Training the trotting horse: a natural and improved method of educating trotting colts and horses, based on twenty years experience

Front matter

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Chapter I

Wliy tlie Book is Written — A Profession Without Teacliers or Text-Books — Our System of Training Original — Order of tlie 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 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 JefEerson — Adverse Criticism of "The Western Hoosier" 33

Chapter III

Smuggler " Under the Weather" — A Famous Springfield Blacksmith Gets at Him — He Wins His First Race, Defeating W^ellesley Boy — George Wilkes' Compliment — He Wins the Great Stallion Race at Boston— Record 2:30—1875 An Off Year — Judge Fullerton Defeated and the Stallion Record Lowered to 2:17 44

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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

History 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 Ovitlined 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, ? -20- Fred Crocker, the First Palo Alto Record- Breaker 107

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Chapter IX

The Great Trio,^Vildflower, Bonita and Hinda Rose — Wildflower, the Two- Year-Old Champion of Her Day — Bonita a Great Two- Year-Old and Champion Four- Year-Old — Hinda Rose, Champion Yearling and Champion Three- Year-Old of Her Time — Her Great Campaign of 1883 — How She was Shod and Balanced — The Career of the Fastest Y'oung 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 Information — The Memorable Race for the Gasconade Stakes at the St. Louis Fair — Patron Wins Through Bad Starting — ■ A Great Stable in 1886 132

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 — Lowers the Four-Year-Old Record to 2:16^^ — Beats Eagle Bird Easily at Maysville — Defeats Greenlander at Lexington — The Four- Year-Old Record Lowered 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 143

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Chapter XII

Palo Alto, tlie Son of the Thorouglibred Mare Dame 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 Campaigners in Long Races — Only One Defeat and Eight Victories — Narrow Escape from Death by Fire — The Brilliant Campaign of 1889 — Invincible and Unbeaten—Record 2:12i 154

Chapter XIII

Sudie D. Takes the Yearling Honors to Kentucky for a Brief Season — Norlaine, the Champion Yearling — Her Training — She Breaks Sudie D.'s Record in 2:3U— Norval, 2:17i, Her Sire — Sallie Benton, 2:17|, the Champion Four- Year-Old of Her Day— Helen, 2:22|- Sphinx, 2:28— 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 Organization — 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 Performances—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 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 182

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