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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

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>

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

hJ

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cfi

m

a

ei

C

u

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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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

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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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