LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 151 



Mm the final 250 yards in the last heat as fast as I could, 

 and thought he went about a 2:10 gait. This worlv seemed 

 to draw him up some, and also impaired his appetite. I had 

 found that in shipping Johnston about from one track to 

 another he became more nervous and irritable. If you left 

 him long in the stall he would tramp around like a wild 

 animal and get himself into a perspiration. I think he was 

 the most nervous horse that I ever saw. If anyone went 

 into the stall next to his, and commenced to hammer or 

 make anything like a loud noise, he would try to climb out 

 of the window. If a stranger steiDped into his stall he 

 would give a snort and back into the farthest corner. I 

 made up my mind that it would be a pretty hard job to 

 train that kind of a horse and make him beat 2:10. At this 

 time I changed his shoes, putting on a ten-ounce shoe in 

 front, with leather pads and a si^onge between the pads and 

 his foot. I did this for several reasons — first, I wanted to 

 lighten the weight on him, as I found that one ounce on a 

 pacer tells more than two on a trotter, and in shoeing him 

 with a very light shoe I was afraid that the track might 

 sting his feet and make him unsteady. 



When the day of his trial came I drove him in 2:11|. 

 This pleased me, as the day and track were not favorable for 

 fast time, and I did not drive him a real scorching mile. I 

 think he could have gone that day a mile in 2:10. From 

 there I took Johnston to Cleveland, and there his condition 

 manifestly imj)roved. The track and roads were fine, there 

 was x)lenty of grass, and the cool nights that are common on 

 the shores of Lake Erie seemed to brace the pacer up. 

 I gave him all he would eat, plenty of moderate exercise, 

 worked him out about twice a week a mile and repeat, in 

 about 2:20, and would brush him the last part of the mile. 

 About this time John Campbell, half owner of the pacer 

 Richball, that had a mark of 2:12|-, was very anxious to 

 make a race with him against Johnston. I talked the mat- 

 ter over with Mr. Woodmansee, Commodore Kittson's super- 

 intendent, and Dan said he would like to have me make 



