TROTTING RACES. 91 



The famous Smuggler, a noble brown stallion with 

 a white blaze in his face, a heavy and powerful an- 

 imal, was originally a pacer, and in his races he wore 

 shoes on his fore feet weighing two pounds each; 

 in fact, he is said to have carried at one time three 

 pounds on each fore foot. His great strength and 

 courage enabled him to bear this burden, but event- 

 ually it disabled him. Smuggler was once sold for 

 $40,000, the highest price at that time ever paid 

 in this country for a horse; and though he was 

 capable of very high speed, he is regarded as on 

 the whole a failure. If he made a single break in 

 a race, he lost so much ground that he was nearly 

 sure to be distanced. This peculiarity is explained 

 by Mr. H. T. Helm, who says that Smuggler's stride 

 with his fore legs is not long enough to correspond 

 with the tremendous stroke of his hind legs, and 

 consequently that he is apt to lose his balance. If 

 he does so, one of two things must occur: he will 

 either fall headlong and prostrate on the ground, — 

 which of course does not happen, — or he will throw 

 out both fore feet together ; in other words, gallop 

 instead of trot. But Smuggler gallops very high in 

 front, and therefore it is not easy for him to change 

 quickly back again from the gallop to the trot : his 

 speed has to be very much reduced before he can 

 pass from one gait to the other, and in this way he 

 loses so much ground that the other horses in the 

 race are very likely to distance him. That a horse 

 so severely handicapped by heavy shoes could trot 

 such races as Smuggler did is a good illustration 

 of equine strength and pluck. 



The last factor in the development of the trotting 



