84 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



life and energy. " When lie went back to the stall 

 after his wonderful mile at Stockton," relates a writer 

 in the San Francisco Examiner, " Arion was as full 

 of play as any frisky young thing just out of the 

 paddock. He had just trotted a mile that would kill 

 many great horses, but he caught hold of the groom's 

 coat with his teeth, shook it as a terrier does a rat, 

 and nosed around the pockets for sugar, of which 

 he is inordinately fond. Assuring himself that the 

 groom was out of the way, he let fly with one hind 

 foot, and struck the wall behind him with a bang like 

 the report of a pistol ; then he looked around to see 

 how big a hole he had made in the wood." Arion, it 

 is said, enjoys admiration, and likes to be looked at, 

 talked to, and photographed. " He loves everybody. 

 There is not a streak of meanness in his composition. 

 He would not harm a mangy dog that came into his 

 stall to sleep." He has " large, soft eyes." 



In the course of this brief survey it must have 

 occurred to the reader that there is one respect in 

 which all the most distinguished trotters have resem- 

 bled one another, and that is in their nervous energy, 

 their high spirit and courage. That latent flame 

 which the Washington Hollow horseman detected in 

 the eye of Flora Temple came out afterward in the 

 resolute bursts of speed with which she finished her 

 fastest miles. Dexter was represented as being " chock 

 full of fire and deviltry," and capable of jumping like 

 a cat. Hiram Woodruff, as we have seen, spoke of his 

 " wicked head." Goldsmith Maid had a strong will 

 of her own, and the excitement which she betrayed on 

 the eve of a race showed how fine was her organiza- 

 tion. " She would stand quietly enough," says her 



