LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 157 



bulldog determination as any horse I ever saw in a race, 

 would give it up, when short of work, at the slightest notice. 

 I have been told that game chickens will run away quicker 

 when out of condition than a dunghill bird will, and I believe 

 it is the same with horses. It is ni}^ idea that the more 

 finely organized and bettei* bred a horse is the more liable 

 he is to quit when out of (condition. I have been asked 

 whether I thought a horse that could go in 2:06J was not 

 more finely organized, and more delicate in his nervous sys- 

 tem than one that could not go a mile better than 2:40. I 

 answer yes. I think a high nervous organization is what 

 makes a horse go a mile in 2: 06 J, and I think, further, that 

 it requires more skill to drive a horse a mile in 2:10, pro- 

 vided that is his limit, than a liorse that can trot in 2:30, 

 pi'ovided that is his limit. My friend, William McGuigan, 

 explains this by saying that there is as much difference 

 between training a 2:10 and a 2:20 horse as there is between 

 sharpening a razor and an ordinary jack-knife; that any boy 

 can sharpen a jack-knife, but that it takes a barber to keep 

 a razor in oider. 



I Lave already alluded to some iDeculiarities of Johnston 

 in the stable, and will finish by stating w^hat boots, etc., he 

 wore. I used on him a very light knee boot, and an extra 

 light i)air of quarter boots, with shin boots in front, and 

 nothing behind. I drove him with an overcheck, and open 

 bridle, and a snaffle bit, covered with rubber. I covered his 

 bit because of Johnston's having such a tender mouth that 

 he seemed afraid to take liold of the bit enough to steady 

 himself. I used long martingales on him, and checked him 

 moderately. In his trial he pulled a forty-two pound sulky, 

 and I weighed 153 pounds. Johnston was a very steady 

 horse. I think he never broke with me over tljree or four 

 times in his work or racing. After everything was just 

 right, track, etc., it was a good, safe bet that he Avould never 

 make a break. 



The day that I drove Johnston to his recoi-d at Chicago, 

 was a sort of gala occasion in my career as a driver and 



