 To train 
 
 A yearling to trot in 2:31|^ ; 
 
 A two-year-old to trot in 2:18 ; 
 
 A three-year-old to trot in 2:10|^ ; 
 
 A four-year-old to trot in 2:16 ; 
 
 A stallion to trot in 2:12i ; 
 (the four first being the world's record for their 
 respective ages, and the latter within a quarter of a 
 second of the present stallion record), to say nothing 
 of the many others wiiose performances were less 
 sensational, is not a bad showing for ten years' w^ork at 
 one farm. I have told as briefl}^ as I can do so justly 
 what this system of training has accomplished. Xow" 
 I propose to describe w^hat the system of training is 
 that has given such gratifying results. 
 
182 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEK XY. 
 
 A CHAPTER ON EARLY TRAINING — THE SUBJECT CONSIDERED 
 
 IN VARIOUS PHASES HIRAM WOODRUFF AND HIS DAY 
 
 THE ADVANCE SINCE THEN TROTTERS NOW COME TO 
 
 THEIR SPEED EARLY THE PREJUDICE AGAINST EARLY 
 
 TRAINING PASSING AWAY A PRACTICAL NECESSITY 
 
 WITH BREEDERS WHO BREED FOR PROFIT TIME THAT 
 
 MEANS MONEY THE BENEFITS OF EARLY TRAINING 
 
 ARE LASTING — IT MUST NOT BE OVERDONE THE PAST 
 
 AND PRESENT CONTRASTED. 
 
 The first man to earn a name as a trainer of trotting 
 horses, and to publish his experiences and his opinions, 
 was Hiram Woodruff, and his book — " The Trotting 
 Horse of America" — is read as a standard work to-daj, 
 though Woodruff has been under the Long Island sod 
 for over twenty years, and the crude methods of his 
 day have been reduced to quite a fine art. I Ijave no 
 desire to speak other than respectfully of the pioneer 
 of our profession or of his work. Trotting, me might 
 say, was born in his day, and he had not, as we now 
 have, the experiences and examples of others to profit 
 by. In all horse-training for speed there are general 
 principles that always apply, and the work that con- 
 fronted Hiram Woodruff and the other trainers of his 
 generation was to modify the principles of training the 
 race-horse to suit the development of speed in the 
 trotter. And though these methods were crude, as all 
 
OLD-TIME YOUNGSTERS. 183 
 
 new processes are, and thouo^h some of the ideas that 
 Woodruff believed most firmly in are no longer ten- 
 able, his book can still be read with profit, for in the 
 record of what his experiences taught him are many 
 sterling truths of horsemanship. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose to criticise the methods 
 or the opinions of others whose experience has given 
 them the right to speak with some degree of authority 
 on the subject of training. Every trainer has his own 
 ideas, his own peculiar methods, and his own reasons 
 for them. We can well learn from each other, and it 
 is therefore best that we should all be tolerant of the 
 opinions and practices of others. I shall therefore, in 
 the following chapters confine myself as closely as I 
 conveniently can to explaining our system of training 
 rather than criticising the methods of other trainers. 
 I do not counsel any trainer or breeder to discard 
 methods that he has found successful and substitute 
 ours; but what the methods I am to explain have 
 accomplished entitles them, in my judgment, at least, 
 to the careful consideration of all horsemen as an im- 
 proved system of training young horses to trot. 
 
 The thoroughbred race-horse of this day is just about 
 as good at three years old as he ever is, but in the early 
 years of the racing breed it was not so. " In the days 
 of Flying Childers, Eclipse, Bay Malton, Gimcrack, 
 Mambrino, etc., the race-horses were not commonly 
 trained until they were five years old." So in Hiram 
 Woodruff's day the trotter was quite mature in years 
 before he was expected to show high capacity on the 
 turf, while in our day we expect great performances at 
 three and four years old, and often at two years old. 
 
184 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 Woodruff quotes as quite wonderful the two-year-old 
 performance of Young America in 3:06, the mile of 
 Cora at three years old in 2:37, and of Ethan Allen in 
 2:36 at four years old. The two antl three-year-old 
 records of his day were, as they seem to us now, 
 ridiculously slow, and he was in his grave for seven 
 years before either a three or a four-year-old trotted a 
 mile as fast as 2:30. Between the best three-year-old 
 and four-year-old record and the all aged records of 
 Woodruff's time, there was such a wide gap that he 
 naturally believed that a horse must be nine or ten 
 years old before he was ready for great performances. 
 " His own loved Lady Thorn " was when he died ten 
 years old, but had not reached her best, and Dexter 
 had not then beaten Flora Temple's 2:1 9f, but as he 
 Avas only eight the old-time trainer reasoned that with 
 a little more age he would do it. To come down a 
 little further, fifteen years ago there was a gap of fifteen 
 seconds between the fastest three-year-old record and 
 the fastest all-aged record. Five 3^ears later the gap 
 was reduced to thirteen seconds. In five years more 
 Hinda Rose had closed it up to nine and a quarter 
 seconds, and only six years more have elapsed and we 
 find one three-year-old within two and a quarter 
 seconds of the fastest record for any age, and another 
 within one and three-quarter seconds of the fastest 
 record. The history of the running-breed and the 
 trotting-breed has been identical in this respect. 
 The older the breed grows, and hence the higher 
 its natural capacity in the special purpose for which 
 it is bred, the earlier this capacity manifests itself 
 in a hifjh deo^ree. In our earlier trotters the fast trot 
 
NECESSITY OF EAKLY DEVELOPMENT. 185 
 
 was almost wholly a matter of teaching — an accom- 
 plishment which it took years of practice to acquire; 
 but now it is a natural quality of the breed, a capacity 
 born in the horse, not wholly acquired and hence it 
 develops in its fullness earlier. 
 
 That the prejudice against early training in the past 
 has hindered to some extent the progress in breeding 
 the trotter I do not doubt. One effect was undeniably 
 the diverting from the trotter of the attention of men 
 who would breed if it were not that they believed it 
 necessar\^ to wait many years for any return from 
 their capital, labor and care. Thev saw that they 
 could breed race-horses and begin reapmg the harvest 
 of their success in three years at furthest, whereas the 
 prevailing sentiment would have it that the trotter at 
 three years was too young to even begin to educate. 
 But this prejudice is to a great extent passing away. 
 The business of breeding has now reached a point 
 Avhere few breeders have the inclination, even if they 
 were financially able or believed it beneficial, to wait 
 six or seven years for the get of their stallions and the 
 produce of their mares to show what their blood is 
 worth. The buyer who selects a few youngsters — a 
 stallion, perhaps, to head a future stud, or a filly or 
 two for the harem — does not want to wait for years to 
 find out whether they are worth keeping and breeding 
 from or not. Hence he buys the blood that trots 
 young. The small breeder who wishes to stint his 
 favorite mare feels that at the very best he must wait 
 a weary time ; therefore he selects the stallion whose 
 colts develop early speed. Again, and for these same 
 reasons, the cream of the patronage goes to such stall- 
 
186 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 ions, for they gain prestige and popularity before the 
 sire of a slow maturing tribe gets a start, and the latter 
 loses more ground at the beginning than he can ever 
 make up. The breeder with a large stud cannot sell 
 his stock at paying prices or cannot attract attention 
 to his horses until the youngsters trot, and so his every 
 interest impels him to breed from blood that trots 
 young, and to train the progeny 3^oung and prove that 
 they are young trotters. The sooner that is done, the 
 sooner the harvest begins. Until it is done money is 
 going out — after it is done money begins to come in. 
 When the brood-mare produces a performer at an 
 early age her mone}^ producing power is much greater 
 than if that honor came late in life when her prolific 
 days were waning. Business wisdom and business 
 necessity point the path to success in breeding from 
 early-trotting blood and in developing it early. 
 
 These facts sufficiently account for the growing ten- 
 dency toward early training and trotting and the pub- 
 lic preference for blood that trots young and trots fast. 
 Some of our great families of the past have been, it is 
 true, the slow-maturing ones; but there are just as good 
 families that we are not compelled to expend time and 
 money in unnecessarilj^ waiting upon. The earliest 
 blood matures none too early; nor can the breeder 
 bring out his colts, if they are good, any too early for 
 the best results. 
 
 But I fancy I hear some one say : '' Yes, we grant 
 that it may pay better to train and trot your horses 
 young, but will you produce horses a« good at maturity 
 in that way as the breeder does who Avaits upon them 
 until they are older, their bones full grown and set, 
 
EAKLY TKAINIXG. 187 
 
 and their whole physical organization better fitted to 
 stand the wear and tear of training V' 
 
 My answer is, " Yes, if they are properly trained,'' 
 and, of course, when I speak of the benefits of early 
 training, it is assumed that it is judicious training. 
 Four colts out of five that have suffered from early 
 training have not suffered because the\^ were trained 
 young, but because they were not properly trained. 
 There are many men who can train a mature horse, 
 and still more who can successfully drive him after 
 somebody else has trained him ; but the men capable 
 of properly and intelligently educating colt trotters are 
 as scarce as 2:15 horses. To listen to much of the 
 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 capacity 
 to train on ; and a horse lacking in this respect will 
 inevitably " go wrong " before he reaches the limit of 
 his speed capacity, no matter when he is trained. If 
 he goes wrong at two years old he will be a cheaper 
 failure than if he goes wrong at ten years old. If a 
 stallion has not the power to make a great sire, and his 
 get have not the capacity and quality to make good 
 performers the quicker the owner and trainer find it 
 out the better. 
 
 I am not only strong in the belief that the colt can 
 be trained for speed from his infancy without injury, 
 but that such training, if successfully and judiciously 
 given, is a great and lasting benefit. It will make him 
 a better aged horse. Let two colts in all other thino:s 
 equal be raised together, the one trained from his 
 yearling form, the other not worked until he is five 
 
188 TRAINING THE TR0TTI:NG HOKSE. 
 
 years old, and the chances are not one in ten that the 
 latter will ever see the da}^ that he is the equal of his 
 trained brother, either in speed or in any of the 
 qualities that go to make a race-horse. He will not 
 onl}^ be uneducated, of untrained instinct and willful, 
 but he will be deficient in physical as well as mental 
 development, as compared with the trained one. Can 
 the lounger run, leap, or wrestle with the athlete whose 
 muscles have the substance, hardness and tone of long 
 and constant training ? 
 
 If you ask me whether a great and straining effort 
 by a young colt will prove permanently detrimental, I 
 will answer, "As a rule, yes." 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 
 have been attempted in two months. But, on the other 
 hand, you can train a colt, and, if exceedingly promis- 
 ing, you can give him a fast record without necessarily 
 requiring of him an exhausting effort. There is one 
 tiling I will endeavor to impress it upon the reader 
 here, and I will endeavor to impress it upon him again 
 and again. It is this : " Xever require of the colt more 
 than he can do within himself. Xever overdo the 
 work. Never carry him to the last inch of effort, to 
 the point of exhaustion, for at that point not only does 
 all development cease but you have probably undone 
 many weeks of work, and have, perhaps, inflicted per- 
 manent injury. The reader will not fail to appreciate 
 how delicate a thing the training of the young trotter 
 is. A happy medium must always be preserved — a 
 little misstep — a little error in judgment may bring all 
 your efforts to naught. If you do not cany it far 
 
KIXDNESS. 189 
 
 enough your work will be barren of immediate results, 
 while if you carry it too far you will not only spoil all 
 that is already done but ruin the material that may be 
 the making of a star performer. It calls for the most 
 careful judgment, eternal vigilance and keen discrimi- 
 nation in know in o;- how far to o-q. 
 
 Another thing the reader's attention is directed to at 
 the outset. Xo cast-iron set of rules can be laid down 
 to fit every case. The same medicine will not suit 
 every patient, the same diet and training is not best 
 for all children, and all colts cannot be treated exactly 
 alike. ^Vhile no trainer can fail to increase his skill 
 b}^ studying the experiences of others, ten volumes, will 
 not relieve him from the necessitv of usingf his own 
 brains. Just as every man that was ever born differs in 
 some respects in his mental, moral and physical nature 
 from every other man, so do all horses differ, and from 
 every colt the trainer trains he must learn another 
 lesson. He must study the disposition and the tempera- 
 ment, res])ect the peculiarities and have regard to the 
 physical differences as well, of each of his pupils, And, 
 above all, my friend, do not go about your work like a 
 slave drivei^ ; do not conduct yourself as though the 
 colts were unfeeling, unintelligent brutes. Treat them 
 for what they are — the noblest of God's creations after 
 the human family. If you are a manly man you treat 
 children with respect for their age and their undisci- 
 plined minds — you show them the gentler side of your 
 nature. Eemember then that the colts are the children 
 of their kind. Thev are delicate and their feelinci:s 
 more sensitive, and their dispositions more easily 
 spoiled than those of the full grown horse. Firmness 
 
190 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 is sometimes required ; there is always occasion for 
 gentleness, but harshness, violence and bad temper are 
 vices in a colt-trainer that wholl}^ unfit him for his 
 business. The trainer that has the colts' confidence and 
 respect will do more and do it easier than the one who 
 is regarded by the colt with only fear and distrust. 
 You will never either scare or club him into being a 
 record-breaker ; if it cannot be done by rational educa- 
 tion it cannot be done at all. 
 
 Twenty years ago the average trainer believed that 
 the time to break a colt was at from three to four years 
 old. The first performance was a stand-up fight be- 
 tween the trainer and the colt, and perhaps the colt 
 came out of the mill worsted — he certainh^ came out 
 Avorse. It took all conceivable appliances to hold him. 
 He was strong and willful, had never known subjection, 
 and hence fierceh^ resented it. By the time he was 
 " broken " to go properly, the trainer thought he had 
 educated him, while in fact he had simply broken his 
 spirit. Then when the colt was subdued to tract- 
 ability, and training him to trot began, he was worked 
 like an old horse, speeded mile heats, and two or three 
 or four of them in a day, according to vrhether the 
 trainer believed in '" plenty work " or not. He, accord- 
 ing to these old ideas, must be reduced low in flesh, 
 well " drawn up," and hence he was " put on rations " 
 and his appetite denied especially before a race. Then 
 the horse was not considered of much account unless he 
 would "take hold of the bit,'' or in other words unless 
 he was a puller, and many of the matches were not so 
 much matches between horse and horse as between 
 driver and horse. Has not every farmer's boy been 
 
THE OLD AND THE NEW, • 191 
 
 charmed by the pictures of old-time trotters with the 
 driver laying back in a manner that suggested that the 
 reins must have had the strength of traces ? ^Ye no 
 longer believe in pulling to the half-mile pole, and then 
 riding home. The idea that it helps a horse's speed to 
 draw a man's weight on his under jaw is hardly a 
 reasonable one. In the old days, too, all the appliances 
 were coarse and heavy. The tracks were crude and 
 rough, and until twelve or fifteen years ago the seventy- 
 five pound sulky was concidered a " frail bark " indeed. 
 Xowall this is changed. The youngster is born and 
 grows lip mider control — he never knows absolute 
 freedom and therefore he never feels subjection. He 
 is taught at the time when teaching is easy, when he 
 is 3^oung, that he cannot oppose his strength to man's 
 strength, and hence there is no violent struggle for the 
 mastery, with its evil after effects on body and disposi- 
 tion. Before he is strong enough to make stubborn 
 resistance he has forgotten that there is anything to 
 resist. To go as he is guided and do as he is directed, 
 has become his natural habit. And then when he is 
 trained he is not asked to do work beyond his years 
 and strength. His whole early life is an inductional 
 course of education. His mouth is not made callous 
 and harsh, and he is not taught to regard his lessons in 
 trotting as a dreaded process of running the gauntlet 
 between two fires — the bit in front and the whip 
 behind. His harness and the thirty-eight or forty 
 pound sulky which he draws are so light, perfectly 
 fitted and balanced, that they seem a part of himself. 
 The artificial appliances on his legs and feet are noi 
 ponderous hinderances, but easy -fitting, fight and com- 
 
192 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 fortable protectors, giving him the courage to extend 
 himself, without an}^ fear of striking a tender cord. In 
 short, we have come nearer to nature in our latter-day 
 training than did the famous trainers of the past 
 generation, and our systems are not only more simple, 
 reasonable and efficacious, but more humane. Is it 
 then wonderful that with better-bred horses, and with 
 such improvement in the methods and appliances of 
 training, the trotter of to-day has made such rapid 
 advancement in the matter of speed ? 
 
EAKLY TREATMENT. 193 
 
 CHAPTEE XYL 
 
 FEEDING COLT AND DAM HALTERING AND LEARNING 
 
 TO LEAD THE BENEFITS OF COMPANIONSHIP THE 
 
 "kindergarten" THE EVOLUTION OF THE TRAIN- 
 ING-PADDOCK PLANS AND DIRECTIONS THE COLT's 
 
 FIRST LESSON IN TRAINING TO TROT. 
 
 Some philosopher has said that the proper time to 
 begin training the colt is before he is born, and there 
 is a good deal of truth in this. The discussion of this 
 part of the colt's training, however, would carry us 
 into the realm of breeding, and therefore we will let it 
 pass for the present, as for our immediate purpose it 
 will do to begin after the colt comes into the world. 
 
 If the climate will afford it, as it does with us at 
 Palo AltOj the new-born colt should be turned out in 
 the warm sun during the day with his dam, and of 
 course housed at night. As long as he is well it is best 
 to leave him pretty much to the care of his mother for 
 the first few months. In this climate, after he is about 
 two and a half months old, he is left out day and night, 
 and in case the grass should not be good, other feed 
 must be given. See to it that the mother is kept 
 strong and stout. Especially if she has been bred and 
 is again m foal, she must be kept thrifty and given 
 abundance of nourishing food. She has then not only 
 
194 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 herself and the life of the foal b}^ her side to sustain, 
 but there is an additional drain on her life-blood to 
 supply the creature in embryo. There is no greater 
 folly, no worse economy, than stinting the brood-mare 
 in her food, unless it be the ruinous but, I am> sorry to 
 say, not uncommon course of allowing the colt to run 
 down after he is weaned. 
 
 "We aim to wean the colts at about five months old, 
 and about this time the mare is taken up and fed oats 
 and bran. It is a good plan to have some ground oats 
 Avhere the little fellow can reach it and where his 
 mother cannot, especially if it should happen that she 
 has laid on too much fat, which, however, will not often 
 be the case. When his mother is eating oats, or any 
 other grain food, ground grain being always prefer- 
 able, the youngster will learn to nibble at it too, and it 
 is surprising how quickly he will cultivate an appetite 
 for oats. This is a good time to avail yourself of every 
 chance to tame him. Handle him all you can without 
 frio-hteninfi:. Gain his confidence and show him that 
 he is not going to be hurt. He will soon begin to be 
 familiar and quite at home with you, and when this is 
 reached an important point is gained. After say a 
 week of this daily feeding and familiarizing you will 
 halter the colt and take him off the mare ; but before 
 taking him away from her, lead her a little, so that he 
 will learn to lead by following her. Have your halter 
 to fit ; have it light, but so strong that no break is pos- 
 sible, and if you have done right by the colt you are 
 not likely to have much trouble in getting it on. 
 
 The next thing to be done is to learn the colt to 
 lead. Perhaps he will take a notion to lead without 
 
LEADING THE YOUNGSTERS. 195 
 
 any special teaching, but then again he may take a 
 notion to ])ull the opposite way. Here is the apphance 
 by which the difficulty is best overcome : Take a small 
 rope and make a good-sized loop, large enough to throw 
 over the colt's buttocks, leaving the head — the knot — 
 of the loop about his wither. Xow run the free end of 
 the rope through the halter ring. In addition to this 
 you will have already snapped the regular leading line 
 or strap into the halter-ring. Xow take your leading 
 line in one hand, with the free end of the body ro})e in 
 the other, and tell him to come along, at the same time 
 gentl}^ drawing him by the leading line. If he comes 
 easily do not make any use of the body rope and do 
 not put the slightest weight upon it, but be careful not 
 to let it drop down too far on his legs. If, however, he 
 hangs back, pull him along sharply by the body rope, 
 and he will soon see that there is only one way to get 
 along easily, and that is to obey the leadmg line, for he 
 has to come along any wa\^. He cannot resist the pres- 
 sure around his quarters. There should not be many of 
 these lessons required until he is thoroughly under the 
 control of the halter. We have always found it best 
 to keep two colts together in these earlier days, both 
 in the boxes and at work. They like company, are 
 far more contented, and learn quicker. If you take 
 one little fellow off by himself to teach him the ways of 
 the halter he is far more likely to become frightened 
 than if he has another to go through the process with 
 him. I suppose that in all these first lessons the 
 youngster experiences some mental misery, and it is 
 said that "misery loves company„" A scared horse 
 has no sense ; he must have sense if he is to learn any- 
 
196 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. * 
 
 thing, and, therefore, the reassuring effect of having a 
 companion with him is very beneficial, and renders the 
 work easier for both trainers and colts. By leading 
 one after the other alternately they learn very quickly, 
 their natural inclination to follow each other being a 
 helpful influence. Let the boys lead them to the pad- 
 docks in the morning and back to the boxes at night, 
 lead them to grass and back, and to and fro, around 
 here and there, until they are perfectly gentle, halter- 
 wise and easily caught. If this training has been 
 intelligently and gently done, the colt will come to call 
 in the fields and show all the confidence of an old 
 horse. The colts should never be meaninglessly played 
 with, or petted beyond reason ; nor should they ever be 
 teased, frightened, whipped or in any way abused. 
 My advice to every breeder and owner is that if 3^our 
 man abuses your colt, or horse either, no matter how 
 good a trainer he may be, never overlook more than 
 the first offence. At the second "bounce" him. 
 
 All this time, of course, the colt is to be right well 
 fed and cared for. Each pair will be kept in a clean, 
 warm, well-ventilated box, and each one attended to 
 and fed as though the whole hope of the farm depended 
 upon him. He will relish oats, good grass and hay, 
 and don^t be afraid that he will eat too much. After 
 he is thoroughly halter-wise he will be ready for the 
 lesson in preparation for his turf career. This is given 
 in the miniature track — or, as it may be called, the 
 kindergarten — and as this is a very important factor in 
 our system of training, and one invented and used at 
 Palo Alto, I will describe it with some fullness. 
 
 The evolution of the miniature track is part of the 
 
THE MINIATURE TRACK. 197 
 
 histon^ of Palo Alto, and its origin dates back co the 
 spring of 1879. That season Bentonian and Fred 
 Crocker were our most promising yearlings, and, to 
 show their gait, we used to chase them in the paddock 
 where they ran out. ^N'aturally, when they got a-going 
 along one side they would trot right u^) into the corner 
 and then stop. To obviate this we saw that the corners 
 must be rounded off. The next move was to throw up 
 the turns a little, and then to prevent them making 
 short cuts we built a brush fence ten feet from the 
 outer fence of the paddock. Xow we had a miniature 
 track in the crudest form. Soon the colts learned the 
 trick of jumping the brush, and we made another 
 improvement by putting a lovf board fence around in 
 place of the brush, and making a good dirt track. But 
 they also jumped our new fence, and next we struck 
 upon the idea of building a higher fence, with the rail 
 inclined, so that they could " hug it" around and not 
 strike their legs on the posts. So from a rough be- 
 ginning our track was improved and perfected until we 
 have the paddocks of to-day. I need hardly say that 
 with the improvement in the track we improved in our 
 skill in using it, as well as in appreciation of its great 
 value as an invention in training equij^ments. 
 
 We have now two of these miniature tracks at Palo 
 Alto, and to make their form and construction wholly 
 plain to the reader, I supplement my description with 
 clear drawings and plans. These tracks, it will be 
 seen, are laid oif in oval shape like a mile track, with 
 proportionate turns and stretches. The track should 
 be made of soil good for the feet, and should always be 
 kept deep and soft. The turns should be thrown np 
 
19S 
 
 TRAINING THE TliUTTING HORSE. 
 
 very sharply, especially in the case of one built on the 
 
 smaller of the two ]>lans 
 given in our cuts. On 
 such a track six or seven 
 inches to the foot is not 
 too steep for the ends. 
 The track should be about 
 ten feet wide. The inner 
 rail should be set at a good 
 angle (see Diagram of 
 Covered Training Pad- 
 dock, Figure A), so that 
 there can be no danger of 
 the colt striking his feet or 
 legs against the posts. 
 This rail should be about 
 high enough to strike the 
 yearling colt a little above 
 the center of the barrel. 
 This top rail should be 
 about five inches wide, of 
 pretty stout material, and 
 the edges niceh^ rounded 
 off. Do not have any more 
 posts than are necessarv, 
 so that the view will not be 
 obstructed. You want to 
 see how the colt handles 
 his feet and legs, and if 
 you have too many posts 
 it will prove confusing to 
 the eye to watch his 
 
 nminmmiiiiih 
 
 DIAGRAM A — COVERED TRAINING - PAB- 
 DOCK — DISTANCE AROUND CENTER 
 OF DRIVE 313 FEET. 
 
TRAINING PADDOCKS. 
 
 199 
 
 motion. To be on the safe side, although if they are 
 set at the right angle there 
 is really little clanger, 
 round off the edges of the 
 posts, so that should the 
 colt by any mishap come 
 in contact with them he 
 will not be cut. I have 
 seen colts that w^ere going 
 fast and trying to stop 
 and turn suddenly, some- 
 times throw" themselves 
 under the rail, and in such 
 a slip of course a leg may 
 be struck. But owing to 
 the softness of the track 
 it is really very rare with 
 us for a colt to sustain any 
 injur}" in the training pad- 
 dock, either by falling, 
 slipping, striking, or strain- 
 ing. 
 
 I would not advise any 
 breeder to build a smaller 
 track than our covered 
 training paddock. One a 
 trifle larger would be bet- 
 ter. The other diagram 
 is of a lai'ge open-air pad- 
 dock. We work our young- 
 sters almost wholly in the diagram b— training-paddock— dis- 
 
 1 1 1 1 " 1 1 TANCE AROUND CENTER OP DRIVE 
 
 covered paddock, and only 50^ pee^. 
 
200 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 use the larger one when Ave wish to see how colts of 
 say a year and a half to two years handle themselves. 
 This track can be used, hoAvever, to very good advan- 
 tage, though as between the two the smaller one will 
 be found the more useful, and easier to train in. Two 
 men can train in the smaller paddock, and it will re- 
 quire three to properly work a colt in the larger one. 
 
 NoAV Ave have the track all ready, and as we had the 
 colt thoroughly halter-Avise before describing AAdiat the 
 training-paddock is like, Ave are ready to give him his 
 first lessons. After the colt has been given his break- 
 fast and had his general morning " fixing up," we snap 
 the leading-line into the halter and take him oA^er to 
 the paddock, ^ow Ave put on the boots, and must be 
 very careful that they fit thoroughly and are the work 
 of some one Avho knows hoAV to make boots for young 
 colts. HaA^e good shin- boots all around — boots tuat 
 Avill thoroughly protect the shins and tendons, that fit 
 well and Avill not chafe. You also Avant quarter-boots 
 all around, and I much prefer the bell -boot. Some 
 horsemen profess to have a great aversion to boots* 
 and ncA^er tire talking of "the kind that go without 
 boots." Because we boot a colt is no reason for sup- 
 posing that Ave know he Avill strike himself. They are 
 used as a safeguard — as a preventive against possible 
 accidents and injuries. You may work a colt or horse 
 nine times without boots and he ma}^ ncA^er touch a 
 hair, but the tenth time he may make a false step, may 
 find a bad place in the track, become unbalanced and 
 break, and I care not hoAv pure-gaited he may be, he is 
 quite likely to cut a quarter or strike a tendon, or sus- 
 tain any of the many varieties of such injuries, ranging 
 
FIRST LESSON. 201 
 
 m consequence from a temporary disability or spoiling 
 the gait to permanent retirement. Do not take chances 
 with a good colt ; boot him safely. It is better to be 
 sm-e than sorry. Xo trainer of experience or ability 
 will neglect this important point in training. 
 
 Having booted him all right, take him into the track 
 and lead him around it several times until he is thor- 
 oughly familiar with his new surroundings. Then let 
 a man follow him around, and give him pretty much 
 his own way until he has time to inspect the paddock, 
 approve of it and become reconciled to the arrange- 
 ments. After doing all this without hurry or bustle, 
 it will be time to turn him loose. Quietl}^ unsnap the 
 leading rope from the halter and start him around. If 
 he wants to run, let him do it at first ; he wiU soon tire 
 of it and settle to a trot. After a preliminary run or 
 so, endeavor to keep him at the trot as much as pos- 
 sible. Two men will stand in the inclosure inside the 
 track ; one near either end, and will be provided with 
 w^hips with long lashes and snappers. The colt will 
 soon learn to obey the sound, the swish and the snap 
 of these whips, together with the commands of the 
 trainers. After ^^ou get him properly to work do not 
 let him run when he breaks. By going toward the 
 rail and slashing the whip across the track in front of 
 him he will stop, and probably turn and go the other 
 direction of the track. Teach him to go around the 
 turn easy, and urge him through the stretches. You 
 will soon learn just how much urging he will stand 
 and just what sort of direction he best understands. 
 He will learn just as quickly what you want him to do. 
 and 3^ou will be surprised to find him soon understand 
 
202 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 ing what every crack of the whip and every shout of 
 the trainer means. Be patient and gentle in these first 
 lessons. They are perhaps the most important. Do 
 not generate in his mind a prejudice, a dread or a dis- 
 like for the track. Therefore let the first half-dozen 
 lessons be short, and in showing him into the track and 
 escorting him out of it, be kind, quiet and easy, so as to 
 reassure him. The first few lessons and the eif ect they 
 have on the colt's mind and disposition will have an 
 important influence on his subsequent improvement. 
 
DAILY PKOGKAMME. 203 
 
 CHAPTEE XYII. 
 
 WORKING OX THE MINIATUKE TEACK THE DAILY PER- 
 FORMANCE AMOUNT OF WORK GIVEN IT MUST NOT 
 
 BE EXCESSIVE THE COLt's CONFIDENCE TO BE 
 
 RETAINED HITCHING WORKING WITH A RUNNER — 
 
 AN UNNATURAL METHOD OF TRAINING BALANCE AND 
 
 STRIDE — THE BENEFIT OF THE TRAINING PADDOCK 
 
 DEVELOPING SPEED, WIND AND MUSCLE NATURALLY. 
 
 ISTow you have giv^en the colt his first lesson, and you 
 naturally desire to lay out for yourself and him a pro- 
 gramme which, in your fond dreams, is to be a path- 
 way to success. How much work are you to give him? 
 How often is he to be worked, and how long at a time? 
 AYhat are the special benefits derived from this style 
 of training ? It requires more equipment in the way 
 of a track, and it is, at the outset, more costly than 
 working a colt with a runner, and what better is it ? 
 All these and a thousand more questions you will ask 
 yourself, and I fancy 3^ou are asking them of me as 
 you read. I cannot answer them all at a single dash, 
 but will try and deal with each as it naturally comes 
 up as we go along. 
 
 We have a great many colts to work, and to show 
 the reader our '^ order of business " for a day, we will 
 trace them through the daily routine at Palo Alto. It 
 is simple enough. In the morning they are cleaned ofi^ 
 
204 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 gently and well, watered and fed, and turned out in 
 the paddock. In our paddock we have a long rack 
 filled with hay, and there are also watering facilities, 
 so that the colts can eat and drink at leisure. We 
 have, it will of course be understood, this work con- 
 fined to a department, with a superintendent and force 
 of men and boys who have nothing to do with any 
 other work than looking after the youngsters in their 
 primary school. After all have had the morning atten- 
 tions above indicated, they are, one by one, worked in 
 the miniature track and turned out in a paddock. After 
 all have been worked we let them run in a field of good 
 grass. Meanwhile, their stalls or boxes are cleaned 
 out and bedded, and feed put in. Then, in the evening, 
 the colts are taken up, their feet cleaned out, and then 
 they are turned into their boxes all right for the 
 night. 
 
 When you first begin using the miniature track da 
 not imagine that the colt is the only party concerned 
 that has anything to learn. To make proper use of 
 the track, to reap the best results, to do the greatest 
 good with the least jarring, friction and trouble, you 
 want skill as great as the man that sits in the sulky. 
 True, it is not the same kind of skill exactly, but it 
 requires the same order of judgment. It calls for 
 coolness, watchfulness and thought. To know how 
 far to go without going too far is the great point.' 
 
 You must not tire the colt. Give him a good work- 
 ing (not forgetting that he is just growing out of the 
 days of foalhood, and 3^et far from being a horse), but 
 be very careful that you do not make the work weari- 
 some. You will teach him, as I have said, to take the 
 
WORK IN THE KIXDERGARTEX. 205 
 
 turns easy, and come into the stretches prepared for a 
 brush. After a few rounds, with three or four sharp 
 brushes, let him stop if he wishes to get his breath free 
 and welL Then start him around the other way. It 
 will not do to have him go around the track one way 
 all the time, for if you do this you will soon have him 
 hitching. Making the turns always in the one direc- 
 tion gets him into the habit of throwing the inside 
 liind leg further than the outside one — hence the hitch- 
 ing and roughness in the gait. In going around a turn 
 the colt will always reach farthest with the inside foot. 
 So you will endeavor to about equall}^ divide the 
 work — let him go one way about as much as the other. 
 Don't scare the colt. After he has got to showing 
 some speed in the stretches you can urge him by cluck- 
 ing, snapping the lash, or " shooing him up " just as 
 much as he will stand, but when he breaks endeavor to 
 steady him with the usual calls in a reassuring voice, 
 and if he persists in running stop him. A moment's 
 reflection will show ^^ou how simple a thing it will be, 
 but how injurious, to allow the colt to get the idea into 
 his head that he is caught in a trap and being, as it 
 were, " hunted.'' Xever for a moment forget that he 
 will learn just in proportion to the measure of his 
 confidence in his trainers, and that if he becomes pos- 
 sessed of the idea that he is being merely chased- he 
 will think nothing about trotting, but all his mind will 
 be centered. on getting away and keeping away from 
 those he may unfortunately regard as his tormentors. 
 You should always be able to catch him — not capture 
 him — on the track, and when done lead him out kindly 
 and quietly. About fifteen minutes will be fully 
 
206 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 sufficient to keep him on the track, and you will not 
 require to keep him a-going too brashly to have a 
 pretty good "work out" for the youngster in that 
 time. 
 
 The longer he is in tlie ring the more work he can 
 take with beneficial results. Increase it gradually, but 
 always keep on the safe side. If you err at all, err in 
 not giving him enough — not enough is far better than 
 too much. Just as soon as a colt is overworked his 
 educational progress not only ceases, but he goes back, 
 and goes back by jumps compared to which his improve- 
 ment is a slow process. If you find you have gone too 
 far, give him a vacation, let him get thoroughly re- 
 freshed, and then begin again at the beginning and go 
 slow. You will readily see how much better it is not 
 to overdo the thing in the first place than to have to 
 o^o back and beo-in all over ao:ain. 
 
 Provided your colt keeps all right, and is well, stout 
 and strong, you can give him this work everv week-day 
 until he is twelve to fourteen months old, about which 
 time you will break him to harness. If he is promis- 
 ing he will by this time have shown you a way of going 
 through the stretches that will remind you of an old- 
 stager on the track, and if you are, as we will presume, 
 a good judge of action and balance you will be able to 
 form a pretty fair idea of what kind of a horse you are 
 going to have. 
 
 As our period of colt-education in the miniature 
 track is identical with part of that at which many 
 trainers work their youngsters b}^ the side of a runner, 
 I may as well here give my reasons for not resorting 
 to that style of education. Some may say that I am 
 
PRESERVE THE BALANCE. 207 
 
 prejudiced against this S3^stem, but I believe I can 
 claim honestly that I have no prejudice against any- 
 thing that experiment has not given me reason to 
 reject. I try to be reasonable and recognize merit 
 wherever it exists. It has always seemed to me that 
 the colt hitched with a runner learns to trot in a sort 
 of unnatural, swinging, sailing way, without actually 
 carrying his own weight, and certainly not balancing 
 himself. They go fast that way no doubt. A boy can 
 take hold of the rear bar of a wagon and follow it on 
 a run just about as fast as a horse can trot. But is he 
 running naturally? Is he balancing himself? He is 
 striding about twice the distance he can naturally 
 stride, and the moment he releases his grip on the bar 
 he tangles his legs and falls headlong, showing that he 
 is not running, but being carried practically through 
 the air. We hear of yearlings trotting quarters in 
 forty seconds hitched to a runner's bridle until we 
 are almost forced to believe that 2:40 is the natural 
 speed of these youngsters. But put them in harness 
 and see how fast tliey can trot a quarter. When we 
 time a youngster a quarter in forty seconds at Palo 
 Alto we are not deceiving ourselves, for he does it 
 exactly in the way he will have to do it when he starts 
 in a race. The colt that is taught to go fast with a 
 runner hitched to him does not learn to pull weight, to 
 balance himself, and to stride out on his own responsi- 
 bility. AYhen he is taken away from the runner and 
 harnessed to a sulky he is green and out of his element. 
 He misses the tow-line. Does it not seem very rational 
 to bring the colt up literally in the way he should go 
 rather than waste his time and yours in teaching him 
 
208 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 a style of trotting that will never be of any use to nim 
 on the track? Let him learn something he is going to 
 do, in the way he is going to do it, rather than m the 
 way he is not going to do it. I believe the action of a 
 great many good colts has been spoiled, and the 
 natural smoothness and balance destroyed by this 
 3^anking around with a runner. Kemember that bal- 
 ance is a very delicate thing. Suppose you are running 
 at full speed, and your head is suddenly drawn to one 
 side, do you think the stroke can be maintained true 
 and even ? Xot at all. So this systematic unbalancing 
 of the colt cannot fail to work injury. The theory, of 
 course, is that the colt goes ahead of the horse, but 
 will any man who watches this style of training for 
 an hour tell me that this theory is strictly followed, or 
 can be strictly followed, in practice ? If it is I have 
 never seen it. The colt's head is hauled and jerked 
 this way and that ; now he is going too fast and is 
 pulled back ; again he is going too slow and is towed by 
 the head ; then he goes too far out on the turns and 
 his head is yanked around sideways ; next he goes too 
 close and is jostled b}^ the runner. I prefer to let a 
 colt go in his own way, balancing and striding 
 naturally, and holding his head in its natural position. 
 You ask what the special advantages of work in the 
 miniature track are. It educates the colt to stick to 
 the trot, and to make that his natural order of loco- 
 motion. He learns that trotting is what he is Avanted 
 to do, and he learns to do it well. The first education 
 of his life is in trotting, and it grows upon him with 
 his age. He has to rely upon himself, for he does what 
 he does of himself, and without assistance. His 
 
EARLY PROMISE SHOWN. 209 
 
 natural action is developed, and as he develops speed 
 he acquires perfection of balance, and gains complete 
 control of liis feet, his legs and all the muscles that are 
 brought into play in trotting. When he breaks he is 
 promptly reminded that he has made a mistake, and he 
 soon learns to correct it quickly and neatly. The 
 youngster's mind is receptive; like a child, what he 
 learns young becomes second nature to him, and the 
 trotting habit becomes fixed at the same that greater 
 speed, steadiness and directness of action is being 
 acquired. 
 
 The development of wind and muscle is another of 
 the great benefits of this work. The well-fed, healthy 
 colt that is daily worked will be a far stouter as well 
 as a far speedier two-year-old than the one that has 
 run idle. His muscles will be not only fuller, but 
 harder and of better tone. His lungs and wind will 
 have developed and the action of heart and lungs will 
 better meet the trainino^ test. You will see the vounsf- 
 ster blow out after his work, and as the work con- 
 tinues you will trace the development of lung capacity 
 in the gradual improvement in wind. After the colt 
 has been worked in the track a while it will take more 
 work to " blow him out," and his wind will be finer. 
 You will see the colt gain in muscular strength and 
 general stoutness, and every day become more and 
 more a horse. 
 
 The action and balance of the colt in the miniature 
 track you will observe is his natural action and 
 balance, and you must study from it in part how to 
 treat him in the future. Observe well the way he car- 
 ries his head, and let that be your guide when you 
 
210 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 come to adjust his check-rein. The check is a support, 
 not a curbing arrangement to twist a horse's head and 
 neck out of their natural position. If 3^ou stud\^ his 
 balance and his action here, you will not be a]:>t to 
 make many mistakes in "hanging" him in harness, 
 shoes and sulky. 
 
 Another very important point, and especially to 
 those that have many youngsters to train, is the fact 
 that the miniature track enables you to select those 
 of your colts that will best repay the labor and expense 
 of training. Let me work a lot of colts on this track 
 for three months and I will pick out the stars, just as 
 surelj^ as the^^ can be known three years later. All 
 our famous youngsters distinguished themselves on the 
 miniature track. They gave the promise of their future 
 greatness there. Sunol and Palo Alto, Manzanita and 
 Bonita, Hinda Kose and all the Beautiful Bells family 
 have been stars of the kindergarten, just as the}^ were 
 afterward stars on the sterner battle-field of the turf. 
 And this fact proves more than any other the truth of 
 what I have contended — that this is above all the best 
 natural method of training young trotters no^v extant. 
 If it were not a natural system it Avould not prove so 
 true an index of the capacit}^ which the horse is after- 
 ward destined to exliibit. 
 
FEEDING. 211 
 
 CHAPTEK XYIIL 
 
 YOUXG COLTS TO BE LIBERALLY FED COLTS CAN BE 
 
 SAFELY WORKED TWICE A DAY IF NECESSITY RE- 
 QUIRES IT BREAKING TO HARNESS THE BITTING 
 
 RIG LEARNING TO GO BY THE REIN IN DOUBLE 
 
 HARNESS FIRST THEN IN SINGLE HARNESS SKELE- 
 TON WAGON BEFORE SULKY FIND OUT WHAT YOU 
 
 ARE GOING TO DO BEFORE YOU TRY TO DO IT — 'ADOPT 
 
 A PROGRA:VOIE the necessity of keeping the GAIT 
 
 SQUARE AND PRESERVING THE NATURAL BALANCE. 
 
 It is not my purpose to here refer at length to the 
 feeding and iveepmg of colts and horses. I will treat 
 on these details at another place. However, as we are 
 noAV working our colt the reader may properly be 
 reminded that it h important to see that the young- 
 ster is kept strong and stout. A very good diet at 
 this stage is, besides the usual hay, ground oats for 
 the morning meal, and at night a dish of ground oats, 
 barley and a dash of bran steamed, the right ])ropor- 
 tion being about three parts of oats to one of barley. 
 Give the colts all they will eat up clean. A colt can- 
 not get too fat before he is two years old. Between 
 his growth and his worlv all he can eat will be assimi- 
 lated. The rule is that colts go back in condition after 
 weaning. This is not as it should be, for a colt that is 
 properly fed and cared for will improve after weaning. 
 
212 TEAINING THE TEOTTING HOESE. 
 
 The fact that his growth is arrested shows that after 
 weaning he has insufficient or unsuitable food, and 
 every breeder should be watchful at this period, for a 
 set-back in the first year is never made up for. Feed 
 them well, and especially if you are working the colt 
 see that he is getting plenty of good food. You will 
 not hurt him by giving him too much at this age, for 
 he will not eat too much. 
 
 The colt will be worked in the miniature track in 
 the manner described until he is, sa}^ fourteen months 
 old, when he will be broken to harness. In judging of 
 how much work he should have both before and after 
 he is broken to harness, you will be guided largelv by 
 what you expect to do. If he is to be driven for an 
 early record as a yearling or two-year-old, he will re- 
 quire pretty strong work, while if he has no engage- 
 ments until later his education will be more gradual. 
 But do not under any circumstances let \^our anxiet}^ 
 for early reputation get away with your judgment. 
 Eemember the injunction I have already sought to 
 impress upon tho reader — do not overdo it. 
 
 We wdll suppose we have worked our colt every day 
 in the miniature track, and now that he is a strong 
 youngster, just past a year old, it is time to get him 
 into harness. At Palo Alto we send him to the 
 " breaking barn," and if you are a large breeder you 
 will have a department of that kind in your stables. 
 
 However, as far as these instructions go, it does not 
 matter whether you have a breaking barn or not — it is 
 the modus ojoerandi pursued with each colt that you 
 are interested in, rather than knowing how to arrange 
 to do it by wholesale. The first lesson in this breaking 
 
BREAKING. 
 
 213 
 
 is to get the colt into the bitting rig. This consists of 
 saddle, breeching, crouper and bridle. The bridle will 
 have an ordinary side-check, and the bit will be a 
 snaffle, with a joint in the center. You will have 
 become so familiar, by this time, with the way the colt 
 carries his head that you can readily adjust the check 
 just right, and be sure not to have it too tight. Lead 
 him around in this every day for three or four days. 
 After taking the harness off work him in the paddock ; 
 then turn him out for a run of a few hours. Then 
 take him to the miniature track and give him his usual 
 work with the bitting rig on, and in a day or two you 
 can let him loose in the track, or in a paddock, with 
 the rig on. 
 
 After he has become pretty well accustomed to this 
 harness, make an addition to it in the shape of long 
 reins. Let one man lead him at first while the other 
 walks behind driving and seeking to guide him by 
 the rein. Learn him to go ahead, stop, back, turn, etc. 
 After a lesson or two the man at his head may be dis- 
 pensed with, for if you have trer.ted him right he will 
 now understand what the rein means. Be firm, but 
 not harsh with him, and see that the harness does not 
 chafe or irritate him at any point, and watch that the 
 bit does not hurt his mouth. Remember that the 
 reason he does not do what you want him to at first is 
 not because he is contrary or stubborn, but because he 
 does not understand what you want. Do not mix up 
 ignorance and perversity in seeking for the reasons 
 why he will sometimes do everything but what you 
 want him to. \Yhen you are sure that he understands 
 what you want and will not do it, it is time enough to 
 
214 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 convince him that you are the managing partner in 
 the combination. There is nothing more senseless 
 and injurious than punishing a horse or a colt for 
 not doing what he does not understand you to want 
 him to do. 
 
 After you have gotten him thoroughly accustomed 
 to the harness and obedient to the rein, hitch him to 
 any hght vehicle by the side of a reliable, gentle horse 
 and drive him double. For the first time, about a 
 quarter of a mile will be enough to go in a nice, easy, 
 steady fashion, then drive your team back and quietly 
 take the youngster out of the harness. Continue this 
 daily driving for some time, increasing it as it con- 
 tinues, hitching him alternately each da}" on either 
 side of his old-fashioned mate. This work is not for 
 speed, but to thoroughly educate him to harness. He 
 is ofettins' his regfular work on the miniature track 
 every day, besides the harness education, so you will 
 be careful that between the trotting and the driving 
 he is not overdone. 
 
 After a little while of this education he will be a 
 sensible and decorous horse in harness — unless he be a 
 natural fool, for, unfortunately, there are born fools 
 among horses as well as among men — and will be quite 
 thoroughly broken in everything as far as his experi- 
 ence has gone. ^Now, we will shoe him with a neat, 
 light shoe or plate behind, for it will shortly be neces- 
 sary to have him wear toe-boots, or " scalpers" which 
 the shoe must hold. You will, of course, have been 
 watchful all the while that he has not been striking 
 himself at an}^ place, and is not, therefore, afraid to 
 extend himself. 
 
IN SINGLE HARNESS. 215 
 
 His next lesson is in single harness, and if all goes 
 well he will before he knows it be going along by him- 
 self just as steadily as with the old horse. Fitch him 
 as usual with the "old reliable;" go a little way, re- 
 turn, quietly take him out of the double rig, and hitch 
 him to a skeleton wagon. I prefer the skeleton wagon 
 to any other vehicle for breaking purposes. I place 
 my feet on the axle, one on either side, and can thus 
 assist the rein in steering him., teaching him to turn, 
 etc. I must confess that a " break cart " is my pet 
 aversion among training equipments. They are in 
 o-reat favor with some, but as far as I am concerned I 
 have no use for them in my course of education. I 
 believe that carts are responsible for spoiling more 
 colts, knocking them out of their gait, etc., than any 
 other single cause. They are long, stiff, shaky, lumber- 
 ing vehicles, that must be a constant jarring handicap 
 to a young colt. While many men who use these 
 " break carts " to keep young colts straight with, are 
 good trainers on the whole, I have as little respect for 
 their judgment in this particular as I have for the cart 
 itself. - 
 
 You do not work him for speed in the skeleton 
 wagon, but principally to complete educating him to 
 single harness. Drive him easy and do not drive him 
 too far, for you are not now teaching him to drive fast, 
 but rather to drive well. Keep this work up until he 
 is thoroughly docile and intelligent in harness, so that 
 you can depend upon his doing what you want him to 
 i\o in obedience to voice and rein. When you have 
 done this your colt is ready for the sulky, and now you 
 can congratulate yourself upon having his education 
 well under way. 
 
216 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 He is now a yearling past — it is the early summer of 
 his second year — and all the preliminary lessons hav- 
 ino" been learned while he was at the same time takinoc 
 his regular work on the miniature track, the time has 
 arrived when his regular track work will begin. But 
 before you begin you will do well to know just what 
 you want to do. Do you want to trot him as a year- 
 ling ? or do you propose to go easy, give him a gradual 
 and safe education, and not start him until the fall he 
 is two 3^ears old, or perhaps not until he is three? 
 Map out your programme so that you can work intelli- 
 gently. Knowing what you are going to do and pre- 
 paring to do it is half the battle. There are a great 
 many Wilkins Micawbers handling horses, who are 
 always waiting for something to turn up, and who 
 think they are always ready for it, when in fact they 
 are never ready for anything. The sailor who sails by 
 chart and compass and ahvays has in mind the course 
 he is steering and the port for which he is bound, will 
 make a better trip than the one who is drifting with 
 the current and waiting for a favoring wind or tide. 
 The famous recipe for cooking the hare began right : 
 "First catch your hare." So at the beginning of train- 
 your colt in earnest, make up your mind what you are 
 going to do before you try to do it. If you are " lay- 
 ing for " a two-year-old stake work him with an eye to 
 that stake, and don't be distracted from your purpose 
 by the little things that come along in the meantime. 
 I^eep your eye on that stake, and in the immortal 
 words of an American philosopher "Say nothing but 
 saw wood." In short, adopt a programme and stick 
 to it. 
 
ADOPT A progra:mme. 217 
 
 If you mean to trot the colt as a ^^earling you will 
 require to work him twice a day to make sure of the 
 best results. The lessons are short, but it is sharp, 
 speeding-making work ; and where one work-out a day 
 will be all a mature horse needs, you can give the colt a 
 number of fast brushes in the morning and again in the 
 afternoon without injury, provided the work is done 
 with judgment and never overdone. After exercise, all 
 young animals, as I have said, recover more quickly 
 than older ones. A good, stout colt can be judiciously 
 and advantageously worked twice a day until he is 
 about two years old, but remember the work must 
 never be allowed to tell on him. He must not lose 
 his stoutness, or what goes with it at this age, his 
 spirit and courage. At the first sign of track-weari- 
 ness you should ''letup." There can be nothing but 
 harm come of working a jaded, failing, track-sick and 
 spiritless colt. 
 
 I cannot too strongly impress upon the reader who 
 seeks to profit by my experiences the importance of 
 care at the point at which we have now arrived with 
 regard to checking and balancing the young trotter, 
 upon w^hich greatly depends the purity of his gait. He 
 is just to begin his track- work, and it is very essential 
 that he begin it right. I hold that if your horse is not 
 trotting perfectly square, if there is any hitching or 
 roughness in his gait, or if he is in any way out of bal- 
 ance, he is not developing anything but faulty action, 
 and can certainly not develop speed. Let it be under- 
 stood at the outset that if you can get your horse in a 
 hitching and labormg way over a quarter in thirty-five 
 seconds, and your neighbor's colt can trot it in forty 
 
218 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 seconds, square and smooth, his footfalls marking time 
 as trul}^ as the tick of the most perfect chronometer, he 
 is doing far better than you are, and in calculating on 
 the basis of a quarter in thirty-five seconds you are 
 only deceiving yourself. It is not what he can do in 
 any irregular, jerky, scrambling way that 3^ou must 
 judge by. It is idiat lie can do rigid. 
 
 Let me illustrate. There was a certain colt at Palo 
 Alto that showed remarkably well in the paddock, but 
 after Ave got him in harness we found that he could not 
 show a trace of respectable speed. I drove him one day 
 and found he could not trot a three-minute gait, do what 
 I would with him. After vain and discouraging work I 
 gave him up for that day, thinking that, perhaps, he 
 was out of humor and sulk\^, and a little tired. The 
 next day I tried him again, but with no better results. 
 Then I was in a quandary, and whistled a tune while I 
 thouo-ht it over. I knew he was a trotter in the 
 miniature track, and it was just as clear that he was 
 not one in harness. So I unhitched him and turned 
 him into the miniature track, and away he went as well 
 as ever. A little study showed hoAV he carried his 
 head and how he balanced himself. I changed the 
 check, harnessed him again, let his head free 
 so that he could carry himself in his own way, 
 and that same day he showed me a quarter in 
 better than forty seconds. In studying how he 
 trotted without harness I ''went back to first prin- 
 ciples," and, in this return to nature, found the 
 little causes that produced such important results. 
 I might have gone on experimenting until doomsday 
 with weights and shoes and I could never have gotten 
 
AX UXBALAXCED COLT. 219 
 
 that colt riglit, for the reason that his head was 
 checked out of its natural poise, and his whole carriage 
 was unbalanced. When you run fast or walk fast you 
 carry your head, your arms, your body in a certain 
 way, and if you are forced to carry your head higher 
 or lower, or to one side, all you have to do is to try to 
 get up speed in that position to appreciate what it may 
 mean in a colt's action to check his head an inch or two 
 out of its natural place. 
 
 Therefore, before you take him on the track for the 
 first time, it will be a good thing to adopt as a founda- 
 tion principle to act upon throughout, that the natural 
 balance and action must be preserved, and that the 
 moment your colt begins to hitch or become unbalanced 
 and irregular in his gait he is doing no good. Keep 
 him going true, smooth and level, don't drive him 
 faster than he can go squarely and he will develop 
 speed if it is in him. " The matter depends not upon 
 the doing, but upon the manner of its doing." 
 
220 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FIRST WORK IN HARNESS SHARP BRUSHES AVOID JOG- 
 GING, SWEATING AND SCRAPING THE COLT MUST BE 
 
 KEPT STRONG AND STOUT COLTS CANNOT ALL BE 
 
 WORKED ALIKE — IMITATION ALL DEPENDS ON THE 
 
 trainer's FITNESS — AN OCCASIONAL LET-UP " SPEED, 
 
 SPEED, MORE SPEED," THE GREAT ESSENTIAL SHOES 
 
 AND WEIGHTS EXPERIENCE WITH CHIMES AND CLAY. 
 
 In tracing our colt's career we have now reached 
 the point where he is going clever in single harness 
 and ready to hitch u]:> for his first lesson on the regular 
 track. He has as yet no shoes in front, but is shod be- 
 hind. Put on all the boots that are necessary — all that 
 caution and safety demand. Colts need practically no 
 jogging, yearlings certainly none whatever. Of course 
 no colt or horse should be worked soon after a meal ; 
 and you will find the yearling, always 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 150 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 Avork, especi- 
 ally when the brushes are sharp, be careful to let him 
 
EARLY WORK. 221 
 
 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. Xow straighten him out 
 and brush him up the stretch again about the same dis- 
 tance, 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 swallow 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 undisturl)ed, so that 
 he can lay down, as a colt A^oungster 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 rapidlv growing period. 
 The colt requires not to be reduced, but ratlaer to be 
 made stouter and strono^er. Phvsicino:, sweatino- and 
 scraping are just the things no colt can take and 
 thrive. It stops his growth and muscular development 
 to strip him of his flesh, for the growing body, the 
 maturing muscle and bone, need that nourishment 
 which is onlv afforded in a condition of marked thrifti- 
 ness. Only in this condition will the colt be in good 
 fettle and spirit, and capable of taking his work with 
 relish and being benefited by it. It therefore behooves 
 the trainer to watch constantly that the colt does not 
 "go back" in condition, for this loss of condition may 
 be at first almost imperceptible. It is all the better if 
 the colt carries a fair degree of flesh, which will not 
 be of the "soft" kind with the work here prescribed. 
 Keep him in good, vigorous condition, so that he will 
 perspire freely with work, but leave heavy blankets, 
 hoods, sweating and scraping alone 
 
222 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 The amount of work will, of course, differ with 
 different colts. Xo two can be worked exactly alike, 
 and here will come in play the natural fitness of the 
 trainer. If he is by nature fitted for a trainer, his own 
 perceptions, or we might say his instinct, will teach 
 him how to discriminate between different colts — to 
 see where one requires to be handled a httle differently 
 from another, whether b\^ reason of size, temper, or 
 natural capacity. The trouble with the great majority 
 of men who handle trotting-horses is that they are not 
 thinkers but imitators. They saw Dan Mace or Budd 
 Doble or John Splan do something with a certain 
 horse, and the}^ go right home and do it with their 
 horses, under the impression that because a famous 
 driver does it with one horse it is necessaril}^ just the 
 thing for all horses. No mere imitator can do anything 
 intelligently, much less train horses, because to work 
 intelligently he must understand the reason for ever}^- 
 thing he does. Doing a thing that you saw somebody 
 else do without your knowing why he did it is just 
 about as wise as taking a certain sort of medicine 
 because it is taken by somebody else, whose disease you 
 do not know the nature of. There were never, proba- 
 bly, two horses in the world to which full justice could be 
 done by treating them exactl}^ alike. No cast-iron rules 
 can be laid down ; they must be taken as elastic enough 
 to admit of modification to meet the requirements of 
 thousands of different cases. So, while I am explain- 
 ing in these chapters what we might call the average 
 procedure at Palo Alto, defining the general principles 
 and methods, and approximating as nearly as it can be 
 approximated a course of training that can be advan- 
 
i:mitation. 223 
 
 tageously followed, it must be remembered that all 
 will, in the end, depend upon the judgment and fitness 
 of the trainer who seeks to apply this system. Good 
 tools never made a mechanic skillful ; college education 
 never made a man brilliant and talented ; good train- 
 ing never made a trotter of a colt that had not natural 
 speed, and the best s^^stem of training in the world 
 will not make a great trainer of any man who has not 
 natural fitness for his business. Xo amount of instruc- 
 tion and experience will make a good trainer of a man 
 to whom nature has not given the qualities required in 
 successfully and intelligently training horses. They 
 may be called gifts of the eye and the hand, but 
 they are more than that, for behind the well-directed 
 eye and hand must be a cool, active and well-balanced 
 brain. 
 
 The first day's training in harness, which I have 
 described in this chapter, should be adhered to without 
 any increase for the first ten davs or so. From four to 
 six brushes will be sufficient at first, but in say two 
 weeks it can be increased a little. Don't increase the 
 length of the brushes, but the number and speed of 
 them, but this increase must be slow and gradual, 
 according to the size and capacity of the colt, and the 
 relish he shows for the work. 
 
 It is a good plan to let the colt up for two or three 
 days, every three or four weeks, for a run out and a 
 rest. This will freshen him up, and these breaks in 
 the monotony will, if he is not overdone or bars lily 
 Avorked, be an effective preventative of track sickness 
 and staleness. After each little let up he will go to 
 work again with more keenness and vim. Barring 
 
224 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 these rests, the colt's work will go on every day — 
 Sundays excepted — presuming that he has been kept 
 well and right. When he is two years old he will take 
 more work, but not a greath^ increased distance. I am 
 not prepared to say that the length of the brush 
 should ever be increased to over a quarter of a mile. 
 We are now, mark you, working our colt for speed. 
 You will, no doubt, inquire how a horse can trot a race 
 without being worked mite heats. You cannot cut 
 much of a figure in a race without speed, and, after 
 you have developed speed sufficient to go away from 
 home with, it Avill be time enough to condition hnn to 
 carry it. You must have the speed before you 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 develop 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 efi'ective 
 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. A noted racing-man, when asked 
 what the first essential quality in a race-horse was, 
 answered, " Speed," that the next was " speed," and, 
 after that, " more speed." After you have your colt 
 going quarters in thirty-five seconds, or thirt3^-six 
 seconds, or thirty-eight seconds, whenever you have 
 had him show you enough speed and a big margin to 
 spare to do what you are going to require of him, you 
 
FIRST HAVE THE SPEED. 225 
 
 can condition him for mile and repeat performances. 
 You may have him keyed up as hard as nails, but if 
 your competitor can go a quarter in thirty-five seconds 
 and you can go in thirty-seven, he will beat you all the 
 way, and do it easy, while you are straining and 
 struo^Hino^, and o-ameness and condition won't save vou 
 if the other horse is half-fit. He will be fresh after 
 your colt is dead tired, and no matter how game your 
 colt is he will have him a beaten horse in short order, 
 simply because he can do with ease what 3^ou cannot 
 do with your utmost effort. At the proper place I will 
 write on the preparation of horses for races, and I 
 here merely want to caution you that a two-year-old 
 colt requires verv little drilling at mile heats. Sunol 
 trotted in 2:18 as a two-year-old, and no other has ever 
 trotted nearlv so fast. Just where we are now — the 
 spring when 3'our colt is two — is a good time to glance 
 back at the chapter where her training is described, 
 and see how many mile-and-repeat workings she had. 
 "When you have developed whatever measure of speed 
 you beheve sufficient to win the colt's engagement, 
 you can fit him for the race as Sunol was fitted, but 
 Tememher you must first have the speed. G amen ess and 
 condition and all that won't prevail over a competitor 
 that can throw dust in your eyes while going within 
 himself. 
 
 At the beginning of work on the regular track, I 
 have thought it well to explain the purpose and 
 effectiveness of the brush system ; for, just as 1 have 
 remarked upon the necessity of knowing why you do 
 things in a certain way, I have felt it my duty not 
 only to tell how we handle colts, but '•' the whv and 
 the wherefore " as well. 
 
226 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 When, for this purpose, we digressed, Ave had just 
 been giving the youngster his first few days of work 
 for speed in harness. It is now time to shoe him. 
 Our two-year-olds at Palo Alto carry, as a rule, from 
 eight to ten ounce shoes forward, and four to five 
 ounces behind. At another place I will discuss shoeing^ 
 and its kindred subject weighting, but will here remark 
 that the least possible weight with which you can 
 balance the colt is what you should carry. I mean 
 weight in the shoe — not toe-weights. My experience 
 has taught me to almost wholly banish toe-weights 
 from my stable, and I certainly advise the reader if he 
 be starting out to train young trotters to have none of 
 them. I could cite many cases to show the demoraliza- 
 tion they work, but will content myself with reference 
 to one striking instance. That was the case of Chimes, 
 the brother of Bell Boy, Hinda Eose and St. Bel. I 
 Avorked him as a two-year-old with ten-ounce shoes 
 forward. With that balancing he trotted for me a 
 quarter in 0:35, and three-quarters at a 2:24 gait. 
 After Mr. Hamlin got him he put toe-weights on him, 
 and he seemed to at once lose his speed, and he has, as 
 far as the public know, never recovered it. He failed 
 to trot for Mr. Hamlin faster than 2:30J as a three- 
 year-old. He showed me ability to trot in 2:25 as a 
 tw^o-year-old, to make a very safe and conservative 
 estimate. His is only one of man}^ cases I could cite 
 w^here toe-weights worked incalculable harm. 
 
 But putting superfluous weight on the toe is not the 
 only way in which we sometimes go in exactly the 
 wrong direction in trying to strike the happy medium 
 in balancing trotters. The mare Hinda Kose, whose 
 
TOE-WEIGHTS AND HEAVY SHOES. 227 
 
 history I have given, furnishes an illustration ; and I 
 learned another lesson with the stallion Clay. AVhen 
 he was a two-year-old I put on eight-ounce shoes, but 
 in his work he acted as though he wanted more 
 weight, seeming to go a little short in front, and not to 
 handle his fore legs promptly enough. I then put on 
 ten ounces, but that did not remed}^ the trouble, for in 
 three or four days he seemed to require still more 
 weight, and I kept on adding weight until he carried 
 eighteen ounces on each fore foot. (That, remember, 
 was some years ago.) Then he labored in the shoul- 
 ders, and I reduced his shoes to eio^ht ounces ao-ain, 
 and kept him at a gait at which he could go squarely. 
 In this rig he could show quarters right around thirty- 
 five seconds in his two-vear-old form. The followino: 
 year he trotted some in public in eight-ounce shoes, 
 and took a record of 2:34. After I went East with the 
 stable in 1884, the driver who worked Clay, believing 
 he needed more weight, increased his front shoes to 
 fifteen ounces, and about two-thirds of the weight was 
 at the toe. He did no good with this weight, and it 
 caused him to strike his elbows. After mv return 
 from the East I took these shoes off, put on eight- 
 ounce ones, and with little time to prepare gave him a 
 record of 2:25 that fall. The weight I put on in the 
 first place was needless, and I have no doubt that had 
 I from the outset worked him in light shoes and not 
 asked him to go faster than he could go level he would 
 have ultimately proved a better horse. 
 
228 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 WEIGHT IN THE SHOE — USE AND ABUSE THE LAST 
 
 RESORT WHEN WEIGHT IS NEEDED — REDUCING 
 
 VALUE AND NECESSITY OF EARLY WOEK EARLY 
 
 TRAINING NECESSARY FOR HIGHEST RESULTS AT 
 
 MATURITY IN ACCORD WITH SCIENCE THE ILL 
 
 EFFECTS OF NEGLECTED EDUCATION A CASE IN 
 
 POINT — A VALUABLE MARE RUINED WORK FEW 
 
 MILES, IF ANY THE MOUTH CHECKING AND DRIV- 
 ING THE COLT NOT TO BE CONTROLLED BY MAIN 
 
 STRENGTH TO DRIVE WITH "•A SILKEN THREAD" 
 
 . LIGHT HANDS NO BREAKING IF POSSIBLE CATCH- 
 ING THE WHIP SIDE PULLING. 
 
 I HAVE sought, in the illustrations just related, to 
 show that we are too apt to jump to the conclusion 
 that colts need weight when the difficulties that pre- 
 sent themselves could be remedied without resorting 
 to this artificial assistance. I need not enter into any 
 argument to shoAV that the ideal trotter will trot 
 barefooted, needing no balancing other than what 
 nature has given ; and that the use of the shoe is 
 simply to protect the foot. This is a self-evident 
 truth, needing no elaboration. Every additional ounce 
 of weight has its detrimental influences — it may be a 
 necessit}^ but none the less an evil because a necessary 
 one. You will, therefore, endeavor to reduce weight, 
 and do not, under any pretext, increase it until you 
 
WEIGHT. 229 
 
 are certain nothing else will remedj^ the difficulty you 
 have encountered. It is a very nice thing to know just 
 when a horse wants more weight. You may fancy he 
 does not handle his fore legs promptly enough ; he may 
 break, or single-foot if urged, while, perhaps, you may 
 notice that he will go a little faster if you pull him a 
 little, the weight on the rein slightly altering the 
 balance. More weight in the shoe may be required, 
 and may prove helpful. If you decide to put on 
 weight, and it remedies the trouble, do not conclude 
 that it will ahva3^s be necessary to retain it. After a 
 reasonable time begin to reduce it gradually until you 
 get down, if possible, to eight or ten ounces.. But in 
 nine cases out of ten, where more weio-ht is thouo^ht 
 necessarv, the real cause of the trouble is that you are 
 asking the colt to go a little faster than he can. True, 
 weight maj^ for the time, help his speed ; but, on the 
 other hand, if you keep working him at a rate at 
 which he can go scjuare and clean, his speed will natu- 
 rally and gradually improve, and the final result will be 
 better than if you had resorted to artificial appliances. 
 I will, therefore, again say : Keep the colt going square 
 and true ; do not be impatient, and if he develops 
 roughness of gait, hitches, or becomes generally 
 unbalanced, go back to a gait at ^\ hich he can go level 
 and seek to improve his speed by natural training 
 before you experiment too much with his shoes. If 
 you are doing pretty well in a plain shoe of reasonable 
 weight — say eight to twelve ounces — be content ; if 
 you are carrying more than that allow the shoe to 
 graduall}^ decrease in weight. By gradually decreas- 
 ing I mean that wear will lighten it, and when you 
 
230 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 replace it by a new shoe, if the colt is going well, have 
 the new shoe made, not the weight the old one Avas 
 when it was new, but the weight it now is after being 
 reduced by wear. All the young stars of 1S89 — Sunol, 
 Axtell, Lillian Wilkes, Margaret S. and Regal Wilkes — 
 carried light shoes. When horses were not born 
 trotters, but were made to trot artificially, balancing 
 by great weight was, in some cases, necessary — but 
 now our j^oungsters are bred to trot, are foaled natu- 
 rally-balanced trotters, and the nearer we keep to nature 
 the better. Other things being equal, the horse that 
 carries the least weight will stay better, go faster and 
 remain sounder than the weight carriers. It is a point 
 the importance of which cannot be well overrated, 
 and now, when you are handling your two-j^ear old, 
 it is well to keep these facts in clear and constant 
 view. 
 
 I am sometimes asked if, in the case of colts that are 
 not intended to start until they are three or four years 
 old, it would not be better to let them run out as year- 
 lings and two-year-olds, to grow up in their free and 
 natural way, and take just what exercise they like. 
 This is a very pretty theory, but it is not found true in 
 practice. I have already referred to the benefits of 
 early work, but just at the time of which we are now 
 writing, when you are working the tw 0-3^ ear-old, 
 another word may be in place. You may not intend 
 to start your colt early, and in reading these observa- 
 tions on training you may think that Marvin is only 
 writing for the benefit of men who want early records. 
 That would be a wrong conclusion. I have already 
 explained that the amount of work will vary according 
 
EARLY EDUCATION. 231 
 
 to when you intend to start him, but even if you don't 
 propose to do so until he is seven years old, to secure 
 the best results you will find that worlv at an early age 
 will be necessary. As previously remarked, the colt 
 ofrows better and harder under the athletic trainino^ we 
 have recommended. The lungs will develop with the 
 muscles, and even the legs will attain a harder, cleaner 
 substance. I believe it to be a scientific truth that the 
 physical development of animals is modified by the use 
 or exercise to which they are subjected during the 
 period of growth. The boy who practices writing 
 early has the advantage over a man who starts in late 
 in life in more than the purely mental ground. The 
 muscles that "push" tlie pen grow to better answer 
 that requirement than if they receive no ti*ainiug until 
 their growth is done. The boy who aims to shine, say, 
 as an acrobat, will reach a higher point if he begins 
 his training young, for the physical structure will 
 during growtli accommodate itself to the training, 
 those muscles most brought into play increasing in 
 bulk as well as in strength and tone, until the ease and 
 deftness of the physical machine in a certain direction 
 renders that order of exercise ^' a mechanical mode of 
 life," or as we more commonly say it, second nature. 
 Therefore it seems so clear to me that intelligently 
 directed exercise, such as moderate training on the 
 track, is superior to the impulsive, purposeless, and 
 often violent exercise taken by a loose and untrained 
 colt, that I cannot but wonder that there are those 
 who do not see it. Some time ago Mr. S. A. Browne, 
 the prominent Michigan breeder, who once owned 
 Bell Boy, expressed, if I rememb^^ aright, the 
 
232 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 opinion tljat when the record of Maud S. was broken 
 it would not be by a horse that beat the world's 
 record at two or three ^^ears old. T cannot agree with 
 Mr. Browne on that point; buc, even if his opinion 
 Avere right, it would not be a point against earh^ train- 
 ing, but rather, against asking a great effort of an im- 
 mature horse. If I owned a yearling that I knew had 
 in him the making of a world-beater, and if I did not 
 want to trot him in public until he was fully matured, 
 I would work him from his yearling form up, and 
 would feel sure that he would ultimateh^ be a greater 
 horse than if he was allowed to grow up loose and un- 
 educated until four or five 3^ears of age. Another fact 
 is that horses in trainino^ are more carefully watched 
 as regards health, and are generally under better hy- 
 gienic conditions than those that grow up rough and 
 untutored. Then again, with the latter, their tempers 
 may develop in the wrong direction ; the}^ are not used 
 to control, and they resent it, becoming so strong- 
 headed that they ma}^ be phj^sically as well as men- 
 tally ruined in breaking. A case in point : After 
 Capt. Smith had gone a mile for me in 2:21 at four 
 years old and the gelding Clay had shown great speed, 
 I began to try to Avork a mare we had out of the same 
 dam — Maid of Clay. At four years old this mare was 
 unbroken, and we had to lariat her to catch her. She 
 would kick, bite and fight whenever we tried to do 
 anything with her ; but after long and patient work I 
 got her to drive double and single prett}^ well, and she 
 acted like a trotter. One day I took her to a tem- 
 porary blacksmith-shoj) to have her shod. Between 
 two posts there was fastened, about four and a half 
 
TEACIJ THEM YCH'XG 
 
 233 
 
 feet from the ground, a piece of scantling, and in stn.o-. 
 ghng against being shod she got beneath that bar and 
 raised nght up under it. V^e tried to get the scantling 
 oif and could not, but we finally succeeded in puUin" 
 her out. She promised to be the best of Maid of Clay's 
 family, but from that day, although not crippled, she 
 never jvas .-orth a dollar. Her heart was broken, her 
 spirit, her courage and ambition all gone. She would 
 never go up on the bit again, and she was, in short, a 
 subdued, useless and spiritless mare, where, had she 
 been trained young, she would have been docile and 
 educated without the loss of ambition and spirit So 
 my fnend, who may be training a two-year-old, don't 
 magine, because you are not going to rtart him this 
 jeai, that you are doing no good and might as well 
 
 comes The work now is of more importance than at 
 any other time, for you are laying safe and sure the 
 founda ion for the future, and if i^ is being well done 
 
 ZflrT ''""'f ^''■'^™^'»''« «ork you were "building 
 
 bette than yon knew."' There is a great lesson in th'e 
 
 Ime . Learn to labor and to wait." 
 
 Beyond the instructions already given I need say 
 
 little more about working the two-vear-old, as any 
 average horseman will, after following through my 
 remarks, be able to judge of how much\-ork to o-ive 
 and when to ease up temporarily. If you are goin^c to 
 start him in a race-and I advise von not to sTart 
 unless you feel pretty sure that you have the speed to 
 wm-you can fit him for the race much on the nlm 
 pursued with Sunol. Do not give him too ma^y m'S 
 
234: TRAINING THE TKCJTTING HORSE. 
 
 and be very sparing in working him against the watch. 
 Keep him in hard and stout condition, and don't trot 
 the race until the race day. Further on I treat of pre- 
 paring for races, and management in races, and while 
 much remains to be said that is applicable to two-year- 
 old training, the order of our work will cover it all as 
 we proceed further on. 
 
 The first jear in harness will have a great effect in 
 many ways, and little mistakes now may have very 
 momentous consequences hereafter, and in no way can 
 more harm be done than by a little indiscretion with 
 the colt's mouth. All you have to do is to check him 
 up about three inches too far, and take a cast-iron grip 
 on him while driving, to blight all his prospects in short 
 order. You want to teach him so that he can be 
 driven " by a silken thread " — driven with a light 
 hand — and you will generally find that at first the colt 
 with a loose check and with the lines h'ing almost 
 loose on his back, will swing off at his own gait, 
 whereas if you put weight on the bit, or check him up 
 tight, he will be fighting it all the while, will be un- 
 balanced in his gait, and be in no temper to trot. Let 
 this ill-treatment be continued for a Avhile, and your 
 colt will have " a hard mouth," and will learn to pull, 
 and to "hog on the bit." Sun ol would have been a 
 puller under any but the most careful treatment. 
 Whenever she showed an inclination to " lug " I would 
 let her have her head, talk to her, and have her go 
 along as easily as possible, without being hard held, 
 and she gradually forgot to pull ; but had I fought her 
 with the bit she would have been ruined. A well 
 trained colt will learn to rate about any gait you set 
 
don't " BREAK AXD CATCH." 235 
 
 him a-going at with a lightly held rein. It is very 
 essential to have him do this to train him to obey the 
 voice, and jog easily without being held. After a 
 horse begins to go fast, of course a little firmer grip is 
 necessary to hold him safe and steady ; but at all times 
 let it be your aim to put as little extra weight on the 
 rein as possible. Here will come in play what we call 
 "good hands," about which there is an indefinable 
 something that cannot be imparted. A light, yet firm, 
 an elastic, yet steady, hold on the rein is what is 
 wanted ; but I can no more tell you how to do it than 
 the painter can tell how to hold the brush for a master- 
 stroke. It is a natural gift that does not seem capable 
 of being acquired. 
 
 Don't waste, or worse than waste, time in teaching 
 the colt to " break and catch." That is an idea that 
 some men think the most important in training, but it 
 is a pernicious one. You are teaching him to trot, not 
 to " go as you please," and the great point is not to 
 teach him to " break and catch'' but to teach him not 
 to break at all. If he does break, do not jerk him vio- 
 lentl}^, " snatch " him, or see-saw on one side and then 
 the other. We have all seen horses that leave their 
 feet, throw up their heads and let go of the bit alto- 
 gether. This is the result of jerking his head. He 
 throws up his head to get away from the bit ; he fears 
 it, and hence cannot get into his balance and stride 
 again. My plan is to give him a square pull back, 
 and swing him very slightly to one side, giving him 
 a chance to catch in the cross stride. 
 
 A few^ colts, even at this early age, are so dull and 
 sluggish that a whip is often necessary to infuse ambi- 
 
236 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 tion into them ; but, while I always carry a whip, it is 
 more for ornament than use with youngsters. With a 
 nervous, highly-organized colt it is seldom necessary^ 
 and its abuse is absolutely ruinous in results. How 
 often you see a man apply the whip to a young colt 
 when he breaks, yet that is something that a boy of 
 ten years old should have too much sense to be guilty 
 of. To frighten an4 punish the colt at the ver}^ time 
 when he requires to be steadied and reassured, is cer- 
 tainly not a sensible thing to do, and a man who 
 will do it is not fit to get into a sulky, especially 
 behind a well-organized youngster of fine fiber. 
 
 All these faults combined, or any one of them, may 
 cause pulling, side-pulling, or other ^^ces of the head 
 and mouth, with the numerous train of indirect results, 
 such as spoiling the temper and the gait, causing the 
 horse to become unsteady, hitching, etc. Pulling is a 
 vice much to be dreaded, being generally incurable^ 
 and anything likely to encourage it should be carefully 
 shunned. Care of the mouth is an important thing at 
 this stage. See that the mouth is not sore, that the 
 bit is not hurting it — never use severe bits — and 
 endeavor to keep it in the naturally sensitive and easy 
 state. 
 
 Side-puUing is a very disagreeable habit, and the 
 cause can generally be found in the mouth. It may be 
 caused by wolf-teeth (and the smaller the more painful 
 they are), or before the colt has a full mouth, the gums 
 may be swollen on one side of the lower jaw, between 
 the molars and the incisors ; or the sharp edges of the 
 grinders may come in contact with his cheeks, 
 especially if he is jerked ; or the bit may be too long 
 
SIDE-PULLIXG. 237 
 
 and need washers to keep it from pullino- through the 
 mouth. There are various causes for side-pullincr. 
 which sometimes require care and much experience to 
 locate. If you are not familiar with mouths, consult 
 some one who is, and when the cause is found the 
 remed}^ will be easily applied. In ordinary cases I 
 have generally found wrapping the bit on one side 
 with chamois skin to be effectual 
 
238 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS THE TRACK-WORK OF THE THREE- 
 YEAR-OLD THE SPEED-MAKING BRUSHES — SPEED WINS 
 
 RACES MANZANITA AND PATRON BRUSH AT DIFFER- 
 ENT PLACES ON THE TRACK STOPPING AT SPOTS AND 
 
 ITS REMEDY AlVIOUNT OF WORK GIVEN WORKING 
 
 TWICE A DAY WHEN NECESSARY ANOTHER CAUTION 
 
 AGAINST OVERDOING IT A TIRED HORSE RIPE FOR 
 
 BREAK-DOWN THE ERROR OF PERSISTENTLY DRIVING 
 
 FAST MILES WORKING MATURE HORSES WORK DIF- 
 FERS ONLY IN DEGREE — EXCESSIVE REDUCTION CON- 
 DITION PECULIARITIES TO BE STUDIED. 
 
 The training of your colt will necessarily be affected 
 by the climate in which you live. Our best time for 
 work in California is in the fall and the winter-spring, 
 barring the rainy season. Our summers are so diy — 
 the grass burned up and the tracks hard — that it is a 
 rather trying time on horses. The blood of a horse in 
 training (eating as he does mainly food that is of a 
 rather heating nature), as well as his legs and feet, is 
 harder to keep just right in a dry summer than in the 
 seasons when a feed of grass will regulate and cool the 
 stomach, and a walk in the dew will cool the legs and 
 feet. 
 
 In the East, and especially in the North, it is some- 
 times difficult to frive a horse sufficient exercise in win- 
 
SPEED-MAKING BRUSHES. 239 
 
 ter, and all I need say on this point is: Take the best 
 advantage you can of your climate. If you have long 
 stretches in the year when you cannot drive for speed, 
 you can at least, almost every day, exercise the horse, 
 whether it be over a snow-path or over winter roads. 
 Aim to keep the horse in as near the good, hard condi- 
 tion he would be in if work on the track were possible, 
 as you can, and he will at least be well prepared for 
 track-work when the season comes for speeding. 
 
 The work of the three-year-old will be in great 
 
 measure a repetition of that given the two-year-old, 
 
 though he will now be given a little more of it, the 
 
 main object being to keep him speedy. The brushes 
 
 should not be very much lengthened, but he should go 
 
 at a higher rate of course, though in your anxiety to 
 
 have him do this do not "drive him over himself," as 
 
 we say in stable parlance, or force him off his gait. I 
 
 know if you are schooled in the ordmary ideas of 
 
 training you will be impatient with my methods. He 
 
 shows great speed for you at a )rush, and you are 
 
 anxious to drive him miles. You will not be likely to 
 
 dispute the fact that the brush system— going a short 
 
 distance at a high rate, rather than a long distance at 
 
 a slow rate— develops muscle, lung power, speed and 
 
 hardiness of the legs quickly ; but, all the same, you 
 
 Avant to go miles against the watch for the satisfaction 
 
 of seeing what he can do. This is a tendency to be 
 
 guarded against. There are miles enough ahead to be 
 
 trotted and time enough to trot them in. You can go 
 
 a mile at a certain rate, but you must go a fast quarter 
 
 before you can go a fast mile. So first concentrate all 
 
 vour attention on getting the high speeding capacity 
 
240 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 developed ; after you can go fast for a quarter the fast 
 mile will come all right. Speed makes gameness. The 
 horse that goes within his limit will always outlast the 
 horse that is on his tip-toes from wire to Avire. The 
 case of Manzanita and Patron at St. Louis in 1886 is in 
 point. She could trot a quarter that day, beyond 
 doubt, better than thirty-two seconds — she could cer- 
 tainly have gone to the half close to 1:05. Going to 
 the half in 1:08 so distressed Patron that he was a 
 quickly beaten horse. He could not live with her that 
 day any distance from "a panel of fence" to five miles, 
 simply because she could trot him to a standstill with- 
 out being all strung out, and each heat in the race was 
 easy work for her, while he was driven out to the last 
 inch. 
 
 It is not well to brush the horse always over the 
 same ground, for he will then learn to stop at certain 
 places on the track. Colts are quick of perception and 
 retentive in memory, and when they find out they 
 always start at one place and stop at one place they 
 are apt to do it of themselves. In such cases the 
 remedy is eas}^ When you find a colt getting into the 
 habit of wanting to stop, or slacken speed at a certain 
 place, make it a point to send him past that point at a 
 lively gait. You can easily do this by shifting your 
 brushing ground — sometimes working on one side of the 
 track, sometimes on another, and occasionally giving 
 him a breather around tlie turn and through the 
 stretch. Another annoying little habit a colt is apt to 
 get into is to try to turn out every time he passes the 
 gate leading off the track. The same principle will 
 cure him of this. When speeding never pull up just 
 
AMOUNT OF WORK. 241 
 
 at that point. Brush past it, down or up the stretch, 
 then turn and walk or jog back. A little tact, in this 
 respect, will break your colt of all inclination to stop 
 or swerve while speedino^, as he will know of no par- 
 ticular place where he is habitually stopped. 
 
 You began with the yearling going first about a 
 furlong, and working him that distance four or five 
 times. Gradually you increased it, until in two or 
 three months you would give him six or seven brushes, 
 of about 300 yards, going sharp at some point in each. 
 Then, as he grew stronger, larger, stouter, and showed 
 more speed, you increased the work a little more, 
 giving the two-year-old about three-eighth brushes ; and 
 now in his three-year-old form, all being well, you can 
 work him at from three-eightlis to one-fourth mile 
 brushes, never, however, fully stringing him out for a 
 whole quarter, but sending him at high pitch for part 
 of the distance. Occasionally he can be moved well 
 within himself for a half-mile. When you want to do 
 this, after you have given him nearly enough — and 
 this, of course, varies with different horses — turn him 
 and make the last brush about a half-mile, doino^ the 
 most of the distance well within himself, and going 
 the last furlong pretty nearly as fast as he can. You 
 will soon learn to judge when a horse has sufiicient 
 work. The}^ show it by " acting tired," and losing the 
 eagerness to go which you will notice when you first 
 bring him out. At the first sign of this, go to the 
 barn. 
 
 The three-year-old w^ants very little jogging. Its 
 only purpose is to have him empty his stomach, warm 
 him, and generally " loosen him uj)." Although many 
 
242 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 trainers seem to think differently, there is no develop- 
 ment in jogging. Its only object is to get the horse 
 ready to trot — a sort of preliminary exercise to gradu- 
 ally warm up the blood, nnlimber the joints, and get 
 the whole organization pitched to the point of action. 
 
 I have said once or twice already that a young horse 
 can be worked twice a day to advantage if it is neces- 
 sary to start him young, or give him an early prepara- 
 tion. A youngster will tire slightly, lay down and 
 rest, and be in a few hours refreshed, where an old 
 horse will not rest thoroughly until night. So, until a 
 colt is two years old you can work him twice a day, if 
 necessary, with good results. The oftener he gets his 
 work the quicker he will learn. Two short lessons are 
 better than one long one. This semi-daily work may 
 likewise be given older horses until they can trot fast 
 enough to make work severe. You will ap])reciate the 
 fact that the faster a horse goes the more work he will 
 take in a certain time. So when your horse increases 
 to a high rate of speed you will not keep him on the 
 track so long as when he works slower. For instance, 
 if your three-year-old can trot quarters in thirty-five or 
 thirt3^-six seconds, you take him out, warm him, and 
 when ready you give him five or six brushes fast, 
 finishing each brush strong. If you will calculate a 
 moment you will see that you have given him really 
 more work and faster work, than if you had worked 
 him a mile, and repeat, and he has been taught to go 
 at a higher rate. 
 
 The trouble you will find it very hard to fight 
 against will be, let me say again, the tendency to give 
 the colt too much. You will fike to see him go another 
 
don't give the colt too MLXH. 24:^ 
 
 brush and when he is going fast and true, you will hate 
 to stop him. So the virtue of patience will often need 
 to come into play. Development ceases, you must re- 
 member, when you get out the last link. The brush 
 should never extend beyond the point where you do 
 not believe he can improve with the next step. When 
 a horse tires he, in a great measure, loses control of his 
 legs and feet, and if weighted the trouble is aggra- 
 vated. He breaks, he falters in his gait, strikes him- 
 self, goes to hitching, hobbling — anything to rest 
 himself — and as a natural consequence of this work 
 goes back in speed, and loses precision in his action. 
 And, moreover, a thoroughly tired horse is ripe for a 
 break-down. We will suppose tluit you believe that if 
 driven out, your horse can trot a mile in 2:20, and to 
 satisfy yourself you start to do it. You feel him tiring 
 at the seventh-eighth pole, but you want to finish that 
 mile, and so hustle him along. In that last eighth the 
 strain on his muscles tells, they begin to relax, the 
 stroke is not so bold, true and far, and every sinew and 
 cord is strained to its utmost, and yet he is asked to 
 do more. He is not trotting now on his own courage, 
 naturally and with marked, precise stroke, but is 
 strivino: on mechanicallv, and is in the most favorable 
 condition for a break-down. Did you ever notice 
 how often race-horses break down in the home-stretch ? 
 It is the last straw — the call upon a weary horse to 
 respond — that tests most severely tendon and carti- 
 lage. So I very strongly desire to impress upon you 
 the importance of always working miles and half- 
 miles — when you work that distance at all— ^well 
 within the colt's limits. In treating of preparation for 
 
2tl:Tt TRAINIXG THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 races I will be more specific on this, but here, again, 
 wish to put the trainer on guard. I have driven a 
 three-year-old, in a race in 2:22, that never trotted a 
 mile in 2:30 before. If you have the speed, and the 
 colt is in good condition, he will trot you a good mile 
 when asked, if driven and rated Avith fair judgment. 
 Do not exhaust the youngster in moonlight trials — 
 save the energy you would thus expend until race-day. 
 You may want it. I consider there is no error more 
 common and more grievous than the belief that the 
 way to condition a horse for a race is to drive 
 him and repeat him day after day right up close 
 to his limit. You will find tliat wlien you begin to 
 work the colt miles, preparatory to a race, he will lose 
 some of his speed, even with the most careful working. 
 AVith the fast mile-and-repeat business, as usually car- 
 ried out, he cannot but lose his speed to a great degree. 
 On race-day you want all the speed you can command, 
 and you can have that and have the ability to go fast 
 miles too b}^ working on the moderate plan outlined in 
 the chapters on Sunol, and on preparation for races in 
 this book. 
 
 Though my object in w^riting this book is chiefi}^ to 
 deal with the training of young horses, that training 
 differs only in degree from the manner in which, in 
 my estimation, older horses should be worked. Sup- 
 pose a man brings you a five-year-old horse to work for 
 speed — a regular green one — soft and out of shape. 
 You cannot start him up right away, but after 
 getting his feet in shape, shod and " hung " right, 
 you need not waste all summer in slow jogging before 
 you do anything. Horses differ so in temperament 
 
AVORKIXG OFF FLESH. 245 
 
 that it takes some time to know each one. Some are 
 hearty eaters with appetites that nothing will affect^ 
 and these of course take more woi'k than the more 
 delicate kind. I do not believe in getting flesh off a 
 horse with sweat-blankets and hoods. Work it off in 
 the natural vrsiV. After you have got your horse into 
 pretty good driving shape, with a fair share of flesh of 
 the hard variety, he should be given as great a proj^or 
 tion of his work in fast brushes as possible. After 3^ou 
 have driven him until he is shaped up to take fast work 
 without distress, you have got to a point beyond which 
 I can give little more instruction than I have already 
 given. The principle of the work for colts and mature 
 horses is the same essentially. It differs only in degree. 
 To prepare a green horse for work needs only a little 
 average horse-sense — plenty of exercise, careful groom- 
 ing and judicious feeding. Some men act on the prin- 
 ciple that a horse must be as poor as a scare-crow 
 before he is in condition, and some will even resort to 
 physic to get flesh off. That is an erroneous idea, and 
 the use of physic is simply unpardonable as long as a 
 horse is well. It weakens and reduces a horse, which 
 you do not want to do. The object is to keep him 
 strong, but to work off superfluous flesh to get him in 
 as nearly perfect healthy athletic condition as possible. 
 Strength, vigor and energy do not stay by many horses 
 whose ribs can be counted far off. After a horse a}> 
 proaches maturity' he lays on internal fat, as all animals 
 do, and in that condition strong, fast exercise distresses 
 him, his wind being "thick" and "short." All race- 
 horse men will tell vou that some horses "run bis:" 
 and others "run fine" — that is, that some are at their 
 
2:1:6 TKAIXIXG THE TROTTING HOKSE. 
 
 best when rather stouter than what on the average is 
 regarded as perfect condition, while others show the 
 highest form when trained pretty "fine" — but the lat- 
 ter are in the minority. That some horses are at their 
 best when very fine is true beyond question; but I 
 know that in the great majority of cases a horse, to be 
 in the pink of condition, must carry a quite fair degree 
 of flesh — a good smooth coating over the ribs, not feel- 
 ing gross and thick to the hand, but amply covering 
 the bones. The hair should be soft and glossy, the 
 coat smooth and velvety to the touch, never harsh and 
 dried up, and the horse should perspire freely a clear 
 sweat. But to describe condition is like trying to tell 
 a man how to drive. You cannot do it. You can help, 
 but his own intuition must be his greatest teacher in 
 almost ever}^ point of the trainer's art. There is an 
 old Spanish proverb which I have seen lately quoted 
 with an apt application : " It is the eye of the master 
 that fattens the horse." It is the eye of the trainer 
 that makes him " fit." 
 
 The study of the peculiarities of your pupils, to 
 which I referred, in passing a moment ago, is a most 
 important part of the trainer's business. As the writer 
 from whom I have just quoted very properly sa^^s : 
 " Horses, like men, have idiosyncrasies of mind and 
 body ; like men, they require humoring, and cannot 
 safel}^ be treated as machines (which is too often done), 
 and what is termed tact must be exercised with both. 
 The progress of training must be gradual and pro- 
 gressive — never standing still. Inaction means deteri- 
 oration." When a trainer and a horse get at cross- 
 purposes with each other they had better part com- 
 
CARE AXD KEEPING. 2-17 
 
 pany. Xeither one can do himself justice while he 
 is fiofhtino^ the other, and the divided house will come 
 to orief. Work to be of anv benefit will be taken in 
 good temper on both sides. So the ideal trainer must 
 not only have the faculties of observation, and the 
 penetrativeness to discover the horse's peculiarities of 
 nature, but he must have the elastic tact to accom- 
 modate himself to them. 
 
 I have now explained, at some length, the principles 
 of our educational track work, and have indicated how 
 a colt may be trained from infancy until he is a horse 
 ready for the finislnng touches in preparation for the 
 fray. It would be very pleasant for the writer and 
 the reader if a book could be written that, like a 
 cookery recipe, tells you all at once how to do every 
 thing so that you can begin work when you begin 
 reading, and do the job according to directions as you 
 read on. But there are so man}^ things that have to 
 be done in their order every day, in horse training, 
 that all the strings cannot be threaded at once. So, 
 before we take up the preparation of the colt for races, 
 and his management in them, we will leave the track 
 and go to the barn, where it will be in order to give 
 some attention to his care and keeping. 
 
2iS TKAINING THE TROTTING HOESE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 STABLES AND STABLING PALATIAL STABLES NOT NECES- 
 SARY—THE PRIME ESSENTIALS CLEANLINESS, AIR AND 
 
 LIGHT LARGE AND SMALL BARNS ADVANTAGES 
 
 OF THE LATTER ROOMY BOXES FLOORING CLAY 
 
 FLOORS BEDDING FEEDING CRACKED AND GROUND 
 
 FOOD — BRAN IMPORTANCE OF GOOD QUALITY OF 
 
 FOOD — WATER CALIFORNIA CLIMATE AND GRASSES. 
 
 The question of stabling is one of very great import- 
 ance, but it is erroneous to suppose that a man needs 
 to be a millionaire to properly stable his horses. Some 
 of the farms in the United States have stables that are 
 palaces, where liberality is seen to run into extrava- 
 gance and practical comfort is forgotten in the chase 
 of elegance. But as a general rule, for the purposes of 
 training, I would not exchange the single story " shed 
 stables " at Palo Alto for the mammoth barns where 
 the light falls through stained glass windows upon 
 polished woods, gilded iron, and brass. If I were asked 
 to put in few words the requirements to be met in 
 stabling I would say : Have ample room, scrupulous 
 cleanliness, fresh air and abundant light. We have 
 one great barn at Palo Alto — the largest and most 
 expensive building on the farm — where three or four 
 of the assistant trainers have their "strings," and I 
 can say that the proportion of horses that go wrong in 
 
LOCATION OF STABLES. 249 
 
 that barh is larger than in our long " shed " stables, 
 where every box is independent. This barn is built 
 on the usual plan — divided by two wide transverse 
 aisles crossing each other in the center of the building, 
 the boxes opening into them. The boxes are boarded 
 up to the usual height, then divided by open work, and 
 the space and shafts above are ample for perfect 
 ventilation. But from the very nature of barns of this 
 character there are always drafts, and you cannot 
 regulate the air and temperature of each box. In the 
 rows of single-story stables, where each box is a com- 
 plete section, with its own door and window, you can 
 regulate it to suit each horse just according as you 
 wish to give him air, or protect him from drafts after 
 work, etc. Then, agam, there is greater safety, as each 
 box is completely divided from its neighbors. Disease 
 is not so apt to spread, and in case of fire you have a 
 better chance to save horses. I would for many 
 reasons rather have two or more small detached barns 
 than one yevy large one. 
 
 As far as location goes I would only say : Have your 
 stables convenient to the track, and on high, dry 
 ground. It is better that they should face the south. 
 When, as in so great a proportion of our stabling at 
 Palo Alto, the boxes have independent doors opening 
 to the outside world, it will be more pleasant to have a 
 southern exposure, expecially in lands less favored 
 with sunny weather than California. We have half- 
 doors, and it will please you to notice, how on a fine 
 afternoon, the horse likes to stand b}^ his door, and 
 with his head and neck protruding rejoice in the pure, 
 sweet air, and watch all that is going on. Have a 
 
250 TRAINING thp: trotting horse. 
 
 veranda of liberal width to shade the box-door from 
 the scorching heat of a summer sun, and to protect it 
 from the rain. 
 
 As to ventilation and light, have it in purity and 
 abundance. Foul air, as you know, rises, so that you 
 will provide for its escape near the top of the box, 
 either by an air shaft, or by ventilators; and the 
 windows should be set pretty high, so that the air will 
 not necessarily blow on the horses' body. A window 
 swinging open from the top will well serve this pur- 
 pose. There is nothing worse than a dark stable. 
 Air, light, and cleanliness are absolutelv essential to 
 keep a horse in good health. They are cheap com- 
 modities and you can have them in plenty. 
 
 I like large, roomy boxes. A good size is ISxli^ but 
 14x16 is better. It admits of free and natural move- 
 ment ; the horse does not feel pent-up and imprisoned, 
 and it is certainly more conducive to health than 
 smaller quarters. 
 
 As to what is the most desirable flooring is a much 
 discussed question. An absolutely perfect plan for 
 flooring and littering has yet to be devised. In a floor 
 we seek durability, with economy, cleanliness, and sub- 
 stance healthful for the feet. For the perfect bedding 
 we should have something soft and elastic, cleanly, and 
 non-eatable. The advocates of peat-moss claim these 
 virtues for it, bnt, as I have not had experience with 
 it, I cannot speak with confidence concerning it. Some 
 writers advocate cemented floors of bricks, tiles, or 
 even stone, but I would not think of having a horse 
 stand on such a hard floor. Imagine a horse brought 
 in after a race, his feet tired and hot, compelled to 
 
CLEAXLIXESS. 251 
 
 stand on bricks on flagstones. Many favor boarded 
 floors, and much can be said in their favor on the score 
 of cleanliness. If you lay such a floor have a little 
 slope in it to carry the liquid excrement down to the 
 draining gutter, but the slope must be very slight 
 indeed, so that the departure from the true level will 
 not be perceptible to the horse. I have had experience 
 with several kinds of flooring, and I am free to say I 
 like a ground floor best. Some object that the earthen 
 floor gets saturated with excretions, and it is difficult 
 to keep clean. I have not found it so. I use lime 
 liberalh^— sometimes chloride of limCo With careful 
 and regular cleaning, and liming, the box can be kept 
 perfectly clean and the air free from the health destroy- 
 ing ammonia that pervades wet and imperfectly 
 cleaned and ventilated stables. For bedding I like rye- 
 straw, and plenty of it. As to the details of stabling 
 I need not speak, as every man " must cut the garment 
 according to the cloth," and arrange his plans accord- 
 ing to the size of his stable and the demands upon 
 it. Every good horseman is orderly. He has " a place 
 for everything and everything in its place," and the 
 harness-room of a well-ordered stable should be kept 
 as neat looking as a city harness-shop. 
 
 With all that has been written on feeding, the public 
 ouD^ht to know it all, but still the writers write. After 
 all we have not got beyond the simple facts that the 
 horse's natural food is grass, hay and oats ; that he 
 should be fed and watered regularlv with healthv solid 
 and fluid, and that the object to be kept in view m 
 feeding is to strengthen and nourish the body and keep 
 it healthy. Tiiese are the elementary principles 
 involved in all discussions on feeding. 
 
252 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 I have already spoken of feeding youngsters, and 
 have expressed the behef that they cannot be too 
 hberally fed in their first two years of fife, especially 
 if being worked. I have had very satisfactory results- 
 with colts by feeding ground oats and steamed ground 
 oats and barley. But both with colts and horses good 
 grass and hay is essential to perfect health. 
 
 I have said to give the colts all they can eat up 
 clean, but it is not so easy to fix the quantity with 
 horses. Horses differ in the amount of food they do- 
 best with, just as they differ in the amount of work 
 the}^ require. No absolute rule can be laid down. One- 
 horse may keep right almost on hay alone, while an- 
 other will require ten or twelve quarts of oats a day in 
 addition to keep him right. The only rule I can formu- 
 late is to give the horse in training all that is necessary 
 to keep him stout and strong. A horse, to be in proper 
 track condition, will carry a certain fair amount of 
 flesh, and if you reduce him below that he will become 
 weakened. 
 
 I am aware that some horsemen do not believe in 
 feeding cracked or ground food, but my experience- 
 convinces me that a limited proportion of it is bene- 
 ficial in all cases and quite essential in some. Horses- 
 that are inclined to bolt their oats and horses in whose- 
 dung is observed whole grains will, for obvious reasons, 
 get more nourishment from broken than from Avhole 
 grain. Unmasticated food can afford little nourish- 
 ment, and when a horse will bolt his oats witliout 
 masticating it he shoidd be given it in the broken 
 form. 
 
 A word as to bran. I once gave it up altogether^ 
 
GOOD FOOD ESSEXTIAL. 253 
 
 and substituted boiled oats, with a little oil-meal in it, 
 for horses that did not sweat out freely and scrape 
 well. However, for the past few years I have used 
 considerable bran with good results. Good, clean 
 bran, well-scalded, may be used judiciously to great ad^ 
 vantage w4iere a horse's bowels seem to need a little 
 loosening. 
 
 Quality is the great essential in food. The horse's 
 stomach is small, comparatively speaking, and it fol- 
 lows that he will not thrive on food the nourishment 
 in which is a small percentage in ratio to the bulk. 
 All food, then, should be clean and free from dust and 
 must, as well as being good in itself, of whatever 
 variety. The most nutritive food for horses iu train- 
 ing, as I have said, are oats, hay and grass, and no 
 other is ever necessary or advisable as food. Some- 
 times, how-ever, a little feed of parsnips or carrots will 
 tempt a horse whose appetite is not on edge to eat, 
 and they have a coolmg and* regulating effect on the 
 ■stomach. 
 
 See to it tlien that the hay and oats are sound and 
 healthy, and of the best quality obtainable. You 
 •cannot save a cent by buying inferior food because it 
 is cheap. That is false economy. The oats should be 
 dry and sound, the grains full and ])lump, and be care- 
 fully cleaned before fed. Of hay there are legions of 
 varieties, differing with climate, but every novice knows 
 good, clean, sweet hay when he sees it. 
 
 The importance of good water is as great as of good 
 food, and every one who has had any experience in 
 horse-keeping w^ell knows that a change in water is 
 generally resented by the horse, and, therefore, the 
 
254 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 best results will follow the use of not only pure water, 
 but the same water all the thne if possible. I have 
 observed tiiat a horse does best with his home water. 
 He acquires a taste for it, and is quick to detect the 
 difference of the water he is offered away from home. 
 It may seem the same to the trainer, may be chemi- 
 cally the same, but the horse will detect a difference. 
 This only illustrates one of the thousand little influ- 
 ences that may interfere with the trainer's work. The 
 water should be of average temperature, and never 
 given when ver^/ cold. 
 
 Eeferring to the quality of food, and the influence of 
 climate, a little digression may be pardoned in order 
 to speak of our California advantages .and disadvan- 
 tages in training and keeping horses. 
 
 First let me declare briefly that the climatic advan- 
 tages of California are much exaggerated by many. 
 We can grow colts more rajDidly than any other sec- 
 tion, for they are never chilled, never feel the stunting 
 influence of wintry skies, but live in a land of warmth 
 and sunshine. The usual time of foaling in California 
 is about the most favorable of the year, when the 
 grasses are at their best, and the youngster gets a 
 start in life which sends him right along. Neverthe- 
 less, I believe I can go to Kentucky and have better 
 results in the end, in spite of the fact that many of the 
 Eastern people attribute all our success to climate. My 
 horses have generally been better in the East in 
 summer than at home. Our winters are superb — 
 barring the rainy season — for training, but the draw- 
 back comes in the dry, parching summer, when the 
 grass, in a great p^rt of the State, is dried up. It is 
 
CALIFORXIA CLIMATE. 255 
 
 then difficult to keep the system of the horse in train- 
 ing riglit. The blood becomes heated, and the whole 
 organization in a condition in which so slight a thing 
 as a " hit " or brush ma}" cause a break-down. The 
 feet become dried, and, though some theorists believe 
 that a horse's feet should be allowed to dry up and 
 contract, I have found my horses go lame whenever 
 they w^ere allowed to drift into that condition. I have 
 known good trainers to start out in the spring in Cali- 
 fornia with large stables of horses fit and well, and 
 have them all go wrong. Our tracks are hard and 
 flinty, and this, in addition to the natural and obvious 
 truth that when the system is feverish and disordered, 
 it is unable to throw off even slight troubles, accounts 
 for the fact that a larger percentage of horses "go 
 wrong" in California, in smnmer, than anywhere else. 
 Our greatest advantage here is that we can work 
 longer, and w^ork at any season — but for that very 
 reason many horese are overworked. I have no desire 
 to underestimate the natural advantages of this beauti- 
 ful State, but I object to all the credit for what we 
 have done — which is mainly due to the blood we have, 
 and our methods of training — being given to " climate.'* 
 "With the same material I could do at least as well 
 in the East ; and if I owned Electioneer and thirty 
 or forty selected mares, and wished to breed and 
 train horses to break all records, I would locate in 
 Kentucky or Tennessee in preference to California for 
 that purpose. 
 
 With regard to our grasses we have no advantage 
 over the sections I have named. Alfalfa I have not 
 had a very wide experience with, and such as I have 
 
256 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 has not been very satisfactory. It does very well for 
 brood-mares and youngsters ; but it is a washy grass 
 and affects the kidneys of horses in training. At least 
 such has been my experience. Alfierilla, commonly 
 called "filaree" is a rank-growing grass that horses 
 are very fond of, and that I consider far preferable to 
 alfalfa for turf horses. The natural wild-oat of Cali- 
 fornia provides excellent forage, and the animals take 
 much to burr-clover after it is ripe and dry. The 
 natural herbs of California afford forage of the richest 
 and most nutritious kind, and for ordinary horse ranch- 
 ing nocountrv can rival it — but for breedino^ and train- 
 ing horses for the turf I am somewhat skeptical as to 
 our advantages over '' the blue-grass region." 
 
PROGRAMME. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE DAILY PROGRAMME WITH A HORSE IX TRAINING — THE 
 
 MORNING MEAL AND EXERCISE CARING FOR HIM 
 
 AFTER WORK RUBBING, BLANKETING AND BANDAG- 
 ING TEMPERATURE OF STABLES CLOTHING MUZ- 
 ZLES HOODS — GOOD MEN FOR RUBBERS BOOTS 
 
 SOME SPECIALLY GOOD PATTERNS OF BOOTS TOE- 
 WEIGHTS SELDOM NECESSARY AND MUCH ABUSED 
 
 THE PERFECT TROTTER WILL NOT WEAR THEM. 
 
 Xow LET US briefly outline the daily programme 
 with a horse that is taking strong work. 
 
 I make it a rule to give horses in work three meals 
 a day. It is a very good plan to keep a bucket of 
 water in the box over night ; ])ut if this is not done, 
 give him a drink the first thing in the morning. Then 
 feed him two or three quarts of oats, according to 
 what sort of a feeder he is, and no water for at least 
 two hours after feeding. By this time the sun, we 
 will suppose, has got well up, and the morning is clear 
 and bright. After he has eaten his breakfast, he is to 
 be nicely cleaned off, legs rubbed, feet cleaned out, and 
 if possible given a walk in the dew. Xow we will 
 hitch him up, and give him a gentle jog of a few miles, 
 after which we bring him in, unharness him, and as a 
 rule bandage his legs. X'ow he is walked a while, 
 then the bandages removed and his legs hand-rubbed. 
 
258 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 and rebandao^ed if he is being given lots of work. 
 After he is well rubbed out, his feet washed, and he is 
 w^alked inahght sheet until quite dry, he is " done up" 
 for the morning. It is not well to keep him tied up 
 longer than is necessary for it is irritating and annoy- 
 ing to the horse, and gives him no chance to rest. I 
 would never tie up a colt, except when he is being 
 cleaned or harnessed. It is harder on him to stand for 
 two hours with his head tied up than to take his track 
 w^ork, and the incident fretting and worrying is 
 injurious. 
 
 After a reasonable time we are read\^ to work him, 
 and on the track we give him his work for speed in the 
 manner described at other places. After he has taken 
 his work we bring him. in, give him a few '-swallows" 
 of water, remove the harness, throw on the blanket 
 and then take off his boots. The next thing in order 
 is to scrape him off lightly, taking no more time than 
 is necessar3\ It requires care and judgment here, for 
 while you must not let a draft blow on him, or 
 allow him to get cold, if you keep him too warm he 
 will scrape a second time, which is undesirable. Clothes 
 enough to prevent taking cold is all that is required. 
 
 I have noticed horses too heavily clothed after work 
 seem to get heated through and through show dis- 
 tress by panting. 
 
 After the scrape a body-w^ash should be applied. 
 The following I have found very good : 
 
 Compound soap liniment 16 ounces. 
 
 Liquid ammonia 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture cantharides 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture opium 2 ounces. 
 
STABLE CARE. 259 
 
 Mix, and add about two ounces of this preparation 
 to one |)int of water and one pint of Pond's Extract 
 of Witchhaze]. This should be quickly poured and 
 rubbed over the loins and muscles of the shoulders, 
 after which the legs are bandaged, and he is clothed 
 in a blanket and usualh^ a light hood, though if the 
 weather be fine and warm the latter is not necessary. 
 Kow walk him slowly for about twenty to tweniv-five 
 minutes, letting him stop occasionally if he wants to. 
 When he is nearly dry take him in and rub him out. 
 Avoid any more rubbing than is necessary, and have it 
 h'ghtly done. Hard rubbing irritates the horse, and in 
 high training condition is indeed painful. The prac- 
 tice of throwing heavy clothing over the loins is one I 
 cannot api)rove of. AYith a sound horse it is needless, 
 and indeed I think has a hurtful tendency. 
 
 As above directed, the legs are to be bandaged 
 ^\'henever the harness and boots are removed, and 
 the lotion applied. To put on a bandage right is 
 quite a nice thing. A great many in bandaging the 
 legs leave the heels or under part of the ankles ex- 
 posed. Xow, the lower part of the ankle needs the 
 support furnished by the bandage just as much as the 
 u])per portion of the joint and leg. The object of the 
 bandage is to "brace" the ankle and tendon until they 
 are thoroughly rested after the strain of fast work. 
 The bandage should be wrapped well down around 
 and under the fetlock. The bandage should be set 
 moderately tight and should be left on from one to 
 two hours. 
 
 ;N'ow you have him drv, he has been brushed and 
 cleaned thoroughly, and is ready for dinner. Give him 
 
260 TEAINIXG THE TROTTIXG HOESE. 
 
 a moderate drink and the usual two or three quarts of 
 oats, with a fair feed of sweet, good hay, and let him 
 eat and digest his dinner as best pleases him. 
 
 After dinner the rubber will have the harness, boots, 
 sulky, etc., to attend to, and a good boy will take pains 
 to keep these always cleaned and in good shape, for 
 this is a very important factor in their preservation 
 and wear, as well as in their direct bearing on the 
 horse's work. After these details have been attended 
 to, the horse is given a walk and a little grass ; then 
 the box is cleaned out, the horse again rubbed off, his 
 feet attended to (to which I refer below), fresh bedding 
 put in and his regular clothes put on, and he is all 
 through with for the day, excepting his supper. 
 
 "Writing here in California, where we never have any 
 trouble in keeping our horses warm enough in winter, 
 perhaps I have neglected, in discussing the conditions 
 sought in stabling, to refer to this phase of horse keep- 
 ino: that confronts breeders and trainers, in a region 
 where the winters are more rigorous. In speaking of 
 clothing, it may be touched upon. At all seasons of 
 the 3'ear our nights are cool in California, but they 
 are never cold. Hence, it is easier here to keep the 
 horse in a uniform temperature than in the l^orth and 
 East. I need not say that horses must be warm 
 enough, or they cannot be kept in good condition. 
 They will not, on the same amount of food, thrive if 
 cold. It is, I am sure, an indisputable fact that all 
 animals can be kept thrifty and strong on less food 
 in a comfortable temperature than in one where they 
 are chilled. I am not altogether sure that artificially 
 heated barns will, at all times, prove wholly satis- 
 
HOODS AXD MUZZLES. 261 
 
 factory. I think horses must be more liable to con- 
 tract colds, going out of a heated barn into the cold 
 midwinter air of our ^N'orthern States, but, as I have 
 had no experience in this direction, I cannot speak 
 positively on the point. A temperature of about sixty 
 degrees is high enough for health ; and the reader in 
 a northern region will appreciate from his own 
 V experience, without my reminder, the importance of 
 duly providing for the horse's comfort in winter by 
 stabling and good clothing. 
 
 For this country I like a linen blanket, with a 
 lighter blanket over it, and it seems to suit all sorts 
 of weather. In winter it keeps cold out — or rather 
 keeps the natural warmth in — and in summer it does 
 not get sweaty, keeping the horse's coat nice under all 
 conditions. 
 
 The hood is an article of clothing that I am not sure 
 is ever absolutely necessary, and, to say the least, 
 should be little used. For sweating out the throat, 
 or for any purpose that a hood answers, I prefer a 
 jowl-piece. The use of heavy sweat- hoods is, I am 
 sure, often weakening and injurious, and, if used at all, 
 it should be with great* discrimination and care. 
 
 Muzzles are an invention in horse-wear that are an 
 unmitigated evil, and if every trainer were of my 
 mind the harness-makers would soon forget how to 
 make them. That there are gluttons among horses 
 we all know. They will drive their heads to the 
 bottom of a bucket of water, and take chances of 
 breathing through their ears rather than draw back ; 
 they will try to swallow three quarts of oats in one 
 gulp, will gorge on all the hay, straw or anything eat- 
 
262 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 able in sight, and even in their sleep will dream of 
 hay-stacks. With such a horse I would far rather 
 regulate his feed carefully, bed him with something 
 he cannot eat, or even tie him up. In a rare case the 
 muzzle might be used on a gluttonous colt, but they 
 are hardly ever necessary, and their use hardly ever 
 excusable. 
 
 I do not conceive it necessary, nor a profitable use 
 of space, to go through all the details of stable equip- 
 ments and describe the simple uses of such utensils as 
 brushes, combs, towels, sponges, etc. Whatever curry- 
 combs may have been invented for, they should not be 
 applied to a horse's skin, but only to the brush. Corn 
 brushes are labor-saving devices in cleaning, but are 
 more irritating than the softer kinds, and are apt to 
 show their work in thinning out the mane and tail. 
 The towel, backed up by sufficient and willing "elbow- 
 grease," should do the principal work in cleaning the 
 horse. 
 
 The importance of having good rubbers, and the 
 difficulty of getting them, are things that confront 
 every trainer. Cheap rubbers are a poor investment, 
 and they are always to be had, while the competent 
 ones are scarce. An inferior or a vicious rubber will 
 render ineffective the best efforts of a trainer. They 
 should be sober and competent men, good-tempered 
 and kind, and should show a pride in the horses they 
 care for. Such men generally soon graduate into the 
 driving ranks, for as a rule they are intelligent, and 
 naturally adapted to handling horses. At Palo Alto 
 we have one rubber to care for three horses; while 
 out campaigning one looks after two horses. 
 
BOOTS. 263 
 
 An important — a very important — part of the equip- 
 ment of tiie training-stable is the outfit of boots. Of 
 the ordinary harness I need not speak, as good harness, 
 well made, strong, light, perfectly fitting and pliable 
 can be bought for a good price in any city in the coun- 
 try, from dealers of local repute. The same may be 
 said of sulkies— the Caffrey and the Toomey sulkies 
 being the best. But concerning boots more extended 
 remark is in order. 
 
 The necessity of booting I have already referred to 
 emphatically enough, and I have furthermore already 
 remarked upon the importance of having boots that fit 
 properly. Xo horse or colt will fall to hitching and 
 hobbling if he is properly protected with boots, unless 
 he is sore, or over-hurried. The boot is a precaution 
 against possible injuries that may come to the truest- 
 gaited and most honest of horses; and it gives the 
 horse confidence to strike out fearlessly. No judicious 
 or experienced trainer will ever attempt to work colts 
 without first properly booting them. 
 
 By far the best boots made in this country are those 
 turned out by J. A. McKerron of San Francisco. He 
 has experimented and worked tirelessly, and has per- 
 fected many an improved boot now in daily use all 
 over the country. I have studied the making of boots 
 considerably myself, and some of the improved Mc- 
 Kerron boots are practically of my designing, among 
 them being about all the varieties of " swivel boots." 
 I will, with the aid of cuts, describe some of these 
 that I have found most serviceable. 
 
 The Marvin Bell Quarter Boot, Xo. 68, is an im- 
 proved quarter-boot, and especially suitable for young- 
 
26i 
 
 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 No. 68. 
 
 sters in their earlier work. It has a buckskin roll at 
 the top, and I have never known it 
 to chafe a colt. I may say that I 
 am partial to the bell style of quar- 
 ter-boot. 
 
 This boot Xo. 36 is a front ankle- 
 boot, which I first had made for 
 Bonita. It is made of white felt, 
 
 with leather cap, and has a buckskin 
 roll on top for the purpose of holding 
 up a roll. 
 
 This hinge quarter- 
 boot (105) is provided 
 with steel plates and is 
 a splendid boot for a 
 No. 36. hard hitter. The parts 
 
 coming in contact with the foot are ^^^- los- 
 
 of soft, white felt, and though the leather backing is 
 
 stout, and the 
 steel plates make 
 it an invulner- 
 able protection, 
 it does not chafe 
 or hurt the foot. 
 No. Ill is a 
 knee and arm 
 boot designed by 
 me for Gertrude 
 E us sell. She 
 struck there, and 
 ^'o- !"• ' I failed to suc- 
 
 ceed in protecting her with any boot then extant. 
 
BOOTS. 
 
 265 
 
 For a xery hard knee-hitter a steel plate may be put 
 
 in the cap. 
 
 The Caster Buckskin Shin Roll, Xo. 35, 
 
 is very effectual for a horse that hits under 
 
 the knee, and is a boot well worth trying 
 
 in o^aitino: a 
 horse. Like 
 the bell quar- no. 35. 
 
 ter-boot, it often gives the 
 horse confidence, and also 
 proves a good substitute 
 for weight in balancing. 
 
 Cut Xo. 67 shows the 
 pattern of the best front 
 shin-boot I have yet used. 
 
 It has rolls and swivel, does not interfere with the 
 
 action ; while affording full cord protection, it keeps 
 
 the legs comparatively cool. 
 For a horse that hits his 
 
 hock or rear shins, the com- 
 bined hind shin, speed-cut 
 
 and hock-boot shown in Cut 
 
 Xo. 72 will afford ample 
 
 protection. 
 
 Though the majority of 
 
 horses need only quarter, 
 
 toe (or "scalper") and shin- 
 boots, there are hundreds of 
 
 different varieties, each ofi 
 
 which may at some time 
 
 come into play, but these here described will meet all 
 
 ordinary emergencies. 
 
266 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 What I have already said renders it unnecessary to 
 add miicii more on the subject of toe-weights. Like 
 hoods and muzzles, they may be in rare cases beneficial 
 and even necessary, but they are so much abused that 
 it is a conviction with me that it is the safest plan to 
 discard them altogether. The time is surely coming 
 when toe-weight trotters will cut a small figure on the 
 turf, and toe-weights will gradually be abolished. So 
 I may say that I am opposed on general principles to 
 the use of toe-weights, but if I had a horse that would 
 not trot in any other way, or a pacer I could convert 
 in no other way, I would, as a last resort, try toe- 
 weights. I would exhaust every other resource at 
 my command before putting on the " murderous toe- 
 weiffhts," and if I had to use them I would discard 
 them just as quickly as possible after they had served 
 their purpose. I would try the horse without them 
 every little while, so that whenever he Avould go with- 
 out them they could be finally cast aside. As I have 
 already said, they are in the majority of cases used un- 
 necessarily. They are ado])ted as a remedy for evils 
 that can best be met by removing the cause, and as 
 horses becoming unbalanced by being urged beyond 
 what they can honestly do, hitching, etc., from hitting 
 themselves, or from any of the many minor causes that 
 tend to unbalance a horse's action. Toe-weights have 
 undoubtedly made some trotters, and have been valu- 
 able in converting pacers to trot, but the perfect trot- 
 ter should go without them ; and the trotter that trots 
 fastest, carries his speed the furthest and lasts sound 
 the longest will, in the majority of cases, be the horse 
 that trots without metal encumbrances on his toes. I 
 
TOE-WEIGHTS. 267 
 
 cannot but believe that had Maud S. never worn toe- 
 weights she would have gone even faster than she has. 
 Had she been educated from her youngest days to trot 
 naturally balanced there is no doubt in my mind that 
 she would have been a greater mare than she was on 
 the turf, even though that be saying a great deal. So 
 my earnest advice to the reader is to train up his colt 
 without any artificial balancing, assuring him that the 
 naturally balanced youngster will on the turf have a 
 great advantage over the rival that has to lift even a 
 quarter of a pound of lead on each front toe at every 
 step. In the stress of battle this handicap is bound 
 to tell before the wire is reached in the last heat. 
 
268 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIY. 
 
 STOPPING THE FEET CARING FOR THE LEGS THE SOAK- 
 ING TUB INJURIES RESULTING FROM HOT - SOAKING 
 
 THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOOF SHOEING THE 
 
 ELEMENTS OF THE EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF THE FOOT 
 
 THE WALL, THE SOLE, THE FROG AND THE BARS 
 
 THEIR FUNCTIONS THE WALL THE BEARING PART 
 
 THE ANGLE OF THE FOOT AND PASTERN EFFECTS OF 
 
 HIGH AND LOW HEELS LEVEL AND BEARING TO BE 
 
 PRESERVED STICK TO NATURE THE SHOE TRIM- 
 MING AND NAILING EXPERIENCE WITH TIPS. 
 
 When we put our horse away after work, in the last 
 chapter, we had done everything but attend to his feet. 
 They should be carefully cleaned and washed out, and 
 stopped up with clay. The use of such filth as cow- 
 manure, etc., is not only disgusting, but it breeds dis- 
 eases of the foot, such as thrush and canker. We 
 avoid, in all cases, the use of oils on the hoof. The 
 cooling, cleansing, and moistening effect of washing is 
 all that is necessary to keep a healthy hoof in good 
 condition. Oil will spoil any hoof, make it brittle, and 
 generally demoralize its texture. 
 
 This brings us to a consideration of the care of the 
 feet and legs, involving some remarks on the subject 
 of shoeing. It is the custom in almost all books on the 
 horse to include long technical and theoretical disserta- 
 tions on the foot and how it should be shod. I have 
 
CARE OF THE LEGS. 269 
 
 no intention of following this example, for I do not 
 think the ordinary reader cares to wade through more 
 than the plain and practical observations of a 
 trainer— observations which he can follow, understand 
 and appreciate. Every horseman should have a good 
 general knowledge of the anatomy of not only the leg 
 and foot, but the whole structure of the horse. How- 
 ever, for scientific instruction on that branch of the 
 subject, the veterinary schools and the standard veter- 
 inary works are the proper sources of information. I 
 shall only refer to these matters sufficiently to make 
 myself understood. 
 
 The care of the legs, so long as they remain clean 
 and free from inflammation, is a comparatively simple 
 matter, but, after trouble begins, the trainer may be 
 prepared for vexation of spirit. Just here I do*^ not 
 proi3ose to speak of the treatment of injuries or 
 unsoundness, having some remarks to make on these 
 subjects later on, but will confine this chapter to the 
 care of the horse in a normal condition. Proper boot- 
 ing, as I have said, is the first essential, then hand- 
 rubbing and bandaging. After work this leg-wash will 
 be found an excellent application : 
 
 Sugar oflead 2 ounces. 
 
 Laudanum 2 ounces 
 
 ^^'ater 1 q^j^^^_ 
 
 Eub this well in around the joints, and along the 
 tendons; then bandage with a pliable bandage "of a 
 rather open or porous texture. Be sure that the 
 bandage covers the joint properly, as directed in the 
 previous chapter; and, while it should be set moder- 
 
270 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 ately tight, it must not be ti^^ht enough to interfere 
 with the circulation, and should not be left on long 
 enough to allow the leg to become heated — certainly 
 not over two hours — but the time will, in a great 
 measure, be governed by the conditions, the weather, 
 etc. I have found this lotion excellent in hardening 
 and keeping hard and clean the legs of horses in 
 strong w'ork. But, perhaps, after all there is no lotion 
 or no treatment so cooling and beneficial in effect as a 
 walk in the dewy grass of earl}^ morning. 
 
 I am much opposed to the use of the soaking tub. 
 Soaking horses legs and feet in hot water is certainly 
 injurious, though the practice is much favored by 
 trainers. As far as the legs are concerned it opens the 
 pores, relaxes everything, and causes them to fever-up 
 quicker every time it is resorted to, until the whole 
 mechanism of ligament and cartilage is ripe for break- 
 down. As to the feet, can you imagine that to keep a 
 horse's foot immersed in hot water, for quite a pro- 
 longed period, can have a good effect ? I know that it 
 is demoralizing to the foot. The texture of the horn it 
 destro3^s, and renders brittle and hard. The horn of 
 a horse's foot is "a series of small tubes cemented 
 together by a natural glue having such adherent power 
 as to bring them into a compact mass nearly as dense 
 as whalebone." As Mr. Joseph Cairn Simpson very 
 correctly argues : " The outside of the wall is naturally 
 protected from imbibing moisture by a thin covering 
 of enamel which, when in a natural state, is an abso- 
 lute protection against the ingress of water. . . . 
 When the enamel is rasped away as high, oftentimes 
 higher than the ' clinches,' when the knife and rasp 
 
THE SOAKING TUB. 271 
 
 have cut off the ends of the tubes, the natural guards 
 are rendered unless, and water is freely admitted. The 
 tube is softened, the material which gave it elasticity 
 and strength is replaced by that which has neither 
 property ; and, w^hen that is dispersed, there is a col- 
 lapse of the tubes, and, per consequence, contraction. 
 This is the result of soakino- so far as the wall is con- 
 cerned. . . . The injurious effects of hot water on 
 the wall can be summarized briefly, as follows : Exclu- 
 sion of the natural material for keeping the tubes in 
 proper shape ; replacing that by a fluid which is 
 rapidly evaporated by heat, and which has a tendency 
 to change the texture of the horn from a tough, 
 strong body to one that it makes hard and brittle." 
 The idea that soaking in hot water is necessarv to 
 keep the hoof in the tough, elastic natural condi- 
 tion is erroneous. Cleansino: and washino: the foot 
 in cold water will not interfere with the hoof, and 
 will have a cooling, grateful effect. The natural 
 secretions of a healthy foot afford all the "moisture" 
 necessarv to keep it in normal condition when the 
 horse is kept in a proper manner. Xo one is more 
 opposed to allowing horses' feet to become unnaturally 
 dry than I am ; and for that very reason I have 
 insisted that our California summers are difficult 
 periods in which to keep horses in training sound and 
 well of foot. But the remedy is not in the soaking 
 tub. It is inexcusable with a well, sound horse. The 
 normal foot that is washed and cleaned as I have 
 directed, and that often feels the damp, cool earth, and 
 the dewy grasses, will need nothing else to keep it 
 healthy. 
 
272 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 To treat of shoeino^ thoroughly would involve a 
 minute consideration of the anatom}^ of the foot and 
 leg ; and even to treat it with that brevity which this 
 work necessitates, a superficial consideration of the 
 formation of the foot is necessary. 
 
 The celebrated English authority, Fearnley, very 
 properl}^ remarks that the majority of writers on the 
 foot have erred in considering it in isolation, or by 
 itself, instead of as a part of the whole. It seems clear 
 to me that to intelligently study shoeing the foot must 
 be considered not by itself, but in its relation to the 
 whole structure. 
 
 Certainly the effects of bad shoeing or of indifferent 
 care of the feet affect the ankles and tendons directly, 
 and as far as shoeing is concerned, the foot proper 
 cannot be considered without reference to these parts. 
 
 The external anatomy of the foot may for our pur- 
 pose be considered in three divisions : 1. The wall, or 
 outer crust, from the coronet to the sole. 2. The sole, 
 which Saint Bel defines as " that ]mrt which covers the 
 whole inferior surface of the foot excepting the frog.'' 
 3. The frog, the insensible, spongy, triangular body in 
 the center of the foot. 
 
 The wall, "the circular boundary-wall inclosing the 
 internal structures," extends from the coronet, (the 
 border-line Avhere the skin joins the hoof, which is 
 technically called " the line of the coronary band "), in 
 an obhque direction to the bottom of the foot, terminat- 
 ing in ''a circular projecting border." This is the 
 natural hearing part of the foot, and to it the shoe is 
 nailed. Bracy Clark declares that the slant of the 
 foot from the toe to the coronet should form an ano-le 
 
THE ANATOMY OF THE FOOT. 273 
 
 of forty -five degrees with the ground surface ; and 
 another noted writer sets the average depth of the foot 
 when ready to receive the shoe at three and one-half 
 inches from the coronary line to the toe, and the depth 
 of the heels he sets at from one and one-half to two 
 inches. The wall is thicker in the fore foot at the toe 
 than at any other part, averaging there about three- 
 eighths of an inch ; at the quarters, about midway 
 from the toe to the heel, the wall is from one-quarter to 
 three-eighths of an inch thick, and at the heels about 
 the same. 
 
 The bars are a continuation of the wall, extending 
 therefrom at the heels, obliquely into the center of the 
 foot between the sole and the frog, "constituting two 
 inner walls or lateral fences between that body and the 
 sole." In a state of nature they bear some pressure. 
 
 The natural function of the frog is that of a cushion, 
 and being spongy and elastic, when called upon to bear 
 weight it spreads, and to accommodate this action the 
 wall expands from the quarters back. Indeed, the 
 structure of the foot is such that even if the frog sus- 
 tains no pressure, the heel must spread at every stride 
 when the weight comes upon the foot. You can 
 imagine then what the efifect must be of shoeing a 
 horse so that the heels are held rigidly to an unyield- 
 ing shoe. 
 
 We have seen that the wall is the natural bearing 
 part of the foot, and the frog an accessory. The bear- 
 ing of the shoe should be wholly on the wall, not on 
 the sole, and the ground surface of the wall is the only 
 part that should ever be pared. This is the part that 
 like the human nail grows exuberantly, and must be 
 
274 
 
 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 pared clown every time the horse is shod. The knife 
 should never be used on the sole or frog. 
 
 What we ma\" call tlie angle of the foot is a very 
 important consideration, for the slant or obliquity of 
 the pastern must very materially depend upon that of 
 the hoof. It needs no elaboration to show that if the 
 heel be extremely high the pastern must be very 
 straight, and if it be very low the pastern will be very 
 oblique. 
 
 Fearnley, the noted English authority to whom I 
 have referred, treats the fore legs as the weight-bearers, 
 and the hind legs as the propellers. Practically this is 
 
 ^ 
 
 true, but whether in the trotting-horse the fore leg has 
 strictly no other function than weight-bearing, I am 
 not entirely sure. However that may be, it is the 
 weight-bearer, and Fearnley fixes the coffin-joint as the 
 focus of weight in the foot. If the foot be either 
 too high or too low at the heel, if the proper angle of 
 the ground surface with the line of the coronet be 
 changed, then it is obvious that the focus of weight 
 will be disturbed. It will be thrown either too far 
 forward or too far backward, just as it would be thrown 
 on one side if you put on a shoe two inches thick on 
 one side and a half an inch on the other. The import- 
 ance then of keeping the foot properly leveled is 
 
SHOEIXG. 275 
 
 readily apparent. The cuts on the next page 
 illustrate the idea. Fig. 1 showing the effect on the 
 pastern where the heel is too low ; 2, the proper angles 
 of foot and pastern, and 3, an excessively high heel ; 
 the joint thrown forward, and the natural s^jrlng of 
 the pastern lost. 
 
 You observ^e that if the heel is allowed to grow 
 unduly high, the inclination is to knuckle ; if it be^too 
 low the direction of weight is thrown backward, and 
 the strain on the back tendons can be imagined. The 
 great aim is to preserve the natural level, and through 
 it the proper bearing and balance. 
 
 We trim our colt's feet and shoe our horses every 
 three weeks, which will be found as long a period 
 as the feet can be allowed to go unattended to with 
 impunity. 
 
 In all my studies and methods in training I never 
 forget to keep in sight a due regard for what is natu- 
 ral. Shoeing is unnecessary to the horse in his wild, 
 natural state ; it is artificial and unnatural, because 
 the domesticated horse is kept in an artificial and 
 unnatural state. It must, therefore, be regarded as a 
 necessary evil. But the foot of the horse, unprotected, 
 will not stand the battering of turf-training; there- 
 fore, the prime and sole object of shoeing is to afford 
 the wall of the foot protection against the terrific 
 concussion of fast trotting on more or less hard 
 tracks. 
 
 The next consideration is to make that protection 
 as light and uncumbersome as consistent with efficiency. 
 So, at Palo Alto, we shoe our horses all pretty much 
 alike, with a plain, light, simple shoe, such as is shown 
 
276 
 
 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 in the cuts, ranging in weiglit from say, eight to four- 
 teen ounces. I like very well what is called a half- 
 concave and half-convex 
 shoe. The toe concaved 
 on the ground surface 
 will not throw dirt 
 against the horse's belly, 
 which is sufficient to 
 make some unsteadv, 
 while the concavity on 
 the upper surface j^re- 
 vents it from bearing on 
 the sole. We generally 
 have the shoe drop off 
 
 Typical Palo Alto Shoe. at the heel ; i. €., WC 
 
 begin about an inch from the heel to champer it off to 
 a tapering end. 
 
 My explanation has 
 been mainly directed 
 toward making clear the 
 reasons for preserving 
 the natural level and 
 bearing, and the neces- 
 sit}^ of non-interference 
 with the expansion and 
 contraction of the hoof 
 from the quarter to the 
 heel, according as the 
 
 foot bears weight or is inside of shoe. 
 
 relieved of it. The levelling I have already spoken 
 of ; in the manner of nailing the shoe, the freedom 
 to expand must be preserved. We, as a rule, put in 
 
TIPS. 277 
 
 six nails, three on either side, lut never put a nail haclc 
 of the yytdei^t part of the hoof — the quarters — thus 
 leaving the heels free. 
 
 The foot should be so trimmed that the frog will 
 lights touch the ground, but take little or no weigh ^. 
 It is one function of the frog to keep the heels open 
 and healthy ; if it become wholly inactive, it, as a noted 
 writer puts it, "melts away and allows the heels to 
 come together." On the other hand, I do not believe it 
 can, in track work, take any considerable weight without 
 injurious results ensuing. In the natural state the frog 
 was, beyond dispute, intended to bear a considerable 
 amount of pressure, to break the shock of concussion 
 on the wall, but I am not prepared to believe that it is 
 equal to the emergency of standing any appreciable 
 share of the shock in hard track work. 
 
 As to the substitution of tips for shoes I will say 
 that on some soils and on some feet they may be used 
 to advantage. But my experience has been that they 
 are not suitable as a rule for track-work. I have given 
 them a very fair trial, and have found that at least on 
 our gravelly soil they fail to sufficiently protect the 
 /eet of horses in training. The tip, as all know, is a 
 plate extending around the toe from quarter to quarter 
 and set in or inlaid in the wall flush with the ground 
 surface of the rear part of the hoof. I found that the 
 hoof behind the tip Avore away so much faster than 
 the tip that soon all the pressure came on the toe, the 
 level of the ground surface being destroyed, and 
 eventually the toe, as a natural consequence, turned 
 up. To reset the tip often enough to preserve the 
 level would soon necessitate cutting up into the sensi- 
 
278 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 
 
 tive part of the foot. In short, I found that on our 
 tracks the heel wanted some protection as well as the 
 toe. On a soft soil for jogging, for a horse not in 
 hard training or for a horse with contracted heels, 
 they are excellent, but are inadequate protection as a 
 rule in the wear and tear of constant track-work. 
 
 In shoeing, the aim is to keep the foot elastic, 3^ield- 
 ing and natural. Be careful with the knife, cutting 
 onl}^ the horn of the wall. Leave the frog, the sole 
 and the bars alone. They will care for themselves. 
 When the foot is properly leveled, then fit the shoe 
 to the foot ; not the foot to the shoe. 
 
 Shoeing, like everything else, should be looked at 
 from a common-sense standpoint. There are no Avon- 
 derful and unrevealed mj^steries about it. Keeying in 
 view what nature intended, remembering that the sole 
 purpose of shoeing is to afford protection, the simpler 
 the better; steering clear of quack smiths that know it 
 all and recklessly slash and rasp — these are the most 
 important precautions to be kept in view concerning 
 shoeing. 
 
TKACKS. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 TEACKS SHAPE AXD TREATSIEXT THE EGG-SHAPED TEACK 
 
 THE CUSHIOX^READY FOR EACIXG PEEPAEATIOX 
 
 THE COLT MUST BE GOIXG SQUAEE CHECKS AND BITS 
 
 AGAIN OBSERVATIONS OF JOHN SPLAN — HIS EXPEEI- 
 
 ENCE WITH FANNY WITHEESPOON DRIVING WITH a 
 
 WATCH THE PREPARATION FOR RACING A WEEK'S 
 
 DAILY PROGRAMME DETAILED PRESERVING SPEED 
 
 WHILE CONDITIONING THE HORSE TO CARRY IT TREAT- 
 MENT VARIES WITH DIFFERENT HORSES THE IMPOR- 
 TANCE OF PROPER JOGGING THE TRAINER MUST NOT 
 
 TRUST DETAILS TOO MUCH TO HIS STABLE ASSISTANTS. 
 
 Having discussed the stable care of the horse we are 
 workmg, we will now return to the track. 
 
 In speaking of the necessary facilities for training 
 we cannot omit some remark on the track itself. For 
 racing of course the regulation track is best; but for a 
 home training track I like an egg-shaped one, so 
 planned that the stretches come to and go away from 
 the barn. I have already spoken of the habit occa- 
 sionally contracted by colts of turning out toward the 
 track-gate every time they pass it in their work, and 
 the reason of my recommendation of an egg-shaped 
 track, with the short turn near the stables, is obvious. 
 Goino^ on the stretch awav from the barn the colt groes 
 straight about his business ; coming down the stretch 
 toward the barn he brushes fast and willingly. 
 
280 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 l^ou are fortunate if you can have a soil and can 
 build a track that need not be harrowed. Tracks that 
 become deep and heav}^ are bad for training. The colt 
 strains, the sulky draws hard, and the action is inter- 
 fered with. The horse should trot on a smooth sur- 
 face, wdiere the sulky and the weight it carries draws 
 as lightly as j^ossible. The track that can be kept in 
 order by simply scraping and sprinkling is the best. 
 The aim is to have the track smooth yet spring}^, to 
 have it clean without being hard, and elastic without 
 being clinging. 
 
 At Palo Alto we w^et the track every night and har- 
 row it every morning. We try to have as little dirt as 
 possible on its surface, and yet not have it hard enough 
 to jar. Last fall w^e had our track in such shape that 
 only sprinkling and scraping was necessary. This was 
 brought about by plowing, manuring, then plowing the 
 manure under, after which it was sown with rye. 
 When the rye was about two feet high we plowed it 
 under, not very deeply, and then shaped up the track. 
 The rye was sown December 10th and plowed under 
 March 1st. 
 
 The great point in track building is to get a perfect 
 cushion — one that is smooth, springy and clean, where 
 there is a certain amount of yielding when the foot 
 strikes, but yet no softness of surface. 
 
 To the point w^here we branched off track work to 
 consider stabling and stable care w^e will now return. 
 The colt was going smooth and true and was per- 
 fectly balanced, or else you had failed to rightly inter- 
 pret and apply my instructions; for, though it is a 
 repetition of what has already been said, if he became 
 
SEVERE BITS AND CHECKS. 281 
 
 unbalanced, hitched, and got rough in his gait, the 
 proper remedy was to go back to a rate at which he 
 could go square. I cannot too often or too emphati- 
 cally declare the necessity of preserving true balance. 
 Every revolution should be as smooth and true as a 
 perfectly balanced wheel that runs with little expendi- 
 ture of driving power — not like a wheel with a big 
 side to it, that is only kept laboriously revolving by 
 constant driving. Development ceases at that point 
 where truly balanced and regular action is transformed 
 into the jerky hitching, irregular way of " getting 
 there " that we so often see. 
 
 You can, with little practice, judge whether a horse 
 driven by another is trotting square by listening to the 
 foot-falls. The sound of a fast, well balanced trotter's 
 steps mark time as regularl}^ as the swinging of a 
 pendulum. Time is beaten, one, two, three, four, one, 
 two, three, four — smoothly and accurately, with the 
 intervals strictly regular. 
 
 Checks and bits have a good deal to do with balanc- 
 ing the horse, and the less restraint or annoyance these 
 appliances give the horse the better. I like plain bits. 
 If you cannot control a horse with a plain bit, you 
 have a small chance of making a trotter of him at all. 
 Such bits as the " Perfection," ** Rockwell," etc., I con- 
 sider pernicious contrivances. There are cases where 
 a horse has improved with a severe bit, but they are 
 exceptional. With what extreme measures have 
 achieved I do not quarrel, but I do argue against using 
 artificial and unusual appliances unnecessarily, and this 
 apphes not only to bits, checks, shoes, weights, etc., 
 but to every thing connected with training. 
 
TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 John Splan, in his work, " Life with the Trotters," 
 has, among many good things, these remarks, which 
 are well worth quoting : 
 
 " My experience has been that no horse can be suc- 
 cessfully driven with anything like a severe bit. I 
 never saw one that was broken of the habit of pulling 
 in that way. If you put a severe bit in the horse's 
 mouth and pull on it, it makes him mad and irritates 
 him ; the further you drive him and the harder 3^ou 
 pull, the more he will pull against you. When I was a 
 boy almost everj^ trotter I saw would pull in a disa- 
 greeable manner when being driven at top speed. At 
 the present time I cannot think of one horse that is 
 anything like first-class, that pulls enough to make it 
 disagreeable for a man at any time. . . . There 
 are a great many horses that will not take kindly to 
 an over-check, and if 3^ou msist on using it on them it 
 will sooner or later spoil the horse's disposition to a 
 great extent. The plainest case of the kind that ever 
 came into my hands was Fanny Witherspoon. She 
 had been trained for a number of years, and always 
 with an over-check. I trained her myself for over a 
 year in the same manner, but with very little satisfac- 
 tion, as she seemed to continually have some trouble 
 with her mouth. In talking the matter over with my 
 friend Hickok he advised that I try her with a check 
 bit, side-check, and nose-band attachment. I did so, 
 and in the shortest time imaginable the mare showed a 
 very marked improvement in her driving." 
 
 When a horse seems to be irritated and fights the 
 bit or check, he cannot improve. It may take some 
 experimenting to find out what will suit him, but the 
 
DON T TRY TO BEAT THE WATCH. 2S3 
 
 quicker he is suited the better. ^Vhy some horses like 
 an over-check and some a side-check, and why certain 
 bits must be used on certain horses, it is often hard to 
 explain ; but the one fact confronting the trainer is 
 that the mouth must be kept right and the head rigged 
 with check and bit which the horse will not resent 
 and fight, if satisfactory results are to be accomplished. 
 
 The quotation from Splan, with Avhich I wholly 
 agree, reminds me of another remark in his book, from 
 which I must dissent. That is where, in speaking of 
 condition, he states that if you get a horse in condition 
 he will have his speed. That is all right if you have a 
 trotter already made when you get him, but it does 
 not hold in educating horses to trot. You can put a 
 horse that has not ])een taught to trot fast in perfect 
 condition, but condition and speed are not the same 
 thing, though each is essential to a great performance. 
 You must get the speed before condition can carry you 
 ^to the wire in 2:20. 
 
 It is well to learn to drive by the watch, provided 
 you don't try to beat it. It improves a man's judg- 
 ment of pace, and hence teaches him to rate more 
 evenly. The only danger is that the driver will test 
 the horse's speed too often by the watch. Let it be 
 your guide, but not a competitor with your horse. I 
 consider it indeed essential to good and exact training 
 that the driver practice rating by the watch, for he 
 will not only learn to rate better himself, but the horse 
 will learn to trot evenly at almost any rate of speed 
 desired within his limits. 
 
 With these general remarks, we may proceed to 
 consider the colt's preparation for a race, presuming 
 
284 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 that he has shown speed enough in his brushes to 
 justify the behef that he will do himself credit in 
 public. 
 
 The question is, how fast is it necessary for him to 
 go to win ? At Palo Alto we do not think we have 
 very much to "bank on" unless the colt can show us 
 quarters in thirty-three to thirty-four seconds, but a 
 man need not be discouraged because his three-year- 
 old cannot quite do that. To illustrate our method of 
 preparation for races, however, we will sup])ose the 
 colt can show a quarter in thirty-four or thirty-five 
 seconds, that he is going level and right, and that he 
 has his engagement to meet in three weeks from Mon- 
 da3^ Sunday with me is always a day of rest, for 
 horses and men. Even if I race on Monday, Sunday 
 is the same, and I have found it good policy to keep 
 it in this way, not to speak of moral obligations. 
 
 Monday, after the usual morning programme, we 
 will jog him from five to eight miles, according to age 
 (usually not over five in the case of a two or a three- 
 year-old), on the track or road. A jog on a good road 
 is very beneficial, as it breaks the monotony of track- 
 work, and is in a measure interesting to the colt. 
 Tuesday, at the accustomed time, jog him say about 
 three miles — just enough to have him empty himself 
 and get warmed ready for work — and then put on his 
 quarter-boots and give him three or four brushes of 
 about a quarter of a mile each, finishing all strongs 
 and the last one about up to his limit. The next day, 
 "Wednesday, we will jog about three miles again, the 
 jogging always being merely for the purposes named, 
 and after scoring a few times give him a mile in about 
 
DETAILS OF WORK. 285 
 
 2:37. We are now, it must be remembered, in pre- 
 scribing this work, supposing that the horse under 
 preparation can speed a 2:20 gait; but at whatever 
 rate he can go the reader will see that we approach 
 his limit slowly and cautiously. This mile in 2:37 or 
 2:38 will be easy for him, but he should be asked to 
 come the last quarter fast. Now, after unharnessing 
 and a light rub-out, put on a blanket, remove hi's 
 boots, hand rub his legs, and then walk him in a sheet 
 for say twenty minutes. Then put him in the sulky 
 again, score up four or five times until he is good and 
 ready to "go," and send him a mile in say 2:33 to 2:35, 
 finishing strong as before. Then properly care for 
 him as already described in a previous chapter. The 
 body wash there given is very good, and I have also 
 found a lotion of arnica, rum and water to be excel- 
 lent for the muscles after work. There are dozens of 
 preparations for this purpose perhaps equally as good 
 as the two I have given, and important ingredients in 
 most of them are witch-hazel and arnica, which are 
 always beneficial on strained or work-sore muscles. 
 
 On Thursday our horse will only require a light jog 
 for exercise, neither far enough or fast enough to tire 
 him in the least. On Friday, after the usual warming 
 "P j«g. gi^^e him three or four quarters— one fas't 
 enough to keep his speed at an edge. On Saturday we 
 will jog him smartly for two miles, say, and then work 
 him four miles at regular intervals—that is, at inter- 
 vals of twenty to twenty-five minutes. The fii'st mile 
 should be in about 2:38 or 2:40, the second in 2:30 to 
 2:32, the third say in 2:26 to 2:28, and the fourth in 
 2:23 to 2:25— always finishing fast and strong. 
 
286 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 Repeat this programme the following week, and up 
 till Wednesday of the week before the race. That day 
 he will be worked out a couple of miles, on Thursday 
 will get a light jog, and on Friday three or four fast 
 quarters — and be sure he has his speed. If he has, and 
 is well, you are ready for the fray on Monday. The 
 object of the course of work he has been given is to 
 condition him to carry his speed full miles and yet not 
 to dull any more than possible the line edge of the 
 speed we worked up to in our brushes. I have found 
 that after a horse loses part of his speed it comes back 
 slowly. He should not have work enough to dull his- 
 speed, drill him down, or take the vim out of him. 
 Keep him feeling good. A horse never gets track-sick 
 until he is abused — overwork is abuse, though it may 
 not be intentional abuse — and as soon as he shows 
 track-weariness, and loses the ability and the desire to 
 brush as fast and strong as ever, the note of warning I 
 have already sounded so frequently is in order again : 
 Ease up, for you are overdoing it. 
 
 The preparation, like every other detail in the train- 
 ing, needs, I need not say, discriminating judgment. 
 No rule can be laid down to suit ever}^ horse. The 
 above course is not meant as a rule always to be strictly 
 followed. It simply outlines the general plan on which 
 we prepare our horses. At every stage of training 
 and preparation the trainers judgment must come to 
 his aid, and guide him as to what to do, how far to go, 
 and when and how to do it. Just as horses differ so 
 must the application of a system be elastic. 
 
 Few trainers do much jogging, leaving that to the 
 boys ; but I will say that I would always rather do my 
 
WORK THE HORSE YOURSELF. 287 
 
 own jogging, and always do it with horses that I am 
 especially preparing for important performances. It 
 ma\^ seem a very simple matter, but it is one of great 
 importance. Mouth, gait, temper, are all directly 
 involved. To turn out a masterpiece of work in train- 
 ing the one hand should do all the driving. You can 
 be sure the horse feels the difference. This preliminary 
 work should be done smoothly and steadily, and at a 
 smart, lively jog. Attention to details is the great 
 thing in training as in all other branches of human 
 endeavor. The man who gets in the sulky when the 
 horse is ready to work, drives him his mile and repeat, 
 and leaves all the rest to the rubbers to do, if they 
 will and how they will, may have an easy and pleasant 
 time in this life, but he won't break many records. 
 
288 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXYI. 
 
 THE MORNING OF THE RACE PRELIMINARIES — STARTING 
 
 AND SCORING GOING FOR THE HEAT WHAT TO DO 
 
 BETWEEN HEATS — COOLING OUT WHAT TO DO IF THE 
 
 HORSE DOES NOT COOL OUT PROPERLY, AND IS DIS- 
 TRESSED — STIMULANTS FEEDING IN A RACE HAYF 
 
 EVERY THING READY BEFOREHAND MUD SHOES — 
 
 ATTEND TO BUSINESS, AND AVOID TRICKS — LAYING UP 
 HEATS DRIVING REQUIRES NATURAL FITNESS — JUDG- 
 MENT OF PACE THE STEADY HORSE HAS THE ADVAN- 
 TAGE THE EXIGENCIES OF A HEAT KEEP COOL, AND 
 
 STAY WITH YOUR HORSES. 
 
 The night before the race and the morning of race- 
 day give the horse his usual feed. After breakfast jog 
 him three or four miles. After coming in from the jog 
 give him a little water and a light feed of hay that he 
 will eat up clean. I do not like muzzles, as I have 
 said, but if you have a "gormandizer'' you can now 
 muzzle for a little while, and leave him alone to rest. 
 If he is a ^ntlemanly and dainty horse, that is above 
 chewing his bedding, the muzzle is not, of course, neces- 
 sary. About eleven o'clock give him his usual dinner, 
 and about one you can take him out and jog a couple of 
 miles ; then drive him a good strong mile, at some 
 point opening him right up, to see that he has his 
 speed. By the time you have cooled him out the hour 
 for the race will have arrived, and if it is your first 
 
RACE DAY. 2S9 
 
 race the clanging of the judges^ bell will probablv 
 strike you with a thrill. But keep cool, and go about 
 it just as if YOU were going to work out your horse. 
 Take him out and jog him until warm, score or brush 
 sharp once or twice, and go to the stand, weigh in and 
 get your position. Xow the field goes down to score, 
 and it is always well to co-operate with the starter and 
 endeaYor to prcYent delay. There is no other thing 
 connected with the trotting-turf, barring the ''jobs,^' 
 that does so much to render it unpopular as the tedious 
 delay and repeated scoring that is so common. So do 
 not be an obstructionist on the score. 
 
 Xow we are ready, and as we are not working the 
 pool-box, but haYe our hearts set on winning the race, 
 we will attend to that business from the word " go.'' 
 I haYe had horses (and among them Palo Alto in his 
 four-year old form) that required a heat in company 
 before they were ready to go after the moncY, but 
 they are the exception. In the heat do the best you 
 can to get to the front, and if the horse can win it 
 within himself don't pump him ovt any more than is 
 necessary to safely win, and lea«^e the artistic but 
 somewhat deceptiYe pastime of drlYing head and head 
 finishes, when you can as well win by a length or so, 
 to other smart gentlemen. After the heat "take Your 
 horse to the stall, or better yet, if the air is balmv and 
 dry, under the shade of a tree ; take off his harness 
 and boots, scrape him easily and quickly, lightly rub a 
 little of the water off him, and then throw on'^a light 
 blanket and walk him. GiYe him a swallow of waler 
 occasionally, but not much or not too often, ^nd after 
 lie has walked a while if he will scrape, scrape him out 
 
290 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 a little. Then apply one of the body washes I have 
 recommended over the loins and back and the muscles 
 of the shoulders and forearms, as well as those running 
 down under the flank, ^ow walk him again in the 
 blanket, and by this time he ought to be thoroughly 
 bio wed out and ready for another heat. If he has, 
 however, failed to scrape well, and seems unduly dis- 
 tressed after the heat, sponge him over with tepid 
 water. In some cases I have seen cold water do just 
 as well. This will almost certainly relieve him. 
 
 Another very good application I have found with 
 horses that showed distress is w^arm water and Med- 
 ford rum, with a little salt added, applied all over the 
 muscles. Sometimes a horse will get all " corded up " 
 in the muscles, and seem to be in a measure paralyzed. 
 Hot applications are the surest relief. Splan recom- 
 mends blankets wrung out of w^arm water, and laid 
 across his back and shoulders. I consider this treat- 
 ment good. 
 
 As to internal stimulants, I do not believe in them 
 as a rule. In the case of a very tired, or apparently 
 beaten horse, they may be used to advantage occasion- 
 ally. Brand}^ and whisky are the most commonly 
 used, and one is probably as good as another. 
 
 The treatment above described should be repeated 
 after each heat, and if all goes well the horse should be 
 none the Avorse for the race. After the race is over take 
 him to his stable, and do him up in much the way I 
 have recommended that he be treated after work, with 
 perhaps a little more attention and care. The day fol- 
 lowing tbe race he waU not require any exercise beyond 
 a walk in the morning and evening. Kest is what he 
 
BETWEEN HEATS. 291 
 
 most requires, and if he has had a hard race take off 
 his shoes for a day or two, walk him in the dew, give 
 him a little grass, and in general treat him so that* he 
 will be thoroughly rested and refreshed. Then resume 
 work as before, at fast brushes, to improve his speed, 
 and gauge your work at distances by your engage- 
 ments. 
 
 Between heats feed your horse. Jack Feek says 
 that he finds nothing better after a horse has gone two 
 or three hard heats than a quart or two of good, clean 
 oats, and I am inclined to agree with him. I have 
 found oatmeal gruel excellent, though some horses will 
 not eat it. As a rule, however, you can get your horse 
 accustomed to it; and in that -case you should have it 
 ready before the race. He will not require it at first, 
 but after the second or third heats give him a little. 
 It is a mistaken idea to suppose that a hungrv horse 
 can trot and last through a hard race. Certainly he 
 cannot trot on a full stomach, but he must have suffi- 
 cient nourishment to keep him strong. If you have 
 ever felt the weak and "gone" feeling of trying to 
 work on a thoroughly empty stomach, when hunger 
 gnawed, and the body was tired, you will not ask a 
 horse to trot a long race without moderate tastes of 
 food and water. 
 
 Preparation is half the battle in every thing. You 
 should go to the races prepared. See that not only 
 your horse is right and ready, but that everv thing, 
 harness, boots, shoes, sulky, rubbers, and all other 
 belongings, are ready to answer the rec^uirements of a 
 contest that may be lost through some little thing 
 being overlooked. Have a kit of tools with you in 
 
292 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 case the horse throws a shoe, and have mud shoes in 
 case you ma}^ have to trot the race over a muddy 
 track. For mud-trotting I use a convex shoe with a 
 toe and heel calk. The shoes should be fitted to the 
 foot and all ready to nail on in case they are re- 
 quired. 
 
 Make it a rule to have every thing ready, and be 
 ready yourself, not only for the day of the race, but for 
 the call of every heat. It is policy to get out promptly, 
 and act in such a manner that the judges and the 
 people may see that you wish to trot tiie race promptly, 
 squarely, and win it if you can without trickery or 
 ^'jockeying." A writer tells us "how to talk to the 
 judges." I would sav,'^do not talk to them at all. 
 Speak when you are spoken to, a,nd don't waste your 
 breath and show 3^our lack of balance by saying 
 "smart" things, making unnecessar}^ complaints, ad- 
 vising the judges, etc. If you are compelled to make 
 a complaint, make it in courteous, plain, and gentle- 
 manly terms, and get through as quickly as possible. 
 In the midst of a race and in the judges' stand is 
 neither the time nor place for a driver to deliver a 
 lecture. If he must talk let him take some more ap^ 
 propriate time. It is a good deal more difficult to 
 know how not to talk to the judges than it is to talk 
 to them. I have occasionally come in for pretty 
 " bad deals" at the hands of starters and judges, but I 
 generally found the old rule to apply : " The least said, 
 the soonest mended." 
 
 On the subject of laying up heats I may state it is 
 seldom necessary, and should never be done unless you 
 are sure it will materially better your chances of win- 
 
LAYING UP HEATS. 293 
 
 ning the race, and you will not find this to be the case 
 so often as some seem to think. Sometimes a horse, 
 as I have remarked, will not do himself justice until 
 he trots a heat or two in company, and in that case 
 the practice is justifiable. Again, if you believe that 
 one or two horses in the field may have more speed 
 than you have, it will sometimes prove good policy to 
 let them go out and fight one another for a heat or 
 two, after which you can go at them with an advan- 
 tage. But these are exceptional cases. To have 
 every thing to my liking, I want the horse ready to go 
 right out for the mone3\ In general, if you can win 
 at all you can win in straight heats ; and that is the 
 clean, straightforward way to do it, if possible, besides 
 being very much better for your horse. In four cases 
 out of five when heats are laid up they are laid up 
 with reference to the pool box. The motive is gen- 
 erally not to make surer of winning the race, but to 
 influence the betting, and this very thing has in a 
 measure tended to disgust the public with trotting. 
 On the question of betting I need not speak. That 
 has nothing to do with training. If a man wants to 
 bet on a horse-race and bets his own money, I cannot 
 see that he does anything wrong. Xo moral or civil 
 law is offended. But the trouble is that too many 
 make winning the race a secondary consideration to 
 winning in the pool-box, and therein is a great wrong. 
 The first duty of a driver in a race is to win if he can, 
 and the man who goes out with the idea of laying up 
 heats and working the pool-box uppermost in his mind, 
 and making the matter of winning races subordinate 
 considerations, is simply betraying, deceiving and rob- 
 
294 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 bing his employer. I am for honesty in the sulky, 
 first, last, and all the time. 
 
 If you are confronted with the possible situations 
 which I have indicated, or throw a shoe, or meet with 
 other mishap, w^here it is necessary to lay up one or 
 more heats, do it right. If you drop so far back in the 
 first quarter or half that you will have to drive fast in 
 the last half to save your distance, you have not gained 
 anything. Get away w^ell with the field and drop 
 back gradually, say about twenty yards in each quar- 
 ter, so that you will land safely inside the distance flag 
 after going an eas}^, evenly rated mile well within your 
 horse's capacity at every stride. I have seen very 
 clever "generalship" result in laying up heats so 
 neatly that the flag fell in front in place of behind the 
 horse, and that is, I should judge, rather annoying. 
 Sometimes "generalship" and "jockey ship" may win 
 the race, but I advise the 3^oung trainer to trust neither 
 to his own "smartness" nor to "luck," but rather to 
 the speed and condition of his horse. That is w^hat 
 wins races. 
 
 Drivers are born, not made, and it is impossible to 
 teach a man so that he can get up behind a horse and 
 drive him well unless he has the natural gift ; and only 
 this, with experience, makes a good driver. You want 
 a steady, firm hand, and yet a light one. You want a 
 firm hand, but not a rigid, unyielding one, for a certain 
 ease is necessary to give the horse confidence. If the 
 driver be nervous and unsteady the horse will soon 
 know it, and his steadiness will be affected by it. 
 ISTever take more hold on the horse than is necessary 
 to give him confidence and to hold him steady and 
 
RACE-DRAWING. 295 
 
 safe. A good driver must be a crood judge of pace and 
 of distance, cool-headed, with presence of mind, and 
 able to take in a situation at a glance and act upon it 
 instantly. He must be ready to see an advantage the 
 moment it presents itself, and seize it the moment he 
 sees it. All this, as I have said, cannot be learned — 
 there are certain qualities of the brain and the hand 
 that must in a degree be natural to the man, though 
 they may be perfected by acquirement. A driver may 
 be good when going at a 2:40 gait, but the same man 
 may be all at sea when going at a 2:16 gait. The dif- 
 ference in results that will follow a move at a 2:40 gait 
 and that which may follow a move at a 2:20 gait is 
 marvelous. 
 
 Judgment of pace is very essential in a good driver ; 
 without that he is always liable to misjudge what he 
 
 • is really doing. He may go a quarter or a half at a 
 terrific gait, and thus take more out of his horse in 
 going a moderate mile than another driver would take 
 out of him in going a fast mile by even rating. I 
 teach my horses to rate evenly— that is, to have them 
 carry any desired rate of speed steadily. Driving 
 with the watch will, as I have said, improve judgment 
 of pace, but so many drivers indulge in trying to beat 
 the watch that I am diffident about recommending it. 
 However, if a man uses it with discretion, and by its 
 help accustoms himself to gauge the pace he goes, 
 and to rate evenly, it is an invaluable aid. Moving in 
 a jerky, spasmodic manner— making a sudden rush 
 here, and easing up there— is bad policy. Many a 
 horse is thus beaten in slower time than he is capable 
 
 of trotting if properly rated. 
 
296 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 I consider John Splan one of the best judges of pace 
 we have on the turf. As an illustration of this, I may 
 recall the performance years ago at Chico, California, 
 between Rarus and Goldsmith Maid. Splan and his 
 friends had bet that 2:17 would be beaten, but the first 
 heat the mare seemed tied up and only finished the 
 mile in 2:19^, Budd Doble declaring that she was 
 " wobbling all the time." After the next heat Doble 
 repeated this, when Splan said, "She has wobbled as 
 good a mile as ever she did in her life," and when the 
 time, 2:14|^, was hung out, it showed that he judged 
 the pace they trotted well. 
 
 In speaking of training the colt I have warned the 
 reader against the fallacy of "teaching him to break 
 and catch," and I can only repeat here that what you 
 want to do is to teach the horse to trot without break- 
 ing. A steady horse, other things being equal, will 
 wear down the horse that " breaks and catches " 
 several times in a mile. Sometimes a horse seeks re- 
 lief in a break, but as to the ultimate benefit of " rest- 
 ing breaks " I am skeptical. During the war I was in 
 the cavalry service, and an old frontiersman taught me 
 if I had to ride all day the least tiresome way w^as to 
 sit still in the saddle. I could ride twenty hours in 
 one position, while a companion, shifting positions and 
 trying to rest himself, would thoroughly tire. So I 
 think the steady horse makes the mile with greater 
 ease than the one that engages in the rather violent 
 exercise of " breaking and catching." A driver of 
 judgment and experience will soon learn to detect the 
 signs of a coming break by \vatching the horse's head, 
 and there is the direction to keep your eyes in. It is 
 
STEADINESS. 297 
 
 far better to anticipate the break, and by steadying 
 him prevent it, than to let him breal^ and then catch 
 him. But I have known drivers of long experience 
 that never seemed to have learned this. 
 
 There are hardly ever two heats trotted alike, and it 
 is vain to endeavor to direct how to meet the thousand 
 different positions and contingencies that will confront 
 you. Your native "generalship" and intuition, your 
 natural quickness to perceive how to take advantage 
 of your position, and how to work into a good position, 
 must be your guide. I have often found that a man in 
 second position can hold his place without much loss of 
 ground, but there is no place quite so comfortable as 
 showing the way and rating to suit yourself. I need 
 not say that the way to "get there" is to go straight 
 and steady, and that* seesawing in and out is the best 
 way of getting very little good out of a great deal of 
 hard work. However, just how to act and manage in 
 the exigencies of a heat can only be learned by actual 
 experience. In short, in starting keep your proper 
 position, and try and get away well ; in the heat attend 
 to "getting there" with a little to spare for the finish : 
 between heats attend the horse right, and at all times 
 Iceep cool. 
 
 I make it a rule when out racing to stay always at 
 the track with my horses, and am the last man to see 
 them at night and the first to see tliem in the morning. 
 It has, besides being a proper precaution and an assur- 
 ance that nothing is neglected, a good effect on the 
 stable-men. The driver who goes out on a campaign 
 ^ not on a pleasure excursion, if he attends i)roperly to 
 business, and I recommend to all young trainers the rule 
 I have followed with regard to staying with the horses. 
 
298 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXYII. 
 
 COMMON INJURIES AND AILMENTS AND THEIR TREATMENT — . 
 HORSES THAT TROTTED AFTER BREAKING DOWN TREAT- 
 ING FILLED LEGS IODINE A FAYORITE REMEDY 
 
 CURBS CRACKED HEELS DISTEMPER THRUSH 
 
 QUARTER CRACK TENDER FEET THE LOCKIEPAD SHOE 
 
 SPLINTS — SPRUNG TENDONS A GENERAL CAUTION. 
 
 It is the practice in almost all horse-books to add 
 what I may call a Veterinary Department, and if these 
 departments that find a place in so man}^ works really 
 taught what they are supposed to teach, there would 
 no longer be any use for veterinary surgeons, for every 
 one would know how to cure every equine ailment 
 without professional aid. Kow, I have no intention of 
 following the usual example, or encroaching on the 
 sacred soil of veterinary science, but there are certain 
 ailments and injuries to which horses in training are 
 peculiarly liable, and with which every trainer must 
 himself cope, and with the treatment of a few of these 
 I propose briefly to deal. AYith all due respect to the 
 professional veterinarians, there are some troubles for 
 the cure of which I would rather trust to the treat- 
 ment of an experienced and competent trainer than 
 to that of the averag-e veterinarv suro^eon. The reason 
 is, that the trainer is almost constantly treating and 
 caring for the mishaps and ailments peculiar to train- 
 
INJUKIES. 299 
 
 ing, while with the veterinary surgeon these forms of 
 injury or disease are only occasionally met, and he has 
 no reason to specially study them any more than any 
 other one of the thousand ills that equine flesh is 
 heir to. 
 
 Many horses have trotted creditable races and fallen 
 fast records when practically broken down. Smuggler 
 ''had a leg" all through his great campaign of 1876. 
 It was an enlarged or "filled" foreleg, and he was 
 lame of it the greater part of the time. People said 
 that every race would be his last, and it would not 
 have greatly surprised me to have seen him break down 
 entirely after any fast heat. His campaign must be 
 esteemed all the greater on that account. Other horses 
 have done great things for me after they had gone 
 wrong. We supposed Palo Alto to have been broken 
 down after his four-year-old campaign, and it was with 
 "fear and trembling" that we endeavored to train him 
 last spring. But he stood up through great races, and 
 went a mile in 2:1 2 J, faster than any stallion ever 
 trotted previous to 1889. Sallie Benton had a strained 
 suspensory ligament when she made her record of 
 2:1 7f. Fred Crocker had a bad tendon when he low- 
 ered the two-year old record to 2:25J. Elaine gave 
 way in one of the rear flexor tendons, and trotted her 
 races with the tendon supjxjrted by a rubber bandage 
 about four inches wide and five feet long, wrapped 
 about the leg, and fastened with a rubber strap. 
 Bonita, too, was a virtually broken down mare before 
 she was retired, and Occident's traveling gear was 
 "out of fix" before I ever trotted him. I only cite 
 these cases to show what patient patching-up and care 
 
300 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 may accomplish, and I could add to the list many less 
 noted cases. 
 
 There is usually no warning of a break-down. The 
 first thing you know some morning you will find a leg 
 filled, tender to the touch, feverish, and painful when 
 the horse walks. The first thing is to get the fever 
 out. This we usualh^ accomplish by hot fomentations. 
 For fevered legs I have found this lotion very good : 
 
 Acetic acid 1 gallon. 
 
 Sal ammonia 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture asafetida 2 draclims. 
 
 Mix : Use one ounce of the mixture to one quart of 
 water, or witch-hazel — the latter preferred. 
 
 A bandage wet with a solution of sugar of lead and 
 laudanum is effective, keeping the bandage on for a 
 reasonable time and leaving it off for about the same 
 time, alternately. 
 
 My favorite treatment is, after the fever is reduced, 
 to appl}^ iodine freely. The iodine will cause a slight 
 blister, but it cannot be used in connection with show- 
 ering the leg — a very cooling and beneficial treatment 
 — or with bandages. It is useless to attempt to work 
 a horse while there is any swelling or fever in the leg. 
 It is ver}^ difficult to locate trouble in the tendon, and 
 nothing can be done until the inflammation is reduced, 
 after which I have found iodine as good an application 
 as Siny. I have often tried firing horses, but with little 
 success. I have never found them as good again. 
 
 I use iodine very freely in training, both on the well 
 and the ailing. I apply it lighth^ to the legs of colts, and 
 know that it helps to keep them right. For this pur- 
 
BREAK-DOWN. 301 
 
 pose you must not apply enough to cause fever, or to 
 blister, for that will defeat your object. After prop- 
 erly applying it, in time a little scurf may appear, but 
 so slight that a few days let-up and a wash or so will 
 clean it off. I have been told that iodine will dry up 
 the natural fluids of the joints. Long experience has 
 failed to show me this. AVhen I began working the 
 geldmg Clay, I found him knuckling and trembling on 
 all his legs. I iodined him so heavily for three years 
 that during that time he never was free of the scurf 
 raised by the drug. At the end of that period his 
 ankles were clean, sound and straight. I have used it 
 for twenty years, both as a cure and as a preventative, 
 and have never found it to injure an animal. A little 
 practice will show how to judiciously apply it. Begin 
 easy, and apply it without much rubbing, and be care- 
 ful not to use enough, or rub it in enough, to cause the 
 leg to become feverish. 
 
 When a horse springs a curb with me I first get the 
 inflammation down in the usual way and then iodine 
 it severely. I then let him up in his work, but jog him 
 to keep him in as good condition as possible. I have 
 generally found curbs to yield to this treatment. A 
 curb is the least objectionable form of undsoundness. 
 I do not believe that what we usually call a ''crooked" 
 or "curby-shaped" hock is any more liable to develop 
 actual curbs than a perfectly straight one. At least, 
 in my experience I have found as many faultlessly 
 shaped hocks to throw out curbs as the "crooked" 
 ones. Manzanita has an elegantly shaped leg and per- 
 fect hock, but she threw out a curb as a two-year-old. 
 I treated her with iodine, kept on working her, gave 
 
302 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 her a two-year-old trial of 2:25, and cured the curb into 
 the bargain. 
 
 If the above treatment fails to have the desired 
 effect, the next resource is a regular blister. I have 
 found Gumbaldt's Balsam a very satisfactory blister, 
 and have also had good results from a mixture of lard 
 and red iodide of mercury, in the proportion of seven 
 parts of lard to one part of the iodide of mercury. In 
 applying a liquid blister it is not necessar}^ to clip the 
 hair or grease the leg. The amount of rubbing largely 
 governs the degree of severeness of any blister. To 
 apply the mercury blister I clip the hair, apply the 
 ointment, rubbing it with the palm of the hand for 
 about five minutes, adding more in the meantime as the 
 leo: absorbs it. Then I let it take its course until the 
 scab comes off, and grease the leg, which will preserve 
 the color of the hair. Should this prove ineffective, 
 after every trace of the first blister is gone, I repeat 
 the same treatment. I do not believe, however, in 
 indiscriminate blistering. It is to be resorted to spar- 
 inglv. "Blister and turn out" is a very common 
 recipe, and often a successful one — and in many cases 
 the success is really due to the rest, but is credited to 
 the 'blister. 
 
 Cracked heels are annoyances that every trainer 
 encounters. The causes of this form of trouble are 
 various, and the cures are as numerous as the causes. 
 Sometimes bandaging may cause the eruption; 
 standing in a damp place and failing to properly 
 dry the legs after being washed in a common cause. 
 That cracked heels are sometimes traceable to bad con- 
 dition of the blood is also true, and some horses seem 
 
CKACKED HEELS. 303 
 
 chronically subject to the trouble. Whatever the 
 cause may be, cracked heels seriously interfere with 
 training. The heels become inflamed and tender ; the 
 skin cracks, and these sometimes exude blood ; and in 
 bad cases there is swelling and extreme sensitiveness, 
 especially when the fetlock joint is called into action. 
 Of course the horse shortens his stride, and is dainty 
 with the legs so affected. The treatment I have found 
 most efficacious is an application composed of equal 
 parts of Goulard's Exact, glycerine, and olive oil. 
 
 The parts must be kept clean and dry, and, as much 
 as possible, the sweat should be prevented from running 
 down over them. The application should, after wiping 
 dry, be rubbed in. This ointment was used effectually 
 on Goldsmith Maid, and I have found it good. Citric 
 ointment is also sometimes used, and a mixture of 
 equal parts of olive oil and ether is good. I have cured 
 chronic cases with this. The following application I 
 have also found good, and it is recommended by my 
 friend James A. Dustin, of track renown : 
 
 Lard | poun-<. 
 
 Sulphur 4 ounces. 
 
 Cainplior , ^ ounce. 
 
 Tannin 1 ounce. 
 
 Goulard's Extract ^ ounce. 
 
 Charcoal 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Of course the horse's bowels should be kept in a 
 normally free condition, but it must be remembered 
 that the trouble is chiefly local and must be locally 
 treated. It does not follow that the same treatment 
 will relieve all cases; indeed, I have found the one 
 
304: TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 remedy fail to work successfully twice on the same 
 horse. 
 
 "Distemper" is the usual name applied to various 
 forms of a common epidemic of a catarrhal nature that 
 usually makes a clean march through a stable, and may 
 prevail in all degrees of severity, from the form of a 
 light cold to that of a most distressing and dangerous 
 influenza. The horse shivers and shrinks; his coat 
 becomes rough and staring ; the appetite fails ; the 
 mouth and eyes bespeak high fever ; a cough develops ; 
 swelling may appear in the legs and about the head 
 and neck. The throat is generally the point where the 
 attack develops its greatest severity ; and in some cases, 
 as in that of Wildflower, the membranes of the nostrils 
 may be so destroyed as to permanently interfere with 
 breathing, and the body may forever carry the scars 
 following eruptions all over it. You cannot well 
 imag-ine a more woe-beo:one and demoralized creature 
 than a horse in the grip of severe distemper. 
 
 The horse must be kept warm and clean, and if run- 
 ning freely so much the better. Sometimes we steam 
 the head and throat and administer aconite — dose, fif- 
 teen drops in a little water, say every two hours, if the 
 fever is moderately high. In very severe fevers we 
 give the aconite every half-hour for a time. When it 
 is deemed best to poultice the throat, a poultice of slip- 
 pery elm bark, hops and oil cake is good. Some 
 strongly recommend quinine for distemper. It is so 
 varying, and in severe cases so dangerous a disease, 
 that a veterinarian should be called if the symptoms 
 indicate anything Avorse than a severe cold, unless you 
 are somewhat accustomed to its treatment. 
 
THRUSH. 305 
 
 Thrush, I have observed, very often goes in company 
 with contracted feet. It is a disease of the frof>\ from 
 which an offensive discharge proceeds. A not infre- 
 quent cause is standing in wet places where the urine 
 lodges and the feet becomes soaked and saturated in 
 filth. Another cause that may produce thrush is the 
 filthy and senseless practice of stopping the feet with 
 cow-dung or other unclean substances. First, the foot 
 should be kept clean and dry, and as a good application 
 I may recommend a weak solution of blue vitriol. Some 
 use butter of antimony and others salt. However, the 
 best remedy I have ever known was given me by Mr. 
 William Moore, of Albany, a clever horseman and a 
 gentleman. Here it is : 
 
 Red precipitate 1 ounce. 
 
 Blue vitriol 1 ounce. 
 
 Burnt alum jounce. 
 
 Powdered white sugar 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix, and apply daily to the affected frog. 
 
 Quarter cracks I believe to be sometimes caused by 
 allowing the foot to grow long and the horn to become 
 dried and hard, when the expansion of the foot at the 
 coronet cracks the inelastic hoof below it. 
 
 For the cure of quarter-crack I cut the horn away on 
 either side of the crack, leaving a Y-shaped incision, 
 the apex of the V being at the lower extremity of the 
 crack. Then I cut away the hoof from a little in front 
 of the crack to the heel. Xow T shoe with a bar-shoe, 
 this making the other side of the foot and the fros" 
 bear the weight, none of which comes on the region 
 immediately affected by the crack, leaving it free to 
 grow out without working. The foot must be easily 
 
306 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 and carefully cut away without getting into the sensi- 
 tive parts. 
 
 - Tender feet, if naturally tender, are hardly susce}3ti- 
 ble to any treatment, though often a Lockiepad shoe 
 will prove effectual. I consider the Lockiepad shoe a 
 great invention, and whether the feet be constitution- 
 ally tender, or whether the trouble merely arises from 
 a hard track, they are well worth}^ of trial. Almost 
 ever}^ good appliance has its drawback, and the trouble 
 with the Lockiepad is that you never know how much 
 weight you are carrying, and in some cases a tendency 
 to thrush may be caused by the pad. A horse so shod 
 I stand in water, or wet the foot well twice a day, to 
 allow the sponge to take up water. They must be 
 often changed. The Lockiepad shoe should be taken 
 off and the foot cleaned at least every two weeks. 
 Then you can see how the foot is doing. If the 
 slightest tendency to thrush is discerned, they must be 
 cast aside. The Lockiepad shoe will certainly often 
 prove good on a hard track, and will many times be 
 found the remedy where a horse refuses to extend him- 
 self, for often a very slight soreness will "tie up" a 
 horse. I used this shoe to advantage on Manzanita and 
 Hinda Rose, the latter going a mile in 2:23 at Lexing- 
 ton, so shod. 
 
 For a horse sore from trotting on hard tracks I have 
 found the following liniment excellent. For it I am 
 indebted to my friend George J. Fuller, the famous 
 driver of Patron : 
 
 Linseed oil 8 ounces. 
 
 Turpentine = . .4 ounces. 
 
 Oil tar , .6 ounces. 
 
 Oil origanum .6 ounces. 
 
TENDER FEET. 307 
 
 Mix. Apply with sponge around the hoof, over the 
 bottom of the foot, and allow it to run in under the 
 shoe, and into all the fissures of the foot. For a few 
 days apply it twice a day and afterward once a day 
 after work. 
 
 Splints I believe are most effectually treated by 
 firing. I have found, as a rule, that if dotted with the 
 firing iron soon after its appearance the splint will 
 vanish. 
 
 Sprung tendons I have most successfully treated by 
 resting, getting the fever down, then applying iodine, 
 and later the sugar of lead and laudanum leg wash. 
 
 Only one word more on the subject of the scores of 
 ailments and injuries which beset the lives of horses in 
 training. Don't try every remedy that is recom- 
 mended, especially if dangerous ones. Try what some 
 experienced man has found successful, and when you 
 get a good thing keep a note of it for future reference. 
 
308 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIII. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF BREEDING THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM 
 
 AND ACTION ACTION SHOULD BE PURE " LINE-TROT- 
 TING " STRUCTURE OF THE STALLION ACTION AND 
 
 STRUCTURE OF DAM GOOD MARES OR NONE TROTTING 
 
 BLOOD SHOULD BE GOOD DEVELOPED SPEED THOR- 
 OUGHBRED BLOOD MUST BE CAREFULLY SELECTED AND 
 
 GOOD ITS ADVANTAGES IN FINISH AND QUALITY, NOT 
 
 IN GAMENESS VIEWING THE QUESTION WITHOUT PREJU- 
 DICE PRACTICES IN BREEDING — TIME TOR BREEDING 
 
 THE MARE — EXPERIENCES WITH SPRITE, DOLLY AND 
 
 FLOWER GIRL TRYING AFTER BRP:EDING FOALING 
 
 TIME AGE TO BREED MARES — NUMBER STALLIONS 
 
 SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SERVE — DANGERS OF OVER- 
 BREEDING. 
 
 On no other single subject connected with the trot- 
 ting horse has so much been written as on breeding, 
 and on no other do opinions so widel}^ differ. I do not 
 propose to theorize on the subject, nor to treat it 
 exhaustively, as my main subject is how to train the 
 trotter rather than how to breed him; but I may 
 briefly throw together the conclusions that have formed 
 in my mind from extended observations with trotters. 
 
 First, I hold there has been wide error, not, perhaps, 
 in giving too much attention to blood, but in giving 
 attention to blood to the exclusion of everything else, 
 lorm and action, I believe, have been too generally 
 
BREEDING. 309 
 
 neglected, and especially is this true of action. 
 Although it may seem paradoxical to say so, the gait I 
 would consider perfection in a campaigner would not 
 exactly suit me for a stock horse. I would prefer for a 
 sire a horse with abundant and exuberant action, both 
 before and behind, one with perfectly true and square 
 stroke, and without a touch of mixing. I do not 
 object to a horse starting on an amble, but when he 
 trots let it be a trot. I do not care how a horse is bred, 
 nor how good he is individually, if his action is faulty 
 he would not suit me for a sire. A foul-gaited horse 
 will get foul-gaited progeny, and that kind can never 
 hold their own with evenly balanced trotters. Action 
 is not the only thing in a sire, but it is an essential for 
 the absence of which nothing can atone. I believe that 
 the chief reason why Smuggler has not been a greater 
 success than he is as a sire, is because he had not the 
 proper order of action. He had practically no hock 
 action. I would expect of course the best results from 
 Smuo^o^ler when bred to mares with excessive action. 
 The truest kind of action is what we may call line- 
 trotting. The horse does not sprawl to get his hind 
 feet outside of the front ones. The hind foot goes low, 
 and the fore foot is lifted just high enough to let the 
 hmd one go under, not outside of, the front one. I 
 like a horse with a fairly wide chest, and the legs to 
 stand well apart, and fall straight to the ground (not 
 ^'both come out of one hole" like a saw-horse), and 
 they should be especially Avell muscled. The idea that 
 a narrow chest is favorable for speed, arose, I suppose, 
 from the idea that a horse's hind feet must necessarily 
 go outside of his front ones in trotting. It is certainly 
 an error. 
 
310 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 I need not go into any lengthy description of what 
 the form of an ideal stallion ought to be — you all know 
 it. He should be of fair size, with a good, brainy, 
 intelligent head, a strong, sloping shoulder; a round 
 barrel, with a strong, springy loin ; quarters of great 
 power, muscled well inside and out, strong gaskins and 
 forearms ; square-set hocks and knees, short cannons, 
 strong pasterns of medium angle, and good feet. Some 
 will argue that long cannons are just as good as short 
 ones — that a horse with a long cannon wall stride just 
 as far as a short-cannoned horse. That may be true, 
 but I hold that all the driving power is above the hock, 
 all the muscles run from that point upward, and the 
 horse with the longest thigh has the greatest driving 
 power, and more leverage to handle the leg and foot. 
 
 In the dam I want also good action, but I would not 
 be quite so exacting in her case as to having plenty of 
 it, for, right or wrong, it is my belief that the sire gen- 
 erally controls the action. SaUie Benton's dam had 
 very little action ; Dame Winnie, the dam of Palo 
 Alto, and Annette, the dam of Ansel, had not any to 
 speak of, but they were mated Avith Electioneer, a 
 horse of superabundant action. I would avoid a brood- 
 mare, just as I would a sire, with faulty action. Let 
 what they have be square, true and good. I like a 
 brood-mare of moderate size. The dam of Manzanita 
 stood only 14.3 ; the dam of Bonita, 14.2. Beautiful 
 Bells and Dame AYinnie are 15.2; May Queen, 15 
 hands. I prefer mares of rather block}^ build, and they 
 should have good heads, tempers and dispositions. I 
 need not say that soundness should be exacted in the 
 brood-mare, and of course the more perfect the general 
 
FOKM AND ACTION. 311 
 
 form the better. The idea that any thing will do for 
 a brood-mare is a fallacy of bygone days. If I were 
 breeding trotters I would have good mares or none. 
 
 In conclusion, I like the sire and dam to be devel- 
 oped trotters, and the faster they can go the better. 
 If they are natural trotters, and have in training shown 
 great speed, together with good form and balance, from 
 mating them you are almost sure to get a trotter. 
 
 As for the trotting blood you have, of course the 
 richer the better. The best test of trotting blood is 
 how fast and how much it has trotted, and how many 
 and how fast trotters it has produced. Any kind of 
 blood is better than v.nhiovm blood. 
 
 As to thoroughbred blood in the trotter — that sub- 
 ject of endless discussion — I will try and give ni}^ views 
 as briefly and as clearly as possible. Perhaps the best 
 way to sum up my idea in a nutshell is to say that I 
 want all the good thoroughbred blood that can be con- 
 trolled. To say how much that ma}^ be is impossible. 
 Electioneer may in some cases control fifty per cent — 
 trith some in ares he might fail to do it — while some horses 
 do not have the ability to control it at all. I believe 
 that Mr. J. C. Sibley has put the whole thing in as con- 
 cise and logical a form as possible in these words: 
 *' My judgment is that some horses will sire trotters 
 from some thoroughbreds ; that no horse can sire trot- 
 ters from some thoroughbreds, and that some horses 
 cannot sire trotters from any thoroughbred." 
 
 My experience has been, in training horses from 
 thoroughbred mares, that their heads are as good as 
 the average trotting-bred horse's head. This experi- 
 ence has been, it is true, mostly with the get of Elec- 
 
312 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 tioneer, a sire with great brain-controlling force, and it 
 may be that had I handled the same number of half- 
 bred horses by some other sire I might have found it 
 different. However, I am not telling what my experi- 
 ences might have been, but what the}^ were. The only 
 "ugly" half-bred one I ever had to deal with was Ger- 
 trude Eussell. She was ill-used and whipped, and after 
 she came into my hands I got her fairly gentle, though 
 she always pulled. As far as breaking is concerned, 
 they made "good breakers." Palo Alto trotted in 
 2:12^^ and 2:12^, with breaks in the mile, and 3^ou can 
 not afford to make a very bad break to finish in 2:1 2^. 
 Ansel trotted a mile in 2:20, with a break in it. Ger- 
 trude Kussell, Whips and Azmoor were good breakers. 
 They would make a clear run and come back to the 
 trot handily. The only bad breaker in the lot was 
 Express, and he has improved. 
 
 The advantages of thoroughbred blood, as they seem 
 to me, are that it gives higher finish, better quality of 
 bone, better joints, and superior wind and lung power. 
 I do not base my claims for thoroughbred blood 6n 
 gameness. M}^ belief is that gameness comes in great 
 part from pure, frictionless action. It is practically a 
 truth that speed ^inakes gameness. 
 
 "There are thoroughbreds and thoroughbreds." 
 Some thoroughbreds have more trotting action than 
 others. In selecting a thoroughbred mare to breed to 
 a trotting stallion we pay great regard to form, action 
 and head. Some thoroughbreds are more brainy and 
 level-headed than others, and from one of these of the 
 right conformation bred to a stallion like Electioneer, 
 of great brain and action-controlling power, the chances 
 
THOEOUGHBKED BLOOD. 313 
 
 of getting a high class trotter are good. I do not claim 
 that you can get trotters as uniformly this wny as b}^ 
 breeding from trotting mares, but you can, \Yith the 
 properly mated sire and dam, get horses of high class 
 by this line of breeding horses, of great finish and 
 hard, fine qualit}^ AYe have, I think, demonstrated 
 at Palo Alto that some horses at least can control the 
 action of the thoroughbred, and where that can be 
 done I have no hesitation in declaring my preference 
 for a good dash of thoroughbred blood. 
 
 I endeavor to regard all such matters without preju- 
 dice. I have no quarrel with trotting blood, nor have 
 I anv fault to find with breeders who stick to trottinir 
 blood. But all candid men must admit that trotters 
 come from all combinations, that there are more ways 
 than one to breed them. I have no desire to argue 
 that one way is better than another — I only insist that 
 we have shown that high-class trotters can he bred 
 with close and direct infusions of thoroughbred blood. 
 I do not advise any breeder to sell his trotting-bred 
 mares and buy half-bred or thoroughbred mares, nor 
 do I advise him to patronize a stallion simply because 
 he has thoroughbred blood. But what I do advise is, 
 that when 3^ou find a good horse or a good mare, a 
 horse that is a trotter, or a mare that is a producer, 
 that has plenty of thoroughbred blood, do not let that 
 scare you away from them, but rather value them the 
 higher for it. My idea is to recognize merit wherever 
 you see it, and when a stallion trots in 2: 12 J, or even 
 2:20, you need not fear that his thoroughbred blood 
 will stop his progeny from trotting. 
 
 But, as I have said, it is no part of my business to 
 
3li TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 write about theories, or to take part here in the con- 
 tention between the different schools of breeding. This 
 work is more practical, and in pursuance thereof we 
 will now suppose that j^ou have selected jour horse and 
 mare, and are about to breed, in the fond hope of get- 
 ting a Sunol or an Axtell. 
 
 Having settled upon the stallion and mare, I would 
 mate them as soon after February 15th as possible. 
 Every day of life is an advantage to the colt that is 
 expected to trot voung, and when the time is counted 
 by weeks and months the advantao:e is increased many- 
 fold. I believe the mare is better if worked some. If 
 possible I would work her moderatelv while carrying 
 the foal, at least in the earlier months of pregnancy. 
 
 We breed mares on the eighth or ninth day after 
 foaling. Some will go out of use the eighth day. 
 After the mare is bred we let her go out of use before 
 breeding again. Whenever she comes in again we 
 breed her, no matter how long or how short has been 
 the interval. The season of 18S8, after Sprite and 
 Dolly were bred, we found that for three months they 
 would take the horse any time they were bred. Dolly 
 proved in foal, while Sprite failed. Some mares will 
 certainly welcome the stallion's embrace after they are 
 in foal, so that the mare's accepting the horse cannot 
 be taken for a certain indication in all cases that she 
 has failed to hold. A couple of seasons since we bred 
 Flower Girl once, and shortly afterward decided to 
 train her, so that orders were given that if she came in 
 again she was not to be put back to the horse. She 
 came in use, and would have stood for the horse any 
 ilav. After we worked her awhile she would occasion- 
 
BREEDING THE MARE. 315 
 
 ally go dead lame in one hind leg, and finally she 
 proved to be in foal. The first season I came to Palo 
 Alto, Aurora came into use early in March, and was 
 bred. A few days later she slunk a colt, being in foal 
 from a service the previous season ; and we have since 
 had a similar case. These instances prove that a mare 
 may take the horse at almost any period of pregnane v. 
 
 Our practice is to breed in the evening. If horses 
 are used in the morning they are excitable and rest- 
 less all day ; and mares also are cooler and calmer after 
 an evening's service. I have no faith in artificial tricks 
 to get mares to catch. Some throw cold water over 
 the mare ; another jabs an awl into her ear just at 
 what he supposes the vital moment ; another has a 
 theory about the moon. All this is nonsense of the 
 witchcraft order. If the mare fails to hold after three 
 or four services, it is well to "open" her, to see that 
 the mouth of the womb is in proper place and condi- 
 tion. Every breeder who breeds extensively should 
 have a speculum, and acquaint himself, or have his fore- 
 man acquaint himself, with the condition and position 
 of the genital organs of the mare, so that he can intelli- 
 gently cope with any slight irregularity that may pre- 
 vent conception. 
 
 After we breed the mares we turn them out in a 
 paddock until they go out of use. Then they are 
 turned in with the others, and a horse is led among 
 them every day to ascertain which require attention. 
 Our trial d^js are the eighteenth after being bred, then 
 again nine days later, and again nine days after that. ^Ve 
 carefully keep account of the trial days of each mare, 
 and try her particularly then. We breed her whenever 
 
316 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 she comes in, no matter what day ; but if they do not 
 " show," as I have said, try them especially on their 
 trial days. After the fourth trial day, if the mare fails 
 to "show," we conclude that she is all right. Still, 
 with all these precautions, I have known them to come 
 into use again, say ninety days later. 
 
 We carefully watch mares about due to foal, and 
 have at the farm twent3^-five large foaling stalls. As 
 soon, of course, as the youngsters are able to move 
 around, we take them out to make room for other 
 mares "in an interesting condition." The day after 
 the colt is foaled we turn him out a little while in the 
 sun with his dam. The mare should be fed such food 
 as will keep her bowels free, and the colt's bowels must 
 also be got working. You may have to give him a 
 warm water injection before he is an hour old. 
 
 I would not at first put more than three or four 
 mares with foals in the same paddock. At first the 
 mares are nervous, and will fight off anything that 
 comes near ; after the colts get older, of course, more 
 can be put together. 
 
 Here we can leave the youngster, for you will remem- 
 ber that it was at this point that I took him up in my 
 first chapter on training. 
 
 I do not believe in breeding mares under four years 
 old ; I think it stunts the mare's growth, and the colt 
 is not so apt to be good. I think that while the mare 
 is growing she needs all her strength, and cannot, with- 
 out injury, give nourishment to the colt. 
 
 For a two-year-old stallion I think three or four 
 mares are really beneficial. I would not give him 
 more than six, and they should be well distr'^uted over 
 the season. 
 
OVER SERVICE. 317 
 
 For a three-year-old stallion twenty mares should 
 be the outside limit, and they should be well dis- 
 tributed, too. 
 
 A four-year-old stallion can comfortably cover thirty 
 to thirty-five mares, and at five years old he should 
 take a full season. I believe fifty mares furnish a 
 heavy enough season for any horse to make. 
 
 I would especially guard against the dangers of over- 
 breeding. We often wonder why the progeny of the 
 same horse and mare differ so widely — why there are 
 such variations between brothers and sisters. I believe 
 if we could be sure that the sire and dam were always 
 in the same condition, and always had the same com- 
 parative and relative vigor, we could breed with great 
 uniformity. There is no doubt in mv mind that the 
 character of the colt is largeh" determined by the 
 condition of the parents at the time of conception. If 
 the sire's vigor be sapped by too much stud-service you 
 can hardly expect the colt to be uniform with one 
 begotten in a state of full vigor. I suppose the reader 
 means, as a breeder, to aim at great results, rather than 
 great numbers. To that end it is certainh^ enough to 
 let a horse serve once a day ; and indeed I would prefer 
 that he is used onh^ on alternate days, if practicable. 
 Certainly, one good colt is worth ten ordinary ones ; 
 and if it be true, as I verily believe, that moderation in 
 the use of stallions will result in better progeny, then 
 it is very poor economy to yield to the temptation to 
 overdo it. With all the care that can be exercised you 
 will o^et enouo:h common ones, but no one can doubt 
 that the sapped condition that over-service produces 
 must prove detrimental to a stallion's success as a sire. 
 
318 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 NEARING THE END A TRIBUTE TO ELECTIONEER — HIS BREED- 
 ING, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS HIS SPEED HIS 
 
 ROLL OF HONOR AND RANK AS A SIRE — THE ELEC- 
 TIONEER ACTION THE ELECTIONEERS AS CAMPAIGN- 
 ERS — GENERAL BENTON PIEDMONT NEPHEW THE 
 
 ST. CLAIRS THE BELMONTS — THE MOORS NUTWOOD — • 
 
 GUY WILKES — A. W. RICHMOND — AU REVOIR. 
 
 I HAVE now covered almost all the ground contem- 
 plated at the outset of this work. I have given my 
 experiences with the most noted horses I have driven ; 
 have told how they were trained ; have elucidated, as 
 fully and explicitly as it seems in my power, the meth- 
 ods of teaching colts to trot that have been so success- 
 ful at Palo Alto; have explained how they are fed, 
 kept, shod, worked and driven, and have given my 
 views on the practical aspects of breeding. Taking up 
 the colt at his birth, we have traveled, as it were, in a 
 circle back to the starting point, and all that remains 
 to complete the programme on which we started out is 
 to devote a chapter to Electioneer and other horses and 
 families of California. 
 
 A thousand things remain to be said, and dozens of 
 topics of varying importance in " horseology " have 
 been neglected ; but no man has ever yet covered all 
 horse knowledge in one volume, and I was not foolish 
 enough to attempt to do it. I have striven to condense 
 
ELECTIONEEK. 319 
 
 the things of greatest importance concerning the trot- 
 ting-horseman into a volume of convenient size, and 
 trust that in a fair measure I have succeeded. 
 
 My greatest success, as the world knows, has been 
 with tile get of Electioneer, and while it would be but 
 affectation to say that I am not conscious of having 
 done considerable to help his reputation, I have no 
 doubt he has done, in giving me the material I have 
 had to work with, much for mine. So in this chapter 
 a little tribute to him is only scant justice from me. 
 
 Electioneer is a dark bay horse, standing 15.2 hands 
 high, and was bred by Charles Backman, at his stud 
 farm at Stony Ford, Xew York. He was foaled May 
 2, 1868, and came to Palo Alto in the fall of 1876. 
 His sire was Eysdyk's Hambletonian, the greatest 
 progenitor of trotters, and his dam was Green Mount- 
 ain Maid, "the great mother of trotters,'' over whose 
 grave a monument stands at Stony Ford. She was by 
 Harry Clay, 2:29, out of Shanghai Mary, whose lineage 
 is enfolded in mystery, but whose blood must, from 
 what she was and what her daughter was, have had a 
 strain of sterling richness in it. Among Green Mount- 
 ain Maid's famous children, besides Electioneer, are 
 Prospero, 2:20 ; Elaine, 2:20 ; Dame Trot, 2:22 ; Elista, 
 2:22f , Mansfield, 2:26; Storm, 2:26f; Antonio, 2:28f, 
 and Miranda, 2:31. She is the dam of more trotters 
 that have trotted in 2:30 or better than any mare that 
 has ever lived ; and she also produced in Electioneer 
 the greatest sire of trotters that has ever lived. 
 
 Electioneer, as his picture shows, is a stout and com- 
 pactly built horse. I have above given his height at 
 15.2 measured at the wither. He is an inch hiofher 
 
TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 behind, and in this conformation many of his progeny 
 follow him, notably Sunol. His head is well propor- 
 tioned and of fair size, and is a model of intelligence 
 and beauty. His brainj^ head accounts for the heads 
 of his children — beautiful in shape and level in balance. 
 He has a good shoulder, splendid barrel, faultless back, 
 and simply the best quarters I ever saw on a stallion. 
 There 3^ou see the perfection of driving power. His 
 forearms and gaskins are heavily muscled, his joints 
 clean and sound, and his legs and feet naturally of 
 first-class quality. He is, in short, a stout and smooth 
 horse of the solid type, combining in structure great 
 power with elegant proportion and pleasing finish at 
 every point. 
 
 As a three-year old he was broken at Stony Ford 
 and worked some to wagon. Mr. Charles Backman, 
 whose word is good enough authority for anything, 
 states that he timed him quarters to wagon in thirty- 
 eight seconds, with little work. To some this may 
 be surprising ; to me it is not, for I know his great 
 natural speed. 
 
 Electioneer is the most natural trotter I have ever 
 seen. He has free, abundant action; it is a perfect 
 rolling action both in front and behind, and he has not 
 the usual fault of the Hambletonians, of going too wide 
 behind. Certain writers have said that Electioneer 
 could not trot, and have cited him as a stallion that 
 was not a trotter, j^et got trotters. All the comment 
 I have to make on this is that T have driven, beside 
 Electioneer, a quarter better than thirty -five seconds ; 
 and though this may not be fast enough to suit the 
 critics of Electioneer, I call aii}^ horse that can speed 
 
M, 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
HIS ROLL OF HONOR. 321 
 
 faster than a 2:20 gait a trotter. He did this, too, 
 hitched to a 125-pound wagon, with a 220-pound man 
 — and not a professional driver, either — in the seat. In 
 this rig he could carry Occident right up to his clip, 
 and could alwaj^s keep right with him ; and it was no 
 trick for the famous St. Clair gelding to go a quarter 
 in thirty four seconds. Without preparation you could 
 take out Electioneer in stud condition any day and 
 drivQ^ him an eighth of a mile at a 2:20 gait. He 
 always had his speed with him, and this is a character- 
 istic of his sons, and to my mind one of great impor- 
 tance to breeders. That Electioneer could have beaten 
 2:20 if given a regular preparation is, with me, a con- 
 viction about which no doubt exists. 
 
 As a sire I believe him to be the greatest of all troir 
 ting sires. He began his stud services in California in 
 1877, his family beginning in 1878, and here is his roll 
 of honor: 
 
 YEARLING. 
 
 Hinda Rose (fastest when made) 2:36| 
 
 TWO-YEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Sunol (fastest to date) 2:18 
 
 Wild Flower (fastest wlien made) 2:21 
 
 Bonita 2:24i 
 
 Fred Crocker (fastest when made) 2:25^ 
 
 Bell Boy 2:26 
 
 Carrie C 2:27i 
 
 Pedlar 2:27f 
 
 Palo Alto Belle 2:28i 
 
 Sphinx 2:29i 
 
 Del Mar 2:30 
 
 THREE-YEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Sunol (fastest to date) 2:10i 
 
 Bell Boy 2:19^ 
 
322 TRAINING th:^: trotting horse. 
 
 Hinda Rose (fastest when made) 2:19f 
 
 Palo Alto Belle 2:22i 
 
 Campbell's Electioneer 2:22^ 
 
 Maiden 2:23 
 
 Manzanita » 2:231- 
 
 Rexford = 2:24 
 
 Sphinx 2:24i 
 
 Hattie D 2:26f 
 
 Grace Lee 2 :29i 
 
 FOTJR-TEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Manzanita (fastest to date) 2:16 
 
 Bonita 2:18f 
 
 Antevolo 2:19^ 
 
 Palo Alto 2:20^ 
 
 Albert W 2:22i 
 
 Albert W. (two miles) 4:51 
 
 Sphinx 2:23 
 
 Lot Slocum 2:23f 
 
 Gov. Stanford 2:23f 
 
 Carrie C 2:24 
 
 Clifton Bell 2:24^ 
 
 St. Bel 2 :24i 
 
 Mortimer 2:27 
 
 Egotist 2:29 
 
 Ella 2 :29 
 
 Azmoor » 2:30 
 
 FIVE-YEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Lot Slocum 2:17 
 
 Gertrude Russell 2:23i 
 
 Clay 2:25 
 
 Emaline 2:27i 
 
 Cubic 2:28i 
 
 SIX- YEAR OLDS. 
 
 Anteeo 2 :16i 
 
 Lot Slocum 2:17i 
 
 Adair 2 : 17i 
 
 Old Nick 2 :23 
 
 Carrie C 2:24i 
 
WHAT HORSE CAN COMPARE? 323 
 
 Aziuoor 2:24f 
 
 Morca 2:25 
 
 Express 2:29^ 
 
 Arbutus 2:30 
 
 SEVEN-YEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Palo Alto 2:12i 
 
 Nerval 2:17^ 
 
 Adair 2 :17i 
 
 Bonita 2:18i 
 
 Ansel 2:20 
 
 Albert W 2:20^ 
 
 Express 2:21 
 
 Junio 2:22 
 
 Peruvian Bitters (pacer) , 2:23^ 
 
 Arbutus 2:24i 
 
 Whips , , 2:27f 
 
 EIGHT- YEAR- OLDS. 
 
 Albert W 2:20 
 
 Elector 2:21^ 
 
 Stella 2:23i 
 
 Eros 2:28i 
 
 Fallis 2 :28i 
 
 Commotion 2 :30 
 
 NINE- YEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Old Xick 2:23 
 
 Arol 2 :24 
 
 TEN-YEAR-OLDS. 
 
 Fallis 2:23 
 
 I ask an}^ man conversant with tbe records to answer 
 me candidly this question : What horse has to his 
 credit, from an equal ttime in the stud, achievements 
 that can be compared to these ? There can only be 
 one answer. Xo horse has ever before even approached 
 the marvelous record of Electioneer in the stud. 
 
 The action of the Electioneers is characteristic. 
 They are mostly prompt, round-gaited horses, and 
 
324 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 straight-line trotters. They do not have to "square 
 away " or " strike a position " to get up speed. Asa 
 rule they are close-gaited ; and very few indeed are of 
 that class that are called " open-gaited." The majority 
 of them do not throw the hind foot outside of the fore 
 foot in trotting, but, on the line-trotting principle, "go 
 under." They do not have to go a mile or so to get 
 untangled ; they trot low, have no waste action, and 
 gather speed quickly and smoothl^^ 
 
 The statement so often made by those who know 
 little about them, that the Electioneers are not game 
 horses, sounds very absurd to one who knows how 
 easily they trot, how great is their natural speed, and 
 how^ perfect!}^ they are balanced, canying little or no 
 weight. The same charge has been made against all 
 families, and perhaps it is not worth repelling ; but I 
 may claim to know the Electioneers as well as any 
 man, and as campaigners they are good enough for me. 
 They are good feeders, cheerful dispositioned horses, 
 that take their work well, and have the quality of 
 race-horses. I consider them, in this respect, the equal 
 of any of our trotting families. I have seen horses 
 that lacked heart, and I have trained a faint-hearted 
 horse, but I have yet to see the first Electioneer against 
 which the charge can in justice be made. Wildflower 
 and Manzanita were not bred from mares that would 
 popularly be expected to throw -game performers, but 
 a gamer mare than "Wildflower never looked through 
 a bridle. She would respond to every call to the last 
 inch of her capacity. The same is true of Manzanita. 
 She trotted frequently when out of condition, but when 
 anyw^here near at herself no horse of her age could 
 
THE ^VILKES FAMILY. 325 
 
 beat her at any distance, and she would go on her 
 courage to the extreme limit of her ability. Her four- 
 year-old record was made in the third heat of a race, 
 and stands unbeaten. 
 
 The Wilkes' are claimed to be the greatest of cam- 
 paigning families ; but a recent writer proved by tabu- 
 lating the records that while the 2:30 trotters, by 
 George AYilkes, won 3^ per cent, of their races, the 
 2:30 trotters, by Electioneer, w^on 43 per cent, of 
 theirs ; and against 2:24: and a fraction, as the average 
 record of the "Wilkes', he found 2:22 and a fraction to 
 be the average record of the Electioneers. These 
 racing statistics certainly look as though the Elec- 
 tioneers raced successfully. Another writer, some time 
 ago, ex])loded the exaggerated ideas that have been 
 afloat about the opportunities of Electioneer. It has 
 been said that ''hundreds" of his get were trained and 
 broken down at Palo Alto. The writer was given 
 access to the Palo Alto books, and his tables made 
 therefrom showed that at the close of 1888 the total 
 number of foals bred at Palo Alto, and got by Elec- 
 tioneer, was 235 ; that 139 were trained more or less ; 
 and that of these ninety -one, or over 65^ per cent, had, 
 under the watch, shown the ability to trot in 2:30 or 
 better. These stud statistics show with what uniformity 
 Electioneer gets speed, and what is better, early and 
 extreme speed— and they furnish ample basis for my 
 belief that he produces a larger percentage of animals 
 naturally gifted with the ability to trot in 2:30 or 
 better than any horse that ever lived. 
 
 The owner of a great horse in Kentucky— over the 
 honored dust of both owner and horse the blue-o-rass 
 
326 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 is growing — was wont to proudly call him " The Great 
 Sire of Trotters," and the lofty distinction was not 
 undeserved ; but when Electioneer's days are done, 
 justice will record that in his grave lies The Greatest 
 Sire of Trotters. 
 
 Gen. Benton was what may be called an action- 
 controlling sire. He was speedy himself, and trans- 
 mitted high rates of speed. His force in controlling 
 action is shown by the fact that out of the thorough- 
 bred Dame Winnie he got Big Jim, 2:22^, and out of 
 other thoroughbred mares he got daughters that are 
 producing speed. From the race-mare Waxy, he got 
 Waxana, a mare that was never regularlj^ trained, but 
 could show about a 2:40 gait. By Electioneer she pro- 
 duced Sunol, 2:10J. The Bentons have about the 
 average order of action in front, but behind they go 
 low and wide, indeed somewhat " sprawling." They 
 come to their speed quickh^, but, as a rule, they were 
 too growthy to train young. The blood of Gen. 
 Benton will be valued more in the future than it has 
 been. It carries speed, finish and resolution. The 
 daughters of Benton, I predict, will yet rank among 
 the most fashionable brood-mares. 
 
 Piedmont, 2:1 TJ, is just beginning to make his 
 reputation as a sire. He was a great race-horse, fast 
 and game. It is the fortune of some horses to be over- 
 rated on the turf, but Piedmont was alwaj^s under- 
 rated when he was campaigning. He won in 1881, in 
 Chicago, the greatest race ever trotted between a lot 
 of stallions, and he outlasted and defeated the greatest 
 field of campaigning stallions that ever faced a starter. 
 But even his trainer, Peter Johnston, had no idea he 
 
PIEDMONT AND XEPHEW. 327 
 
 was as good as he was that day. He had been set 
 down so often by the clever men as " a duffer '- that 
 probably his driver half believed it. But he met 
 Robert McGregor, Santa Claus, Hannis, the resolute 
 Wedgewood, and the two-miler, Monroe Chief, fought 
 for every heat, and beat them in the fourth, fifth and 
 sixth heats in 2:lTi, 2:19^, 2:21. 
 
 He is a rather large horse to exactly suit me as a 
 stock-horse, and his o'et are so g-rowthvthat thev don't 
 take kindly to early training. But like their sire, thej^ 
 are good race-horses wlien you get them trained. 
 They incline to be prompt and trappy-gaited, with 
 much of the Almont order of action. Piedmont is the 
 most intelligent horse I have ever known. I worked 
 him some and could drive him at any gait desired by 
 simpl}^ talking to him. He had far more speed than 
 his record shows. I drove him with the lines laying 
 on his back a quarter in 0:33, and I saw him driven a 
 quarter in 0:32. 
 
 Nephew, the other aged Palo Alto stallion, will, I 
 think, prove successful, though I have hardlv had experi- 
 ence enough with his get as yet to speak fully. They 
 show well in the kindergarten, and act like colts that 
 will make early trotters. Such as have appeared on the 
 turf have proved good campaigners, as would be 
 expected from Xephew's breeding, he being by Ham- 
 brino, 2:21J (by Edward Everett), out of Trotting 
 Sister, by Alexander's Abdallah. 
 
 Of the other more noted Calif ornian families, I need 
 only speak very briefly concerning their general 
 characteristics. 
 
 The St. Clairs are compact, smooth horses, gaited 
 
328 TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 much like the Electioneers, and they all had some 
 degree of speed. They have good legs and feet, are 
 easily kept, and are naturally hardy. The famil}^ of 
 the old pacer, whose history I have already given, first 
 came into notice as excellent work-horses. Eailway 
 contractors would take them in preference to any 
 other breed for work. 
 
 The family of George M. Patchen Jr., 2:27, showed 
 excessive knee-action, and indeed lots of action all 
 ground. A great many of them were gross, coarse 
 horses ; but judiciously crossed the blood is a valuable 
 strain. 
 
 The Belmonts were in form more like trotting-horses 
 than race-horses, and some of them did trot and pro- 
 duce trotters. Owen Dale and Don Victor both had a 
 fair degree of trotting-action. The latter I saw trot a 
 mile in 3:12 at twenty 3^ ears old, and few thorough- 
 breds can do that. He was a fair race-horse, but was 
 afterward used as a doctor's hack. Mrs. Marvin 
 drove him in his late 3^ears, and found him a good 
 road-horse. Williamson's Belmont, the founder of the 
 family, was a thoroughbred son of American Bov, and 
 was brought to California in 1853, and died in 1865. 
 He left a great family, both as race-horses and general 
 road-horses. This is a favorite strain in California, 
 and a trotting-pedigree can have no better foundation 
 to rest on than Belmont blood. 
 
 The Moor founded one of the greatest of California 
 families — horses noted for good, clean, sound legs and 
 feet, solid colors and excellent form. The Moors are 
 uniformly trotters, and, as a rule, are game, resolute 
 horses. They are generally built on the greyhound 
 
THE MOOR AND NUTWOOD. 329 
 
 order, the most objectionable feature being their 
 heads, which are often large, and nearly always of the 
 Roman order. Many of them are strong-Avilled and 
 rattle-headed. The most noted descendants of The 
 Moor are his daughter Beautiful Bells, his grandson 
 Stamboul, and Sable Wilkes, whose dam was a 
 daughter of The Moor. The blood of The Moor is a 
 grand, speedy, fashionable strain in a pedigree, and 
 one that is now widely appreciated. He died young, 
 leaving few foals, but had in him the elements of 
 greatness. 
 
 Xutwood spent part of his life in California, but had 
 few good mares here. He left an excellent family on 
 the coast, considering the number and class of m.are& 
 he had. Like every family that has ever showed 
 speed enough to excite criticism, the Xutwoods at first 
 had the reputation of " stopping," and if it were true 
 it would be no discredit to the horse, for that horse 
 has not yet lived that can get uniformly good horses 
 out of inferior mares. But I have not discovered the 
 "stop" among the Xutwoods. Woodnut did not seem 
 to stop to any great extent. The fact is that the Xut- 
 woods are one of the very best trotting families we 
 have, and his daughters are highl}^ valued, and 
 properly so, as brood-mares in California. 
 
 The famous Guy Wilkes is hardly yet old enough ta 
 speak of with confidence as a sire ; but w^e all know he 
 was a good race-horse himself, and in Lillian Wilkes, 
 Eegal Wilkes and Sable Wilkes he has got youngsters 
 that mark him as probably one of the great coming 
 sires. In the opinion of many good judges he is the 
 best of all Wilkes horses. 
 
330 TRAINING thp: tkotting horse. 
 
 1 have had Httle opportunity to form an opinion 
 concerning the Blackbird family. The A. W. Rich- 
 monds were certainly hardy horses, bat there were not 
 many natural trotters among them, though those that 
 were good were real good. The famous mare Colum- 
 bine, by A. AY. Richmond, had considerable speed, and 
 being the dam of Anteeo, 2:1 6 J, and Antevolo, 2:1 9|^, 
 has the distinction of being the only mare that has 
 ever produced two stallions with records of 2:20 or 
 better. 
 
 This book would not seem complete without some 
 historical sketch of the American trotting-horse, for 
 the benefit of such of my readers as have not studied 
 the subject from a historical standpoint. But I have 
 traveled over a pretty long road, and, having endeav- 
 ored to the best of my ability to do my part, I will 
 hand over the history to my co-worker, Mr. Macleod, 
 and thanking all my readers for the compliment of 
 their attention, will, with the sincerest wishes for the 
 trotting-horse and all his friends, in the present and the 
 future, make my retiring bow. 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE TROTTING-HORSE HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 The trotting-horse may in all propriety be designated tlie national 
 horse of xlmerica, just as tlie tlioroughbred race-horse is the national 
 horse of Great Britain. In England the race-horse has reached his 
 highest development, and if the race-horses of other countries have 
 excelled, it has been in a great degree through the influence of liberal 
 drafts of English blood. In like manner, but in greater degree, the 
 trotting-horse is the national horse of America. He is distinctively 
 and peculiarly an American production. In no other land has the 
 trotter been generally bred; in no other land has he been brought to 
 high development as a breed, nor in any other land has he been 
 accepted and utilized as specially and superiorly adapted to the every- 
 day uses of the people. It is true that Russia has her Orloff trotters; 
 that writers speak of "Norfolk trotters" in England a century ago, 
 and that in France, Austria and Australia native horses race at the 
 trotting-gait, though they never approach the speed of the American 
 trotter. Though vastly superior to any trotter of foreign origin — or 
 perhaps it would be more correct to call him the only trotter of for- 
 eign origin — the OrlofE does not hold the place in the sporting and 
 business affairs of the Russian people held by the American trotting- 
 bred horse in this country. As to the "Norfolk trotters" of Eng- 
 land, the more that is learned of them the less certain can we be that 
 it is at all correct to regard them as a breed of trotters. It can of 
 course be shown that some of them had speed at the trot far superior 
 to that of the ordinary English horse; but this hardly entitles the 
 variety to be called a breed of trotters, but rather, to be classed as 
 suitable raw material from which, by selection and development 
 through a series of generations, a trottiug-breed might have been 
 evolved. 
 
832 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 It is to be remembered, in discu sing tlie trotter from the stand- 
 point of tlie average American farmer, tliat be is something more 
 than a racing-animal. He is the ideal horse of business and pleasure. 
 No driving-horse in the world rivals the trotting-bred horse, and they 
 range in size from the neatest style of light-harness animal to coach- 
 ing stature. The horse best adapted to the uses of the American 
 farmer, and the average American citizen who uses horses at all, is 
 the one that, with other essentials, combines quick, far-reaching, 
 well-balanced action with the endurance to sustain speed at high 
 rates and long distances. These, too, are the qualities primarily re- 
 quired in a horse for racing purposes, and thus the blood best for the 
 trotting-turf is the best blood from which to breed the horse of the 
 road, the park and the boulevard — the horse for the lightest single 
 driving equipage, for the family phaeton or for double harness. 
 Qualities required for these eminently proper purposes are produced 
 in the highest degree by the best trotting-blood. We can only deter- 
 mine what the best trotting-blood is by the measure of turf tests and 
 turf history. The fact should not be forgotten by those who may 
 have no interest in the American trotter in a turf sense that the value 
 of the light-harness horse rests in a large degree upon the purity and 
 quality of his blood, and that the worth of blood can only be deter- 
 mined by what it has accomplished under the turf test. 
 
 To persons accustomed to horses the differences of the various 
 gaits are familiar, but to fix them clearly in the mind is a first neces- 
 sity in studying the subject of breeding horses in which value 
 depends on speed at a certain gait. The walk, the trot or the pace, 
 and the gallop are gaits common to all breeds. The pace, or amble, 
 is a gait kindred to the trot and is a faster gait than the trot. The 
 order of movement in the trot is left fore foot, right hind foot, 
 right fore foot, left hind foot. Thus the left fore and right hind 
 foot move in unison, striking the ground together; then in turn 
 right fore foot and left hind foot complete the revolution, and, 
 therefore, the trot is properly called the "diagonal gait." The 
 pacer, like the trotter, moves two feet in the same direction simul- 
 taneously, then alternates with the other two, but in place of the 
 fore leg and the hind leg of opposite sides, he moves in unison 
 the fore and hind leg of one side, then the fore and hind leg of 
 the other side. Thus we call the pace the " lateral gait." The dif- 
 ference of the gaits is not great; the mechanism is practically the 
 same. The fact that the same animals pace and trot fast, that 
 
APPENDIX. 666 
 
 \)iicing parents beget trotting progeny, and vice versa, and that both 
 gaits frequently seem natural to the same animal demonstrates that 
 they are but variations of the same gait, occupying in the economy 
 of action a place between the walk and the gallop. The fast gallop, 
 •or run, is an entirely different gait; each leg acts, as it were, inde- 
 pendently. To begin the revolution the horse makes his bound with 
 the left fore foot the last to leave the ground; then for a moment 
 he is entirely in the air, with his four feet rather bunched, and 
 when he strikes ground again it is first with his right hind foot; then 
 ii moment more, and he is poised on the left fore foot, as at the 
 beginning of the revolution. It will be seen that this gait is wholly 
 -and radically different from the pace and trot; that the order of 
 action, and, necessarily, the mental organization governing the 
 method of locomotion and use of the limbs are different. Hence no 
 one horse is, or can be, possessed of great speed at the gallop, and 
 also great speed at the trot or pace. To possess great speed of 
 either one of these two orders he must inherit speed of that order. 
 
 Let us consider for a moment the original sources ot trotting 
 speed at home and abroad. 
 
 The Orloff trotters are the fastest of foreign breeds, and their 
 history is therefore of interest. In 1772, Count Alexis Orloff, a com- 
 mander in the Kussian fleet, obtained from a Turkish pasha a large 
 white Arab or Barb horse called Smetanka. From a Danish mare 
 Smetanka got Polkan, and from a Dutch mare Polkan got Barss, the 
 founder of the Orloff trotters. It will be noted that Barss was two 
 removes from the Oriental horse, and carried one-quarter of his 
 blood. The fact has been commented upon that Andrew Jackson, 
 the founder of our Clay family of trotters, was similarly bred ; 
 that is, he was two removes from the imported Barb, Grand Bashaw , 
 and, like Barss, out of a mare of unnamed blood. Count Orloff, it 
 appears, bred the Barss blood upon itself, and a writer, speaking 
 with the apparent assurance of one who knows, tells us that "the 
 race became a distinct type in about thirty years, and since that 
 period all attempts to improve the breed by fresh blood, whether 
 Arab, English, French or Dutch have failed." This can readily be 
 believed, for in our own horse history we find its corroboration and 
 analogy. Count Orloff died in 1808, but his stud was kept intact 
 until 1845, when it was broken up, the Russian Imperial Govern- 
 ment becoming the owner of the greater part. The blood and per- 
 formance of these horses have been carefully recorded. The 
 
d6i TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 liigliest rate of speed known to have been attained by an OrlofE was 
 in trotting three versts in five minutes. A verst being l,166f yards, 
 it will be seen that the performance was at the rate of a mile in 
 about 2:31i. Though some specimens of the Orloff trotter were 
 brought to the United States, meeting trotting-blood superior to 
 their own, they naturally failed to leave their mark on our breed. 
 
 The only reputed trotters mentioned by English writers were 
 certain horses located chiefly in the county of Norfolk. John Law- 
 rence, the earliest writer who mentions them, and a most entertain- 
 ing one, declares that ' ' the renowned Blank may be looked upon as 
 the father of trotters, since from his son Shales have proceeded the 
 best and greatest number of horses of that qualification." One of the 
 most famous of this tribe was Marshland Shales, a noted trotter that 
 sold for over 3,000 guineas at auction in 1812, when ten years old. 
 Records of the speed of these old English trotters are indefinite and 
 uncertain, but it is said that a mare named Phenomenon trotted in July, 
 1800, seventeen miles in 56:00, and in the same month repeated the 
 performance in 53:00. If this be true, this mare was the superior of 
 any American trotter, not of her day alone, but for many years after 
 her day. When we remember that this was at the rate of twenty 
 miles in 63:20, and that it was not until 1849 that Trustee, in America, 
 covered twenty miles in 59:35|, the conclusion is forced upon us that 
 the English had the material from which to build and evolve a great 
 breed of trotters. That they have nothing equal to Phenomenon in 
 these days is certain, and the cause of this retrogression is probably 
 that the trotting instinct and action in the horses of the olden time 
 has been submerged by repeated infusions of running-blood, just as 
 the ancient English pacer disappeared before the tides of Oriental 
 blood upon which the English thoroughbred is founded. The chief 
 and, indeed, only interest attaching to the Norfolk trotter is in the 
 fact thai it is practically certain that imported Bellfounder, the sire 
 of the dam of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, the greatest of all American 
 trotting progenitors, was one of this tribe. This horse was imported 
 from England in 1822, and was a powerful animal with gigantic 
 quarters, showy trotting action, and kindly disposition. Hamble- 
 tonian bore much resemblance to him in form and disposition. 
 
 So much for foreign trotters — now as to the American breed. The 
 imported horse whose blood played the most important part in found- 
 ing the trotting-breed in the United States, was the grey race-horse Mes- 
 senger. Ever since trotting-speed began to be considered a mark of 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 merit in tlie American horse, Messenger lias been admitted the chief 
 foundation on which the greatest trotting families have been built. But 
 just as the English race horse was founded on Oriental blood, and in 
 years of selection and development for a special purpose was bred to 
 a point of excellence unknown to the Oriental, so the most unpre- 
 tentious trotting-blood of to-day is superior to what the direct blood 
 of Messenger vvas. 
 
 The speed-transmitting power of Messenger, if it could be now 
 drawn upon directly, would be a weak and sluggish element in the 
 swift and intense speed currents of to-day. Still none the less did it 
 play its part as an original source. 
 
 Messenger was a grey horse foaled in 1780, bred by John Pratt of 
 Newmarket, England, and, according to the English Stud-Book, was 
 got by Mambrino, out of a daughter of Turf. Mambrino was by 
 Engineer, son of Sampson, by Blaze, by Flying Childers, son of the 
 Darley Arabian, a horse imported into England from the Levant, in 
 the reign of Queen Anne. Turf, the reputed sire of the dam of Mes- 
 senger, was by Matchem, son of Cade, by the Godolphin Arabian. 
 
 Messenger was a fair race-horse but was not strictly thoroughbred, 
 and when we reflect what he accomplished in the production of horses 
 of speed superior to any of their day at the trotting-gait, we are almost 
 irresistibly forced to the conclusion that in the streams of unknown 
 and uncertain blood remotely pouring into his inheritance some subtle 
 influence was carried that favored the trotting-gait. Indeed this is 
 not mere speculation, but history; for in Pick's Turf Eegister we find 
 this statement concerning Mambrino, the sire of Messenger: " Mam- 
 brino was likewise sire of a great many excellent hunters and strong, 
 useful road-horses. And it has been said that from his blood the 
 breed of horses for the coach was brought nearly to perfection." 
 
 Messenger was imported to Philadelphia in 1788; was kept in 
 Pennsylvania and New Jersey for the first six years of his life in 
 America, and was variously kept on Long Island, in Dutchess, West- 
 chester and Orange Counties, New York, and in New Jersey, until his 
 death near Oyster Bay, Long Island, in 1808. As to what degree of 
 trotting-action Messenger possessed we have no evidence; but this 
 much is certain, that he left progeny noted for their speed and endur- 
 ance on the road, and when in these descendants this road-gait was 
 developed and intensified by use — and they were mated with a view 
 to producing progeny superior in this special qualification to them- 
 selves — each generation naturally reached a higher plane of excel- 
 lence than its predecessors. 
 
336 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 Though in the second and third generations we find many descend- 
 ants of Messenger noted as trotters in their time, and figuring fre- 
 quently in the trotting genealogies of our day, it is incompatible with 
 the purposes and extent of this article to consider any but the chief 
 lines — those upon which the place in history of Messenger's blood as 
 a source of the greatest trotting-families chiefly depend. His three 
 most noted sons were Winthrop Messenger, Bishop's Hambletonian 
 and Mambrino. 
 
 Winthrop Messenger was taken to Maine in 1816, and was the 
 founder of that sterling race frequently spoken of as the Maine Mes- 
 sengers. He was a large, coarse horse, and was, I judge, very little 
 appreciated in his time. Among the best descendants was his son 
 Witherell Messenger, sire of Belle of Portland, 2:26. A daughter of 
 Witherell Messenger, mated with a son of his, produced the famous 
 Belle Strickland, 2:26. Six other daughters figure in the records as 
 the dams of trotters with records faster than 2:30. Fanny Pullen, 
 daughter of Winthrop Messenger, was a great trotter in her time, 
 and to imported Trustee she produced the famous Trustee that 
 trotted in 1848 twenty miles in 59:35^. He was the first horse to trot 
 twenty miles within the hour; to this day only six have done it, and 
 it is earnestly to be desired by every decent horseman that no horse 
 will ever again be subjected to this cruel exaction. 
 
 Bishop's Hambletonian, originally called Hambletonian, was a bay 
 horse, foaled 1804, bred by General Coles, at Dosoris, Long Island, 
 and was by imported Messenger, out of Pheasant, by imported Shark. 
 He was a race-horse quite nearly first class, especially at long dis- 
 tances, being successful at four miles. He was the best of all Mes- 
 senger's progeny as a race-horse, if we except Miller's Damsel, the 
 dam of American Eclipse. As a sire of trotters and trotting-progeni- 
 tors he won distinction. One of the most gifted of early turf writers, 
 who wrote with singular severity of this horse, conceded that "he 
 got some excellent roadsters, good trotters," but probably in so 
 speaking of the race-horse the writer meant to be anything but 
 complimentary. 
 
 Among the progeny of Bishop's Hambletonian, the most distin- 
 guished on the trotting-turf were the famous Whalebone, and 
 another early trotter of less note, Sir Peter. In 1830 and 1831 the 
 former ranked with the best of his day as a long distance trotter, and 
 has to his credit a performance of thirty-two miles in 1:58:05. Daugh- 
 ters of Bishop's Hambletonian produced Paul Fry and Topgallant, 
 
APPENDIX. 337 
 
 botli being by otlier sons of Messenger, and tliey were the first trot- 
 ters of their time. The latter trotted three miles in 8:11 in 1829. 
 The most noted progenitors of trotters left by Bishop's Hambletonian 
 were his sons, Harris' Hambletonian and Judson's Hambletonian. 
 The former sired Green Mountain Maid, 2:28^; Hero, pacing- record, 
 2:20i, and others of less note. A son of his sired Joker, 2:224, and 
 fix of his daughters have produced trotters. Maj. Edsall, the sire of 
 Robert McGregor, 2:17i^, was out of a daughter of Harris' Hamble- 
 tonian, as was also Curler, Stillson, and other sires of note yet living. 
 Judson's Hambletonian was less distinguished than Harris', but his 
 blood enters into several lines, the most prominent being through his 
 son, Andrus' Hambletonian, the sire of the trotting-mare. Princess, 
 that, after meeting the best campaigners of her day, from the Pacific 
 to the Atlantic, made still more firm her rank in the records as the 
 dam of Happy Medium, one of the greatest trotting- sires the world 
 has yet produced. 
 
 Coming to Mambrino, in a trotting-sense the greatest son of Mes- 
 senger, we reach the keystone of our subject, for from his loins came 
 two lines, the greatest in all trotting-history. One son of Mambrino 
 gave us the sterling Mambrino Chief family of trotters; another got 
 Rysdyk's Hambletonian, far and away the greatest of all trotting- 
 progenitors. The latter founded a trotting-family with which none 
 can compare, and to which none approach, and his blood has, it is 
 truly said, "raised the trotting-horse of America to the highest point 
 of excellence." Mambrino Paymaster, son of Mambrino, sired Mam- 
 brino Chief, the founder of the Mambrino trotting-family. 
 
 Mambrino was a bay horse, foaled 1806, bred by Lewis Morris, of 
 "Westchester, New York, and was by Messenger, out of a daughter 
 of imported Sour Crout. He never raced, and was so little valued that 
 history loses trace of him for part of his career. He died in Dutchess 
 County in or about 1831. He was a large, coar&e, leggy horse, with 
 Avell-defined trotting-action. 
 
 His son Abdallah was bred by John Treadwell, Salisbury, Long 
 Island, and was foaled in 1823, his dam being Amazonia, a trotting- 
 mare of unknown blood. He was an unattractive rat-tailed horse, of 
 vicious temper, and was little valued at any time. So lightly was 
 he thought of in Orange County, so a writer states, that he wintered 
 one year with no better shelter than the leeward side of a hay-stack 
 within sight of the spot where his son Hambletonian afterward lived 
 in honor. Finally cast off, he was given to a Long Island farmer. 
 
338 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 who sold liim to a fislierman for |35. The fislierman tried to harness 
 him, but age had not subdued his ungovernable spirit, and he re- 
 belled with such violence that he was turned out and diea of neglect 
 and famine on the sandy beach of Long Island. This was in 
 November, 1854. He had trotted a mile in 3:10, it is stated as a four- 
 year-old, and considering that he never was broken, that this was his 
 natural gait, it must be conceded he had some gift of speed. 
 
 Abdallah, as we have seen, got Rysdyk's Hambletonian out of the 
 Charles Kent mare, by imported Bellfounder, a reputed Norfolk 
 trotter, and the Kent mare's dam was One Eye, by Bishop's Hamble- 
 tonian, son of Messenger. Besides this greatest of trotting progeni- 
 tors, Abdallah got three trotters with records of 2:30 or better; many 
 of his daughters produced trotters, and sires and dams of trotters, 
 and others of his sons contributed in minor degrees to trotting- 
 lines, 
 
 Hambletonian was foaled in 1849, and was that year bought, with 
 his dam, by William M. Rysdyk, of Chester, Orange County, New York, 
 who owned him until he died. He was a bay horse of excellent 
 structure, but very plain, the large head and Roman face especially 
 rendering him objectionable to the eye of the lover of form. Mr. 
 Rysdyk never was anxious to show the speed of his horse, but that 
 he possessed fair trotting capacity abundant evidence from many wit- 
 nesses demonstrates. As a three-year-old he trotted in public in 2:48, 
 and, considering the time and circumstances, it marked him as a 
 great natural trotter. This world-famous progenitor died March 27, 
 .1876. 
 
 Nothing but the record-book of the trotting-turf — the Year-Book — 
 sutRces to adequately credit the Hambletonian family with all it has 
 accomplished on the trotting-turf, but to put the aggregate in brief 
 form I may say that forty of the sons and daughters of Hambletonian 
 have mile records ranging from the 2:17^ of Dexter to the 2:30 of 
 Lady Augusta; more than one hundred of Hambletonian's sons have 
 sired, in the aggregate, upward of 600 trotters, with records from 
 2:08f to 2:30, and about fifty of his daughters are the dams of trotters 
 ranging in speed from 2:12i: to 2:30. Hambletonian's sons are 
 Alexander's Abdallah, Aberdeen, Dictator, Edward Everett, Elec- 
 tioneer, Egbert, George Wilkes, Happy Medium, Harold, Jay Gould, 
 Masterlode, Messenger Duroc, Middletown, Sentinel, Strathmore, 
 Sweepstakes and Volunteer. These are not only great sires, but most 
 of them the heads of great sub-families. To follow these several 
 
APPENDIX. 339 
 
 lines down-^ard tlirougli successive generations with any degree of 
 fullness would be wearisome to the reader and would involve an 
 array of statistical tables not within the scope of this article. In 
 general terms, however, it may be stated that the Hambletonian sub- 
 families founded by Alexander's Abdallah, Electioneer, George 
 Wilkes, Happy Medium, Harold and Volunteer are the most highly 
 esteemed, because the most productive. Alexander's Abdallah got 
 Goldsmith Maid, 2:14, the greatest of campaigning mares, and he got 
 Almont, one of the greatest trotting-sires of any age, and Belmont, 
 little less noted, he having produced Nutwood, 2:18f, and Wedge- 
 wood, 2:19, both renowned on the turf and in the stud. George 
 Wilkes was a king on the turf in his day, and to-day holds higher 
 rank as a trotting progenitor than any other horse, living or dead, if 
 we except Hambletonian himself and his greatest son Electioneer. 
 
 Mambrino Chief, the head of the family that ranks next to that of 
 Hambletonian, was foaled in Dutchess County, Xew York, in 1844, and 
 was got by Mambrino Paymaster, son of Mambrino, from a mare 
 whose blood lines are lost in the "mists of the West." Mambrino 
 Chief was a fast trotter, and he got six trotters that made records of 
 2:30 or better, the most renowned being the famous Lady Thorn, 
 2:18^, and his sons and daughters are successful producers of trotters. 
 His best sons were Woodford Mambrino, 2:21;^, Clark Chief and 
 Mambrino Patchen, brother to Lady Thorn. The blood of Mam- 
 brino Chief, like that of the Clays, American Stars, and, it may be 
 said, all other trotting branches, has reached its greatest triumphs 
 when blended with that of Hambletonian and his sons and 
 daughters. 
 
 The Clay family of trotters was founded by Andrew Jackson, a 
 trotter of high class in his day. He was a son of Young Bashaw, a 
 Barb imported from Tripoli in 1820. Young Bashaw's dam was by 
 the race-horse First Con?ul, and his grandam was by Messenger. 
 The dam of Andrew Jackson was a mare of unknown blood that, it 
 is said, both trotted and paced. Andrew Jackson was foaled 1827, at 
 Salem, New York, and died at Knightstown, Pennsylvania, in 1843. 
 His most noted sons, as trotting-sires, were Henry Clay and Long 
 Island Black Hawk, and some of his get were creditable performers. 
 From Henry Clay we have the line of sires known through several 
 generations by the name of Cassius M. Clay, and two other sons of 
 Henry Clay, besides the original Cassius M. Clay, are known as trotters. 
 Cassius M. Clay, First, got George M. Patchen, 2:25|, the most 
 
3i0 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 famous horse of the Clav line and the founder of the Patchen 
 family. 
 
 Other noted sires of the Clav line are Cassius M, Clay, 22; his son 
 American Clay, Harry Clay, The Moor, and his son Sultan, etc. The 
 dam of Old Henry Clay was Surrey, a Canadian trotting-mare of 
 unknown blood. The whole Clay family has been charged with a 
 lack of stamina, a charge unduly pressed and exaggerated, and some 
 theorists imagine they find an explanation in the blood of Surrey. Be 
 this as it may, Clay blood, as an auxiliary to Hambletonian strains, 
 has produced the grandest results. Long Island Black Hawk was a 
 trotter and a sire of some merit. The best line from him is through 
 his grandson, the great Iowa horse, Green's Bashaw. The dam of 
 Green's Bashaw was a half-sister to Eysdyk's Hambletonian, she 
 being out of the Charles Kent mare by Bellfounder. 
 
 The next noted family of trotters, the Black Hawks, frequently 
 called Morgans, properly originated in Vermont Black Hawk, a horse 
 whose breeding has never been satisfactorily established, and is still 
 seriously questioned. The generally accepted version is that he was 
 got by Sherman Morgan, son of Justin Morgan, a pony-built horse 
 of unknown blood, from whose loins came an excellent class of road- 
 horses. The descendants of Justin Morgan had the showy, trappy 
 gait, conformation and other characteristics that find their counterpart 
 in certain Canadian families, and after duly weighing all the facts 
 presented as to his history, I think the most reasonable conclusion is 
 that he was of Canadian descent. 
 
 Vermont Black Hawk, the true progenitor of the so-called Morgan 
 family of trotters, was foaled in 1833, near Durham, New Hampshire, 
 and, as I have said, is represented to be by Sherman Morgan. He 
 was able to trot close to 2:40, but his reputed sire, if witnesses speak 
 truly, '' could not trot fast enough to go to mill." From Black Hawk 
 comes the Ethan Allen family, the Gen. Knox family, and other less 
 prominent lines. This trotting-line reaches its highest plane in the 
 family of Daniel Laml)ert, son of Ethan Allen. Daniel Lambert 
 must be ranked little inferior as a producer of speed to any horse that 
 ever lived. His family has undoubtedly suffered through injudicious 
 crosses. Had his blood been better reinforced with the Hambletonian 
 strain, supplying certain essentials which in itself is lacking, better 
 results would have been produced. It is important to note that 
 Daniel Lambert's dam was a daughter of Abdallah, the sire of Rys- 
 dyk's Hambletonian, and from this fact, coupled with the knowledge 
 
APPENDIX. 341 
 
 that lie is infinitely a better horse than his sire, and moreover, far 
 better than any horse of his family, the reader can draw his own 
 conclusions as to what influence his dam exerted in making him what 
 he is. 
 
 Now I have briefly outlined the four chief trotting-families — 
 the Hambletonians, the Mambrino Chiefs, the Clays and the Black 
 Hawks. Of course I have left innumerable minor lines untouched, 
 but I cannot well complete a sketch of the principal elements enter- 
 ing into the trotting-blood of to-day, without touching upon the 
 groups of families of pacing origin. 
 
 It is useless to discuss the origin of the pacing gait, for even as 
 horses galloped and as horses trotted, so horses paced at a period 
 " whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," On the 
 frieze of the Parthenon at Athens, the hand of the sculptor left time- 
 defying evidence that the pacer was known in Greece when she was 
 at the zenith of her glory, four hundred years before the Christian 
 era. The bronze horses of Saint Marks in Venice were cast (probably 
 about the beginning of the Christian era) in the pacing attitude. 
 During the Roman regime in Britain, we are told that the ambulatara 
 was "perhaps the universal and traveling pace of the Romans." 
 Fitz Stephen, a monk of Canterbury, wrting in the twelfth century, 
 tells us that at Smithfield, then a suburb of London, on Fridays 
 "shows were held of well-bred horses exposed for sale," and he adds 
 that it was "pleasant to see the nags, with their smooth and shiny 
 coats, smoothly ambling along." In 1558, Master Blundeville, one of 
 the early English writers on the horse, said : * ' Some men have a breed 
 of great horses, meete for the warre and to serve in the field; others 
 breed ambling horses of mean stature for the journey, and to travel 
 by the way. Some againe, a race of swift runners to run for wagers," 
 etc. In the reign of Charles II a great impetus was given to racing, 
 and continual importations of Eastern blood flowed into England. 
 The race-horse was forming as a breed, and took the first place in 
 the affections of Englishmen. Before the overwhelming tides of 
 desert blood the pacer gradually became extinct in England, until 
 John Lawrence tells us, in 1809, that "the people have lost all 
 remembrance of the amble." Indeed, it is the popular belief, 
 wholly untenable, however, that the pacer never was known to exist 
 in England. At the time of the founding of the American colonies, 
 the pacer was at least popular, if not esteemed patrician, as in the 
 early days ; and as the hor?'^ ^tock of the colonies came chiefly from 
 
342 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 England, I think it is beyond question tliat in these importations 
 came the ancestors of the American and Canadian pacer. The horses 
 of Rhode Island, known as '' Narragansett pacers," attained wide 
 celebrity in the seventeenth century, and the pacer was the race- 
 horse of the Rhode Islanders and Virginians of the olden times. They 
 were one of the great staple products of Rhode Island at that day, 
 and were largely exported. But in time, as the colonies grew in 
 wealth, the pacer was scattered and crowded out by larger, better 
 horses, a race more acceptably suiting the requirements of the people. 
 
 The names of the families of pacing origin most frequently en- 
 countered in the choice blood-lines of our modern trotters are the 
 Pilots, the Blue Bulls, the Columbuses, the Hiatogas, the Copper- 
 bottoms, etc. 
 
 The originator of the Pilot family was a black pacing-horse that, 
 according to tradition and tradition only, came from Canada, and was 
 probably foaled in 1826. He is famous as the sire of Pilot Jr., a grey 
 horse of much merit as a trotter and sire of trotters. The blood of 
 his dam is unknown. He evinced the rare power to get trotters out 
 of running-mares, and two of his fastest and best were out of mares 
 so bred. Though he sired nine trotters with records ranging from 
 2:24 to 2.30, and although some of his sons, notably Bayard and 
 Tattler, have proved successful sires, it is through the triumphs of 
 his daughters as brood-mares that he is most esteemed. They are 
 great speed-producers, among the produce of Pilot Jr. mares being 
 Maud S., 2.08f, and Jay-Eye- See, 2:10. 
 
 The marvelous pacing-horse Blue Bull is the phenomenon of trot- 
 ting-horse history. " A plebeian of the plebeians," got by a horse on 
 whom the atrocious name the family bears was bestowed as a mark 
 of opprobium, a cripple with not a line of distinguished blood to 
 lend him worth, from ignominious uses he rose in his day, by sheer 
 force of merit, to the front rank of trotting-sires. This remarkable 
 horse was foaled in Switzerland County, Indiana, in 1854, and died at 
 Rushville, Indiana, in 1880. He was wonderfully fast at the pacing- 
 gait, and even after being crippled could show great flights of speed. 
 For several recent years he has figured as the sire of more trotters 
 than any horse that ever lived, and it was only during 1887 that that 
 honor passed from him to George Wilkes. Over fifty of his get have 
 records mnging from 2 17i to 2:30, At present, while we can rank 
 Blue 3uil as a ^ery great sire of speed, I am not very sanguine that 
 the future will rank him a great progenitor. His own lack of breed- 
 
APPEXDIX. 343 
 
 ing and tlie lack of breeding in the mares to whicli lie was bred are 
 against the chances of his tribe taking high rank as a family. 
 
 Of the other pacing-families mentioned, the Columbuses are of 
 Canadian origin. The original Columbus came from a town in the 
 Province of Quebec "thirty or forty miles below Montreal." From 
 this same mysterious region came St. Lawrence, another Canadian 
 trotting-sire, and to the blood of that district is traced lines in many 
 of our famous trotters. 
 
 The Hiatoga family traces to early Virginia pacing ancestry. The 
 first noted horse of the line was taken to Fairfield County, Ohio, 
 about 1840, is known as Eice's Hiatoga, and from him the trotting- 
 family of this name is descended. The Copperbottoms, a noted 
 pacing- family that figure in many trotting pedigrees, were, like the 
 Columbuses, and probably the Pilots, it is believed, of Canadian 
 origin. The original was, according to the Trotting Register, taken 
 from Canada to Kentucky in 1812. 
 
 Another Canadian family that may or may not have been of kindred 
 blood to those just named, but a family far superior to any other of 
 Canadian origin, is that bearing the name of Royal George. The 
 founder of this line was Tippoo, a horse whose blood is unknown. 
 Tippoo's son. Black Warrior, got Royal George, and from this line a 
 really good trotting-family has been produced. 
 
 A tribe that has held a foremost place in turf history as a cross for 
 Hambletonian blood was that of American Star, a horse that 
 flourished previous to and in the early part of the career of Rysdyk's 
 Hambletonian. The pedigree of this horse is extremely doubtful, 
 but he was a trotter of some merit. From great numbers of his 
 daughters bred to Hambletonian, a goodly proportion of trotters came, 
 but the family lacked the capacity to transmit speed potently from 
 generation to generation, and its only standing, as a trotting line, 
 rests upon what Hambletonian accomplished from its daughters. 
 
 I have traced at some length the foundation lines of blood from 
 which the trotters of to-day are bred, and every well-bred trotter of 
 this generation traces directly to one or more of these families. 
 
 Just when racing, at either the running, the trotting, or the pacing 
 gait began in America is difficult to determine. It is reasonably cer- 
 tain that pacers were bred for speed and raced, notably in Rhode 
 Island, in the last decades of the seventeenth century. Pacing races 
 were held in and about Philadelphia, and were indulged in between 
 the gentry of Rhode Island and Virginia early in the eighteenth 
 
344 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 century. The first running races of wliicli we have any trace in 
 history were established by Governor Nicholls, and were held on 
 Hempstead Heath, Long Island. In 1665, he established a race-course 
 here, and ordered that a plate should be run for every year. (Be it 
 remembered that there were no thoroughbreds in those days; Fear- 
 naught and Jolly Eoger, the best of the early importations of English 
 thoroughbreds, did not see ximerica for nearly or quite a hundred 
 years after this, and they were among the first to come.) We find 
 that, in 1669, Governor Lovelace, who succeeded Governor Nicholls, 
 ordered races to be run on Hempstead Heath, but from that year to 
 1736 history, as to racing here, is silent. After this, racing at proba- 
 bly all gaits flourished until it seems to have become an evil. " There 
 was no end," says one historian, "to scrub and pace-racing in all 
 parts of the middle and southern colonies, and particularly on the 
 good and shaded roads of Manhattan Island." In 1774, the Conti- 
 nental Congress, by resolution, practically forbid horse-racing; and, 
 in 1748, the Legislature of New Jersey enacted a law restraining all 
 "running, pacing and trotting-races. " 
 
 The first recorded trotting performance in America was that of 
 Yankee, at Harlem, New York, July 6, 1806. The time of the mile was 
 2:50, but the track was not a full mile. At Philadelphia, August, 
 1810, a " Boston horse" trotted the mile to harness in 2:48i, but the 
 next best performance I find is in 1818, and then the time is only 
 3:00. To estimate the progress in speed made by the trotter in con- 
 sequence of his being bred for his special purpose we must approxi- 
 mate his extreme speed at the beginning of the founding of the 
 breed. If we take for granted that Yankee could trot in 3:00 in 
 1806, in contrast with the 2:08f of Maud S. in 1885, we have a dif- 
 ference of O-.oli in seventy-nine years. But it would be erroneous to 
 conclude that the extreme speed capacity of the trotter of to-day is 
 0:50 to the mile over that of the trotter of eighty years ago. 
 Improved tracks, appliances and methods have accomplished much. 
 If we could approximate just how much of the improvement in speed 
 is due to the improved tracks, appliances and methods, we could then 
 give to improved blood its share of credit. Guarding, then, against 
 the error of giving all the honor to superiority of blood, let us 
 note, step by step, the improvement in the extreme speed of the 
 trotter. 
 
 From the performances above noted I think it fair to approximate 
 the extreme speed of the trotter previous to 1820, at 2:50 to the mile. 
 
APPENDIX. 345 
 
 in harness. From that date recorded performances are plentiful, and 
 furnish us a safe guide. In 1829, Topgallant went three miles in 
 8:11, and this sustained speed at the rate of 2:43f is certainly better 
 than a mile in 2:40. In 1834, the black gelding, Edwin Forrest, 
 went a mile under the saddle in 2:3U; in 1839, Drover paced in 2 gs! 
 In 1844, Lady Suffolk trotted, under saddle, in 2 -261; in the same 
 year Unknown paced to wagon in 2^23. In the next decade Flora 
 Temple trotted in 2:19f, and in the next decade the marvelous pacing 
 mare Pocahontas went the mile, to harness, in 2:17^. The stars of 
 the following decade were Dexter, 2:17f, by Hambletonian, and Lady 
 Thorn, 2:18^, by Mambrino Chief. In the next period, Goldsmith 
 Maid, 2:14, by Alexander's Abdallah; Hopeful, 2:14f, by Godfrey 
 Patchen; Rarus, 2:13i, by Conklin's Abdallah, and Lula, 2:15, by 
 Alexander's Norman, represented the limits of trotting speed. St. 
 Julien, by Volunteer, trotted in 2:12^ in 1879,. but reached his limit, 
 2:lli, the following year. In 1884, Jay-Eye-See, by Dictator, full 
 brother to Dexter, astonished the world by trotting the mile in 2'10, 
 but the next year Maud S., by trotting in 2:08f , set a mark of speed 
 in harness not since approached. The pacer Johnston, by doing the 
 same task in 2:06i, demonstrated that the lateral gait is still the 
 fastest, and in the past year, 1889, the wonderful performances of the 
 three-year-old stars, Sunol, by Electioneer, and Axtell, by William 
 L., son of George Wilkes, show that progress does not lag. Sunol 
 trotted in 2:10^, and Axtell in 2:12. Besides these we have Guy, 
 trotting in 1889 in 2:10f, and Stamboul and Palo Alto each in 2:12^. 
 
 But we have been dealing in the performances of phenomenal ani- 
 mals. I will now, by taking the average of the five fastest perform- 
 ances for each decade since 1820, show what may fairly be called the 
 extreme speed of the trotting-horse, and his gradual gain in speed 
 since the beginning of fast trotting. 
 
 AVERAGE EXTREME SPEED. 
 
 1820 to 1830 2:42 
 
 1830 to 1840 ,.,,.., 2d5i 
 
 1840 to 18o0 .*...' 2 :28i 
 
 1850 to 1860 , !.*.!!.* 2:25 " 
 
 1860 to 1870 ,,.... 2:18f 
 
 1870 to 1880 ['..'.'.[ 2 :U 
 
 1880 to 1889 .,.,..[.,. 2l0i 
 
3i6 TRAINING THP: TROTTING HORSE. 
 
 The question as to what rate of speed the trotter will ultimately 
 attain lias been mucli discussed, and some liave assumed to fix the 
 limit. This is the merest speculation. A concensus of the public 
 opinion of horsemen in 1860 would have fixed the limit of the 
 trotter's speed at Flora Temple's mark. When Ethan Allen, har- 
 nessed with a runner, went a mile in 2:15 men thought it would 
 never be equaled, and the popular feeling certainly was that no horse 
 could do it alone. Only a little over twenty years ago it was timidly 
 that Hiram Woodruff ventured the forecast that Dexter would beat 
 Flora Temple's record, but to-day a gap of eleven seconds is open 
 between Flora Temple's record and that of Maud S., and upward of 
 one hundred and forty horses have surpassed Flora's performances. 
 In vi€w of the fact that the trotting-breed is yet in its infancy, and 
 that the average of extreme trotting speed is steadily advancing 
 toward two minutes, it would be rather absurd to venture to fix a 
 limit and a time when progress will suddenly cease. Of course im- 
 provement in speed becomes more difficult as the rate increases, but 
 it will be noticed that the advance toward the two-minute goal has 
 been just as great in the past decade as it was in the slower decade 
 that preceded it. Both trotters and pacers have actually trotted frac- 
 tions of miles at a two-minute gait, and I see no reason to doubt that 
 the trotter will yet be bred that can sustain that rate for a mile. But 
 no horse, tiioroughbred or trotter, can sustain for a mile the speed he 
 can show for a quarter of a mile, and when we see the two-minute 
 trotter he will be a horse capable of trotting a quarter of a mile in 
 from twenty-six to twenty-eight seconds. 
 
 Whatever may be the views of the reader as to the other infiiiences 
 of the trotting-track, he must admit that it has been the chief agency 
 in bringing the American light-harness horse to that point of excel- 
 lence which he has now reached. The love of the turf is deeply 
 rooted in America as well as in England, and I think this devotion to 
 "the sport of kings" is greatly due to the knowledge that the im- 
 provement of the higher kinds of horses depends mainly upon turf 
 tests. •' It is certain," says an old English writer, " that horse-racing 
 was the means of converting the old lumbering horse of this coujitry 
 into the elegant, graceful and pre-eminently fleet animal of . . . 
 the present century." 
 
 The value of the trotting-bred horse has been constantly on the 
 increase, until now the breeding business is a vast interest to which 
 unlimited capital is devoted. That the trotter should be in America a 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 more valued breed than bis brother aristocrat, the thoroughbred, is 
 natural. If the thoroughbred race-horse fails to develop the speed, 
 Btamiua and disposition necessary to success on the turf he is almost 
 worthless. He is a gooa racing-machine or he is nothing. But, on 
 the other hand, the trotter, even if he lacks the capacities to success 
 on the turf, is still, if bred wiselv, valuable. For the family car- 
 riage, for the park, his versatile gifts make him profitable, even 
 though he fails on the turf. Very seldom has a better test of the 
 relative value of trotting and running (or thoroughbred) horses been 
 offered than in October, 1886, when two great breeding-studs, one of 
 thoroughbred and the other of trotting-horses, were dispersed under 
 the hammer. At Louisville, Kentucky, the late John C. McFerran 
 had founded and established the Glenview Stud, which rose to the 
 front rank of "nurseries of trotters," At Jobstown, Xew Jersey, 
 Mr. Pierre Lorillard's Rancocas Stud of thoroughbreds, the choicest 
 in the land, is situated. Dispersal sales were held of these famous 
 collections within a few days of each other, and the following 
 averages were realized: 
 
 RANCOCAS THOROUGHBREDS. 
 
 Average for stallions $6,390.00 
 
 Average for brood-mares 1.422.27 
 
 Grand average for stallions and brood-mares. . . $1,721.62 
 
 GLENVIEW TROTTERS. 
 
 Average for stallions $12,780.00 
 
 Average for brood-mares 1,678.00 
 
 Grand average for stallions and brood-mares. . . $2,238.75 
 
 This was a fair test in 1886, but it does not represent the monetary 
 supremacy of the trotter now, for it is an absolutely safe assertion to 
 make that the value of choice trotting-blood has appreciated twenty- 
 five per cent, in the past three years. A trotting-stallion, Axtell, has 
 sold for $103,000; Bell Boy sold at auction for $51,000, and Stambou) 
 at private sale for $50,000. These prices for trotting-stallions repre- 
 sent the highest values ever reached by horses of any type in America. 
 
 In this sketch the writer has avoided minute treatment of either 
 families or individual horses, or, indeed, any of the details of the 
 subject, his purpose being merely to sketch in a general way, the 
 foundation, evolution, and progress of the trotting-bred horse. 
 
 Leslie E, Macleod. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abe Edgington. .96, 97, 98, 99, 
 
 100, 110, 111 
 
 Action 309 
 
 Advantages of Miniature Track, 
 
 209, 210 
 
 Albert France 160, 161 
 
 Alcazar 104 
 
 Alert 159 
 
 Amount of Work 222 
 
 Annette 310 
 
 Ansel 172 
 
 Anselma , 114 
 
 Arol 104 
 
 Astral 104 
 
 August Haverstick 104, 147 
 
 Axtell 163, 180 
 
 Azmoor 172 
 
 Babcock, F. G 79 
 
 Balancing and Checking. .217, 
 
 218, 219 
 
 Bay Rose 162 
 
 Beautiful Bells 122 
 
 Bell Boy 170 
 
 Belle Brasfield 110, 111 
 
 Belle Hamlin 103, 144, 145 
 
 Belmont Family 328 
 
 Benefit of Early Work. . .230, 
 
 231, 232, 233 
 
 Ben Hur 104 
 
 Bentonian 115 
 
 Bermuda 104, 170 
 
 Bet\yeen Heats 290, 291 
 
 Bitting 213 
 
 Blancbard, David H 46, 48 
 
 Blankets 261 
 
 Blistering. 302 
 
 Bodine..,, 55, 62, 63, 73, 74 
 
 Body- Wash 258 
 
 Bonlta. . . .,101, 102, 120, 121, 122 
 
 Boots 263, 264, 265 
 
 Bran 252 
 
 " Break and Catch " 235 
 
 Break-Do\vn 300 
 
 Breaking to Harness. .212, 213, 
 
 214, 215 
 
 Breeding 308 
 
 Broken-Down Trotters 299 
 
 Brood - Mares, Form, Action 
 
 and Size 310 
 
 Brown, Horace 160 
 
 Browne, IS. A 170 
 
 Brushing 224 
 
 Burr, Carl 113 
 
 Caesar 23 
 
 California Climate 254, 255 
 
 California Grasses 255, 256 
 
 Campaign of 1885 102 
 
 Campaign of 1886 103 
 
 Campaign of 1887 104 
 
 Capt. Smith 101, 111, 112 
 
 Carrie C 101, 102, 103, 172 
 
 Care with the Mouth 234, 236 
 
 Carlisle 104 
 
 Castalia 104, 169 
 
 Cavalry Service 20 
 
 Checking and Balancing.. 2 17, 218 
 
 Charley Hogan 160, 161 
 
 Chimes. . . .102, 103, 141, 170, 171 
 
 Clay (gelding) 101, 112 
 
 Clay (stallion) 227 
 
 Clay, C. F 159, 160 
 
 Cleveland, Great Race 54-72 
 
 Clifton Bell 104, 172 
 
 Climatic Conditions 238 
 
 Clingstone 151 
 
 Col. Bowers = 156 
 
 CoL Lewis 100 
 
 Com. Perry 45 
 
 Condition.*. 245, 246 
 
 Condition and Speed 283 
 
 Conley, Col. John W 148 
 
 ... 36 
 
350 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cooling Out 291 
 
 Cracked Food 252 
 
 Cracked Heels 302 
 
 Curb 301 
 
 Dame Winnie 154, 310 
 
 Daily Programme in Training. 257 
 
 Deck Wright 104, 159 
 
 Defiance 110 
 
 Del Mar 104 
 
 Del Sur 101, 111, 112 
 
 Dexter 63 
 
 Distemper 304 
 
 Doble, Budd. „..51, 52,55, 57, 
 61, 62, 63, 65, 68, 76, 109, 
 
 110, 160 
 
 Doc 108 
 
 Driving 294, 295, 296, 297 
 
 Driving with, a Watch 283 
 
 Eagle Bird. .103, 136, 137, 139, 
 
 140, 148, 149, 150 
 Earlv Experiences in Training, 
 
 30, 31 
 Earlv Training.. 182, 183, 184 
 
 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191 
 
 Easv Driving 235 
 
 Elaine 100, 112, 113, 114, 299 
 
 Electioneer.. 81, 91, 99, 100, 
 
 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 
 
 325, 326 
 
 Elvira 102, 167 
 
 Emaline 104 
 
 Endvmion 169 
 
 Express 104 
 
 Fannv Witherspoon 282 
 
 Fasig, W. B.,..., 171 
 
 Feeding.. 251 
 
 Feeding Colts 211 
 
 Feet, Care of. 268 
 
 First Lessons 201, 202 
 
 First Trotter 23 
 
 Fleetv Golddust 44 
 
 Flooring 250 
 
 Foal, Treatment of the 193 
 
 Foot, Anatomy of.. 272, 273, 274 
 
 Form 309 
 
 Fortuna 177 
 
 Frank Middleton. 156 
 
 Four-year-old Record Lowered, 
 
 122, 14a 
 
 Fred Crocker. 100, 115, 119 
 
 Fred Low 112 
 
 Fuller, George. .136, 148, 149, 
 
 150, 152, 306 
 Fugue 124,126, 168 
 
 Geneva 169 
 
 Gen. Benton. .81, 89, 91, 100, 326 
 
 Gen. Buford 68 
 
 George M. Patchen Jr 328 
 
 Gertrude Russell 172 
 
 Goldsmith Maid.. 53, 55, 56, 
 57, 62, 63, 64, 66, 69, 70, 71, 
 
 73, 75, 109, 296 
 
 Gould, Levi S .....173 
 
 Granby 139 
 
 Graves 101 
 
 Great Eastern 79 
 
 Great Race at Cleveland. . . .54, 73 
 Greenlander..l36, 139, 146. 147 
 Green, Chas. . . . 44, 55, 57, 61, 63' 
 Ground Food 252 
 
 Halter-Breaking 195 
 
 Hamlin, C. J 41, 171, 172 
 
 Harry C 169 
 
 Harry Roberts , . . .159, 160 
 
 Helen 168 
 
 Henry W. Genet 46, 47 
 
 Herzog 68- 
 
 Hickok, Orrin 178 
 
 Hinda Rose... 101, 102, 103, 
 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 141. 
 
 168, 226 
 
 Hoods 261 
 
 Hopeful 79 
 
 Horses in Motion 94, 95 
 
 Houston, J. B. o 171 
 
 Imitators 222 
 
 Injuries and Ailments 298 
 
 Iodine 300, 301 
 
 Jay-Eye-See .102 
 
 Joe Brown 40 
 
 Judge Fullerton..51, 52, 53, 
 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 63, 64, 66, 
 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 100, 110 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Johnston, Peter V 55 
 
 Judgment of Pace .• . . .295 
 
 Lady St. Clair 108 
 
 Latlirop, Ariel 92 
 
 Laving Up Heats . . .292, 293, 294 
 
 Leading 196 
 
 Leading with a Runner. .207, 208 
 
 Legs, Care of 259, 269, 270 
 
 Leg Wash 269 
 
 Libbv S 160 
 
 Light Shoes 230 
 
 Lillian Wilkes 179 
 
 Lily Stanley 163 
 
 Lorita 104 
 
 Lucille Golddust 55, 56, 57, 
 
 61, 63, 64, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74 
 Lucy Fry 103, 156, 157 
 
 Mabel A 159 
 
 Mace, Dan. . .46, 55, 60, 61, 63, 74 
 
 McKinney, H. D 139 
 
 Maiden • 104, 172 
 
 Maidof Clav 101, 111 
 
 Mambrino Gift. .40, 41, 46, 47, 50 
 
 Manzanita 102, 103, 104, 
 
 132, 133, 134, 135, 136. 137, 
 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 
 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 
 
 150, 151, 152, 153, 301 
 Manzanita-Patron Race. ..... .147 
 
 Margaret S 177, 179 
 
 Marvin, Chas., Biography. .17, 27 
 
 Marvin, Mrs. Charles 25 
 
 Maybell...., 134 
 
 Mav Flower, Dam of Manzan- 
 ita 133, 134, 310 
 
 Mav Flv, Dam of Bonita. .121, 310 
 
 Mav Queen 310 
 
 Miniature Track. .197,198,199,200 
 
 Miss Russell 104 
 
 Mohawk Chief 89, 90, 100 
 
 Moor, The 328 
 
 Muzzles 261 
 
 Natural Gift, The Trainer's.. .223 
 
 Nellie Benton 102 
 
 Nephew 327 
 
 Nettie 36, 50 
 
 Norlaine 114, 123, 165, 166 
 
 Nerval 166, 167 
 
 Nutbreaker 103, 104, 169, 170 
 
 Nutwood 101, 329 
 
 Occident 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 
 
 101, 108, 109, 110, 111, 299 
 Old Methods of Training. .183, 184 
 
 Overbreeding 317 
 
 Overdoing It 243 
 
 Overwork 217 
 
 Palo Alto, The Stallion. . . .102, 
 103, 104, 132, 141, 143, 154, 
 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 
 
 161, 162, 299 
 
 Palo Alto Svstem Outlined 96 
 
 Palo Alto Farm 81, 89, 92, 93 
 
 Patron 104, 126, 132, 137, 
 
 139, 140, 141, 147. 148, 149, 
 
 150, 151 
 
 Pedlar 104 
 
 Phil Sheridan 47 
 
 Piedmont 326 
 
 Pilot Temple 40 
 
 Preparation for Races.. 280, 281, 284 
 
 Pride 123 
 
 Princeton 103 
 
 Pulling and Side-Pulling 236 
 
 Quantrill's Raid 20 
 
 Quarter Crack 305 
 
 " Quitters " 137, 138, 139 
 
 Race-Day 288 
 
 Races, Management in. . . .289, 
 
 290, 291, 292, 293, 294 
 
 Racing in the Army 21, 22 
 
 Rarus 296 
 
 Reasons for Writing.- 29 
 
 Regulating Work 224 
 
 Rexford 102, 104, 172 
 
 Richmond, A. W 329 
 
 Rubbers 262 
 
 Rubbing and Cooling 258 
 
 Russell, Col. H. S. . . .39, 42, 
 
 43. 46, 48, 49, 55, 78, 79 
 
 Saint Bel. . . .102, 103, 104, 127, 
 
 128, 129, 130, 131, 141 
 Saint Clair 108, 120, 121, 327 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Saint Julien 152 
 
 Sale of Smuggler 39 
 
 Sallie Benton. . . .102, 126, 167, 
 
 168, 299 
 
 Sam Purdy 109 
 
 Santa Claus 113, 114 
 
 Severe Checks and Bits 281 
 
 Shoeing. . . 272, 273, 274, 275, 
 
 276, 277, 278 
 
 Sheppard, Dr 155 
 
 Siblev, J. C 129 
 
 Side-Pulling 236, 237 
 
 Size in Brood-Mares 310 
 
 Silverone 136, 137, 139, 140 
 
 Smuggler 32-80, 299 
 
 Soaking 270, 271 
 
 Sontag Mohawk 90, 310 
 
 So So 115 
 
 Speed, Speed, More Speed 225 
 
 Speed and Gameness 240 
 
 Sphinx 102, 103, 104, 169 
 
 Splan, John 282, 296 
 
 Splints.. 307 
 
 Sport 104 
 
 Sprung Tendons 307 
 
 Stables and Stabling 248 
 
 Stallion-Race at Boston 46 
 
 Stallion-Race at Buffalo 40 
 
 Stallion Record Lowered 53 
 
 Stallions, Form and Action in.. 310 
 
 Stamboul 163 
 
 Stanford, Hon. Leland. . . .81, 
 82, 83, 84, 85, 86. 87, 88. 89, 
 
 90, 96, 97, 98, 99, 110, 173 
 
 Stanford, Leland, Jr 102 
 
 "S. T. H." 61 
 
 Sweating and Scraping Colts. .221 
 
 Sweetheart 116 
 
 SudieD 123, 164 
 
 Suisun. ...103, 104, 141, 170, 171 
 Sunol ...104, 172, 173, 174, 
 
 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180 
 Sutherland & Benjamin 170 
 
 Tempest 104 
 
 Tender Feet 306 
 
 Thomas Jefferson.. 40, 42, 46, 47,50 
 Thoroughbreds at Palo Alto. . 92 
 Thoroughbred - Blood in the, 
 Trotter..... 311 
 
 Three-Year-Old Record Low- 
 ered 125, 125 
 
 Three- Year-Old, Working the, 
 
 239, 240, 241 
 
 Thrush 305 
 
 Toe- Weights. . . .226, 227, 266, 267 
 
 Tom Rogers 159 
 
 Tracks 279,280 
 
 Track- Work, Beginning.. 216, 220 
 Training for a Race.. 284, 285, 286 
 
 Training Paddock 197, 198, 
 
 199, 200 
 Trial Days for Brood-Mares, 
 
 315, 316 
 Trotting - Horse, History of 
 
 the 331 
 
 Time of Breeding 314, 315 
 
 Turner, J. E 171 
 
 Two - Year - Old Record Low- 
 ered.... 116, 117, 119, 177, 
 
 178, 180 
 
 Van Ness, Frank 160, 161 
 
 Ventilation and Light. . . . . .250 
 
 Vermont Abdallah. 47 
 
 Versailles . , 68 
 
 Vesolia 177 
 
 Victor 103, 156 
 
 Visit to Palo Alto 81 
 
 Wallace, J. H 173, 174 
 
 Water 253, 254 
 
 Waxana 174 
 
 Waxv 173 
 
 Weaving 193 
 
 Weight 228, 229 
 
 Wellesley Boy 45 
 
 Whip, Use and Abuse of 235 
 
 Whitestockings 21 
 
 Wildfiower....l01, 102, 118, 
 
 119, 120 
 
 Wild Rake 170 
 
 Wilton 103, 156, 157, 158 
 
 Wilson, W. H 79 
 
 Woodruff, Hiram 182, 183 
 
 Work, Amount of 242 
 
 Working in Paddock 204, 
 
 205, 206, 211 
 
 Yearling Record Lowered. . . .123 
 
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