THE TROTTING HORSE OF AMERICA. 70 



shoves riglit smart trotting action. It is believed that he 

 can go a four-minute clip, and that without the least educa- 

 tion. I attribute it solely to the Messenger blood there is 

 iu him, Eclipse having been his grandsire. 



It is a circumstance not to be passed over without notice, 

 that a number of our fast trotters were pacers first, and 

 were trained as such before they struck a trot. After some 

 time they changed their gait, and not only went fust, but 

 were squai 3 and steady as well. Pelham was a notable 

 instance of this. He came off the ice from Maine, where 

 he had been a very fust pacer ; and, in 184G, I got him in 

 Boston. From the time he struck a trot he improved right 

 along, and soon became an uncommon good one. Horace 

 Jones had him afterwards, and then Whelan. He made 

 the best time on record, in harness, in a race against 

 Lady Suffolk and Jack Rossiter, — 2.28. The mare won it, 

 but Pelham got two heats. He was a square-gaited horse as 

 a trotter. Pilot was another pacer that quitted it for a bet- 

 ter gait, and went like a humming-bird as a trotter. When 

 he first struck a trot it surprised his owner ; but he improved 

 so rapidly, that, before very long, he trotted in 2.28^ at 

 Providence. 



Another very remarkable instance was that of Cayuga 

 Chief. This horse was not only a pacer, but single-footed 

 when at a moderate rate, like the old Narraganset pacers. 

 He belonged to a livery-stable keeper at Worcester, Mass., 

 and was let out as a hack. His easy gait and fine appear- 

 ance — he was brown, with a blaze in the face, and very 

 handsome — made him a great favorite with the ladies; 

 and, wlienev'ir there was a riding-party, he was spoken for 

 beforehand l)y some of the belles. He paced fast wlien 

 called upon; but, carrying a lady, he always went ambling 

 off single-footed, in the easiest and most gentle style. He 

 was at this until nearly the fall of 1839, and then the ladies 

 of Worcester had to say good-by to their favorite as a sad- 

 dle-horse. One day he struck a trot, and went very fast 



