Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-20
HORSES WITH WHIMs

At Benning. on Saturday last, the trainer
of a very well-known race horse strolled
with friend toward the stable in which
the horse was quartered to make final
inspection of him before the arrival Of the
saddling hour. The horse was to go that
afternoon in the stake race.
The trainer had almost reached the sta
| BILE when he came to sudden stop and be-
gan to run his hands through his pockets
His search was obviously in vain.
Wait here for me minute he said to
| his friend, and he logged over to the cook
house of the apprentice boys and assistant
trainers. He rejoined his companion pres
emily and the walk toward the stall Of the
wellknown horse was resumed.
II forgot sugar for that fellow" ex-
planned the trainer. exhibiting a handful
! of lump sugar which he took from a pocket
| of his sack coat. And it's the good thing
1 remembered it in time. II I'd gone into
his stall without it he'd have pouted on me
for the rest of the day, and he wouldn't
race anywhere near to his edge to-day,
either. Not that he's sulker at all, but
his feelings would be bruised, and when
the feelings OF sensitive chap Likes that
are hurt it takes lot of the spine and stiff
fleming out of him. Now, you watch the
actions of that boy when 1 go into his
STALL
When the trainer entered the stall the
horse looked pleased all over. He began
to paw the ground as the trainer ap
preached. and a sort of subdued whinny
! came from his throat. The trainer pressed
his face against the horses lowered fore
head and winked at his friend. There was
no lump of sugar in his hands. But the
horse clearly showed by his actions that
sugar was the thing he was looking for.
md in hna ri.,0 too hare
seemed to be perfect confidence that he
wasn't going to, be disappointed. The
trainer, however, made no move toward
producing sugar Then the horse raised
his head and looked the trainer square in
the eye with as plain an expression of in
curry, almost. a human countenance
could assume. The trainer pretended not
to catch the meaning of that expression of
inquiry Then the horse lowered his head
and began to sniff and muzzie the train
ers right hand coat pocket. The trainer
laughed. and pulled out handful of the
sugar Jumps and began to feed them to the
horse one by one.
If / hadn't remembered and gone back
fer that sugar before making my final call
upon this boy before the race said the
trainer, anectiGnately Str0king the beauti
full arched neck of the thoroughbr ned
have gone into the doldrums for good
twenty-foGr hours. and thered have been
no way for me to square 1t with him.
either. You See. he always knows when
one of his racing days has arrived, and he
knows that the only feeding he gets on
the morning of his race days is the sugar
l fetch to him when l make my final sur
vey of him before boots and saddles. 1 for
got the sugar on the morning OF the first
day-the opening day. in the stake race-he
ran here, and l honestly believe that that's
what caused him to lose the race. He was
broken hearted. When l shook my head to
let him know that ! didn't have any sugar
with me that morning. he Staked me to the
NEST reproachful lock you ever saw. Then
hn cT,rf e
sigh like a youngster disappointed of an
expected toy. and turned his head away
from me-. Wouldn't have anything more to
do with me. No truck whatever OF any
kind with me. got some sugar then and
offered il to him. but lie wouldn't even
smell of it, Just plainly as if he had
spoken the words. he meant to let me know
that. as long as l had forgotten to fetch
the sugar in the first place. ii was all off so
far as he was concerned.
We'll. although he's naturally a placid.
easy going horse right up to the drop of
the flag in race. he began TO get
Gus as a cat over that sugar incident and
/; fre!ted and careered around in his stall like
young one tied to the bedpost for pl.nish-
ment. Ply saddiing time he was in Iather
over the remembrance of the slight He
didn't siiik in his race-he never s,iiks But
he had just fTetted the edge off himself
and that being the case he ran back in the
ruck. Now. today I've remembered the
sugar. You see how pleased and affection
ate he is. just you keep an eye on that
fellow, therefore, when, the barrier goes up
in his race today"
1t is to be stated in this place that the
horse won his race that day without
much bother from any of the eontenGers
You often hear the remark" vert on
the trainer. that thoroughbred horses are
as capricious as women I'd rather put it
| that they're as whimsical as children. Their
! likes and Gisl:kes formed all of a sud-
Gen like childs. and as often as not a
thoroughbred horse has the same sort of
instructive guidance behind his whimsical
notion that the child has. For example, a
naturally sneaky. treaclerOus man has no
more chance to gain the good will of a
highly-hred race horse than he has to get
the confidence of a child. There's some
thing in both the horse and the child that
tells them that the bad-hearted man isn't
the goods That something. l suppose, is
pure instinct. But horses of high caiiber
have an even wider range of whims. That S
why every good race horse has to be studied
by his trainer.
Not many years ago 1 trained a great
race horse-cne of the greatest of his time
| who was as calm and self-contained as
! priest except for just one thing. He wouldn't
| tolerate the sight of a man with beard
| 1t was pure nervousness, of course. but you
can't tell me that that horse didn't get that
aversion somewhere. We hear about chill
| dren being marked with some trait or
| characteristic from their mothers Don't
you believe that that great old horse I'm
| talking about wasn't marked in the same
way that children are, before his BIRTH with
! that hatred for bearded men? believe lust
as thoroughly as l believe that I'm wearing,
hat that that horses dam had been abused
| by some fellow with a beard. and that she
transmitted her fear of and hatred for
! bearded men to the son. who made her
name glorious a stud matron. 1t may
| not be scientific and all that, but know a
! lot of plain old facts about horses and.
things that not included in any system
of science
! Early environment has pretty near as
| much to do with the formation of a horses
| character as of a child's. Southern bred
| race horses for example. devoted to
| their black caretakers, and when they are
| switched to the stables of owners whose
| stable employees all white men the
| horses suffer severely from Ionesomeness
! for the negroes for long time and they
| never become entirely used to the white
| stable hands. On the other hand race
| horses ed up north In New York or Penn
| sylvania or New Jersey for instance and
| reared under the care of white men, have
| an intense aversion for the black men,
/ l remember the case of a fine handicap
, horse that had a sensational record as a
| two-y ear-od and three-year-od on the
| southern tracks before he changed hands
| and was taken to the New York tracks to
| show his mettle. His new owner had ire
mendous expectations of the colt but from