138 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



hands of Gen. William Wadsworth, of Geneseo, 

 New York. Probably, if he had remained the 

 property of Patchen, he would have had a better 

 chance as a sire, for there were times during the 

 Wadsworth ownership, when this horse suffered 

 alternately from neglect and abuse. When Gen- 

 eral Wadsworth, wanted to buy the colt, he asked 

 Mr. Patchen to put a price on him. Mr. Patchen, 

 not anxious to sell, finally put on a price which he 

 thought prohibitive. " We will give the horse all 

 the water he can drink," he said to General 

 Wadsworth, " and then weigh him, and you may 

 give me one dollar a pound for him." General 

 Wadsworth promptly accepted, and the horse 

 weighing 1050 pounds, that fixed the price, which 

 was paid immediately, and the horse was sent at 

 once to Livingston County, New York. 



Once when General Wadsworth had a match 

 at mile heats, best three in five, he drove his horse 

 ninety-eight miles the day before the race, rather 

 than pay forfeit, and then won the race, one heat 

 being trotted in 2.35. This was in 1847. Consider 

 the clumsy shoes, the heavy sulkies, and other 

 impedimenta of that time, in comparison with 



