THE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 349 



Mr. Alley then had him home again, and drove him him- 

 self until the roads got bad. He still kept him at New 

 Rochelle, intending to drive him to a sleigh when the snow 

 fell ; but there was no sleighing that winter until February, 

 and the very first day that Dexter was hitched to a sleigh 

 an accident befel him. He has never had any vicious ways ; 

 but he has always been a high-strung, nervous, determined 

 horse. No sooner did he come with the sleigh on to a bare 

 piece of ground, than he made a jump (he jumps like a 

 cat), and the whiffletree broke, the neck-yoke came oif the 

 pole, and he got loose. Mr. Alley then sent him here, not 

 to me, but to Pelham John, who had him in hand two 

 months. 



That spring Mr. Alley moved to Islip, and drove Dexter 

 again. In June he had him to a Boston wagon with C 

 springs. It was only meant to carry one, but Mr. Alley 

 had a friend in with him. Dexter made a shying jump 

 away from some pea-straw that lay in a heap near the road, 

 the wagon slewed, the gentlemen fell out, Dexter ran home 

 to his stable. That fall, in the month of September, he 

 being then five years old, Dexter was sent to me to be 

 trained a little. After a short time, I sent him a trial to a 

 wagon in 2m. 42s. This was the first trial he ever had. In 

 a week after that we tried him a mile in harness, and he 

 went in 2m. 3ls. Here was indication of great speed 

 when it should be developed, in course of time ; and, as he 

 trotted the last halves of these miles as fast as he did the 

 first, I set him down at once as possessed of bottom worthy 

 of his breeding. Mr. Alley and I immediately concluded 

 that in Dexter we had got hold of an extraordinary young 

 horse. 



Soon after that he fell lame behind, as we supposed from 

 kicking in the stall. Ordinarily he was no kicker nor no 

 biter. As his lameness did not leave him, Mr. Alley took 

 him to Islip, and drove him a little ; but it was of no service, 

 and he was turned out for about six weeks. He was taken 



