LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 31 



should drive the Chief as fast as I could. He said no, to 

 let him go easy the first half, and then send him the 

 last part of the mile. I started from the half-mile pole, 

 and Mr. Simmons stood by the stables. I was not 

 much of a judge of pace at that time, and when the 

 Chief and myself came along where Mr. Simmons was I 

 asked him if I was going fast enough. He told me to drive 

 along, and I set sail with the horse. When I finished the 

 mile and came back to the stable Mr. Simmons asked me 

 if I had driven the horse as fast as I could. I said no, that 

 I could drive him at least two seconds better. ' ' If you are 

 right about that he is a pretty fair horse," replied Mr. Sim- 

 mons, "because you went that mile in 2:23|^." After talking 

 with Mr. Simmons we concluded not to do anything more 

 that season in the way of training, but to bend all our 

 energies to the work of getting the Chief ' s feet in proper 

 condition, his mile in 2:23|^ having convinced us that he 

 was a sure enough trotter if his feet could be got right. 



We then took him to Mr. Simmons' j^rivate stable in 

 New York City, and began a course of treatment that im- 

 proved him to such an extent that he afterward ti'otted 

 and won some hard races, and for the benefit of those who 

 may have similar cases to deal with I want to tell what 

 we did with this horse. Mr. Simmons sent for Dr. Bryden, 

 a man who made a sx)ecialty of horses' feet. He consulted 

 with Mr. Simmons regarding tliQ sore feet, and also what 

 would be good treatment to relieve them. Dr. Bryden said 

 to take the shoes from the Chief, have his feet thoroughly 

 opened with a knife, and then poultice them every night 

 with boiled turnips and bran, put on warm. I think that 

 this \vill grow a horse's foot out better than any treatment 

 I have ever seen. A great many people say that it is un- 

 natural to poultice a horse' s feet. If the foot of a horse is 

 sound and all right I don' t know that there is any occasion 

 to poultice it, but if a trotter is crij)pled in his feet you are 

 obliged to do things to relieve him that might be considered 

 by some people unnatural. At all events we poulticed 



