TROTTING HORSES. 71 



him that here stood the future Lord of the Trotting 

 World." 



Goldsmith Maid, who reduced the mark from 2.17^ 

 to 2.14, had almost the appearance of a thoroughbred. 

 She was small, being 15] hands high ; her legs were 

 lean, flat, and wiry ; her head and neck were finely 

 cut, and indicative of good breeding; she was deep 

 through the lungs, but so slight in the waist as to 

 suggest a lack of constitution, although she was in 

 reality extremely tough and lasting ; her feet were 

 small and good. It was said of this famous mare 

 that " in her highest trotting form, drawn to an edge, 

 she is almost deer-like in appearance ; and when scor- 

 ing for a start, and alive to the emergencies of the 

 race, with her great flashing eye and dilated nostrils, 

 she is a perfect picture of animation and living beauty. 

 Her gait is long, bold, and sweeping, and she is, in the 

 hands of a driver acquainted with her peculiarities, a 

 perfect piece of machinery." 



Not a few horses like Goldsmith Maid have had this 

 peculiar thin-waisted appearance, and yet were pos- 

 sessed of much nervous strength and of great cour- 

 age. A noted trotter described by Hiram Woodruff 

 was of this character. '-Rattler," he says, "was a 

 bay gelding, fifteen hands high, a fast and stout horse, 

 though light- waisted and delicate in appetite and con- 

 stitution. He was a very long strider, and when going 

 his best it sometimes seemed as though he would part 

 in the middle." He was afterward taken to England, 

 where the climate suited him so well that he gained 

 in appetite, and consequently in health and strength. 



Goldsmith Maid, when six years of age, was sold by 

 her breeder for $260, having never been put to work 



