394 SMUGGLEK. 



and his unBteadines^, and we had much theorizing as to the cause of 

 this. We were told bv some, that he lacked in trottino- instinct, that 

 his brain was not level, and that he was of such an unsteady tempera- 

 ment as would forever stand in the way of great success as a trotter. 

 I never saw him until his appearance at the Cleveland meeting, in 

 1876, and had then no opportunity of inspecting him beyond two 

 or three minutes, except as he appeared in the race, and then only 

 from my seat in the grand stand. So far as mental traits could be 

 discerned he was the most tractable and steady horse, in brain 

 and temper, that ever appeared on a race course. He possesses 

 a nerve organism of the highest order. He entered into the 

 spirit of that contest as eagerly, and apparently with as intelli- 

 gent an appreciation of what was expected of him, and of what 

 was within his reach, and of the prodigious effort required to accom- 

 plish the task, as the skillful brain that directed him. He was as 

 thoroughly under control, as level and true, in all that could be 

 called trotting impulses, as any horse on that course. He seemed to 

 be the highest production, in the matter of equine superiority, that 

 had yet been achieved. His mental composition, his quality of muscle 

 and fibre, and his anatomical conformation, so far as I have described 

 it, seemed as near the highest quality attainable as any I have ever 

 seen. Nevertheless, I saw then enough in his form to satisfy my 

 mind that there was a cause for his unsteadiness that could not be 

 removed — ^that there was a lack of balance in his organism that might 

 be kept largely under control by skillful training and constant practice 

 in high condition, but that the cause could not be removed, and he 

 would, eventually, succumb to the disadvantages resulting from this 

 defective conformation — for such it is. The fault lies in the forelegs 

 and forequarters. He is too heavy in front. A perpendicular line, 

 drawn from the centre of the arm upward, leaves a large part of the 

 weight of carcass in front; he is very heavy in his shoulder, breast 

 and that part of the neck under the collar. Less weight in front and 

 more of it further back, and he would trot with an easier balance. 

 When forced to a break he would not gallop so high in the air; he could 

 skip along and regain his feet if his forelegs were of a proportion that 

 also came to his aid. But in his case there were two defects that 

 both worked in the same direction, and both had a tendency to make 

 him fly from the trot and go into the high gallop as the easiest way of 

 keeping his feet when going with the velocity he attains. This 

 weight of carcass in front was one; the other, and the great 



