Harness Equipment Inquiry

[kernel]

Several summers ago I bought 2 year's supply of past performances at Yonkers from Sports Eye with the hope of going through them and listing positive/negative equipment changes by trainer. I soon wanted to strangle myself with hopples. The flats have blinkers, tongue ties, bridles, shoes-but is there any handicapping literature on the subject of equipment at the harness races?

[sonnyp]

if its still in print, "the care and training of the harness horse" has always been the bible. its very outdated but the basics are the same and still apply. contact the united states trotting assoc., columbus, ohio....also on the net...im sure they can help.

if u have questions about certain pieces of equipment or equipment changes i should be able to help.
good luck, very interesting topic.

[wilderness]

Most trainers don't understand how to effectively use equipment in Standardbreds!
How could that lack of understanding be translated to handicapping?

Shorten-lengthen hopples, spreaders, closed-open (or other bridle changes), many types of bit changes, shoe changes (including toe weight) and on and on.

Boots of all types in a variety of locations.
Martingales.
Bike changes in shaft length.

[DeanT]

If I was checking stats on this I would ignore most cursory things and concentrate only on blind, blinkers and open.

[LottaKash]

Closed to open bridle is good for an improving horse being sent to the front tonite, and my favorite is Hopples lengthened and inch or two on an improving horse.......Other than that, never bothered much......

best,

[Sea Biscuit]

Several summers ago I bought 2 year's supply of past performances at Yonkers from Sports Eye with the hope of going through them and listing positive/negative equipment changes by trainer. I soon wanted to strangle myself with hopples. The flats have blinkers, tongue ties, bridles, shoes-but is there any handicapping literature on the subject of equipment at the harness races?

Hey Kernel:

Even though I thought I would never recommend this book to anyone, but in all fairness I have say that Tuttle in his book Win Every Race does has a full chapter on the subject of equipment changes and their significance.

If you are into equipment changes, perhaps you will find this book interesting, otherwise its not something I would recommend to a handicapper.

Sea Biscuit

[wilderness]

if its still in print, "the care and training of the harness horse" has always been the bible. its very outdated but the basics are the same and still apply. contact the united states trotting assoc., columbus, ohio....also on the net...im sure they can help.

if u have questions about certain pieces of equipment or equipment changes i should be able to help.
good luck, very interesting topic.

Excellent suggestion.

The Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer published by the United States Trotting Association.

There were two versions, 1968 & 1996.
The earlier version is a classic with chapters by HOF Horseman most of which are deceased.

Jim Harrison mastered the structure of the 1968 book (sometimes found on eBay and other online used bookstores) and did the opening chapter. Mr. Harrison was a master writer.

http://www.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=28843&z=1

The 1996 version is more inline with today's methods and offers insights from present day HOF inductee's.

http://shop.ustrotting.com/thenewcareandtrainingofthetrotterandpacer-usorders.aspx

[LottaKash]

The Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer published by the United States Trotting Association.

There were two versions, 1968 & 1996.
The earlier version is a classic with chapters by HOF Horseman most of which are deceased.

I bought the 68' volume, new....Where has all the time gone ??

best,

[wilderness]

I bought the 68' volume, new....Where has all the time gone ??

best,

The old version still a good read and no matter how many times ya been through the book, you still catch something you missed :)

The section on building the foundation miles in jogging, which was omitted from the 1996 version is something ever gambler should be REQUIRED to read.

[thespaah]

Several summers ago I bought 2 year's supply of past performances at Yonkers from Sports Eye with the hope of going through them and listing positive/negative equipment changes by trainer. I soon wanted to strangle myself with hopples. The flats have blinkers, tongue ties, bridles, shoes-but is there any handicapping literature on the subject of equipment at the harness races?Things I look for as a negative are the addition of head poles. trainers add these when a horse is lugging in or out. Horses will shy away from discomfort. Head poles are used to straighten out the horse. If a horse is excperieicing discomfort it usually indicates a negative soundness issue. Now that's not to say that the addition of head poles is always a negative. I have seen and bet on horses with head poles on BOTH sides. There are some horses that in full stride cannot for the life of them go in a straight line.
Trainers will add or delete hoods or ear plugs. Spooky horsess or ones that are distracted by sounds are equipped with these devices. A horse adding a hood or earplugs is a plus for me. Especially if it's first time.

[wilderness]

Although the following is not about equipment, the article is on-topic, even though it uses a two-mile harness race as an example.

I especially like the part, "my father used to say"

From the November 19, 1952 Harness Horse magazine.

THE VET SPEAKS

By DR. WILLIAM H. DUNN, V. S.

Warm Up Time

I was at Roosevelt several months ago to see the big two-mile trot. It was a great race to see and I enjoyed it very much. Of course the unfortunate withdrawal of Pronto Don took a lot off the class of the race but death is no respector of persons or horses. Star's Pride and Florican would have looked good in this field but they were not entered. With this trio absent, the field that went postward were an evenly matched lot and the public thought so because they bet every horse in the race and there wasn't a long shot in the field.

The return of Chris "Spencer to top form was an interest*ing thing to see. He sure was a well conditioned horse that night. To bring him up to form to beat a field of such class at two miles was a swell job of conditioning. He had everything he needed when he needed it most. The way he came home when Haughton asked him the question was a sight to behold. The old boy just poured it on in the stretch with no sign of distress whatsoever.

While watching the various methods of warming up the horses for the two‑mile heat, it was interesting to speculate on the effect of the various methods used., Some of the horses were given a once over lightly while others were drilled to a fare thee well. This opens the question of just how much warming up a horse needs for such a race. I would say that there is less need for a hard drill before a two miler than a single mile. Analyzing this particular race they went the first mile in 2:10 and the last in 2:06 so we see that the horse needs reserve energy more than anything to come the last mile.

In the never ending problem of balancing the supply of fuel to the muscle, and the removal of the waste products from the muscle, the horse could be said to be well warmed up when these two functions are exactly balanced. In the process of driving the stiffness and soreness out of the muscles, which are the result of previous exercise, there is reached a point where we stop removing waste and start to accumulate more trouble. Drilling a stiff horse before a race to warm it out of a latent soreness, is indeed a ticklish procedure. There is a point that must be recognized as the peak of muscle output. Beyond this point the law of diminishing return steps in. If you can drive soreness out you most assuredly can drive it in.

The benefits of warming up can just as well be gotten from slow work as from fast. Speed that tends to fatigue a horse has no scientific basis in the warm up procedure, even though it has such great influence on the mutuel price.

This was very evident the other night. As any horse that was given a fast bit of work there w as a general rush to the windows to get a bet down. What fast warm ups are supposed to do for a horse, I wouldn't know, except to tire him. If they are used to condition a horse then that is something else again.

As my father used to say—"The day of the race is no time to train a horse. If 'you have him fit and ready all you have to do is spit on his tail and he will go. If he isn't ready there isn't much you can do about it except touch him up a bit on the tongue." Since the boys in the spit box take a very dim view of the touching of the tongue, it is ever more important to bring the horses up to the race in real fit condition. Drilling them for three hours before the race will not make up for work they should have had beforehand.

I have often been asked if I didn't think that some horses leave their race on the warm up track. In all too many cases I believe this to be true. This is particularly true of horses on the raceways that go in dashes. They are trained the same as Grand Circuit horses that race in heats all the time. It just doesn't take two to three hours to get a horse fit to go a mile. It gets "curiouser and curiouser" as Alice said in Wonderland. We have the queer situation where the running horse trainer will think nothing of sending out his good horse to go with no warm up at all, while the Standardbred trainer uses three hours to warm up. In my book both extremes are wrong. Runners are broken down repeatedly due to inadequate preparation while many Standardbreds tail off miserably due to too much drilling. There is a happy medium and with a little research it can be definitely demonstrated.