LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 165 



with a horse that had never shown any speed at any gait. 

 I kept increasing the weight on her hind shoes, and decreas- 

 ing the weight in front, and, after about thirty days of that 

 sort of training, I paced her a mile in 2:30. At this time 

 she had on about fifteen ounces behind and not more than 

 twelve ounces in front. She handled her forward feet all 

 right when I began to work hei', but her hind feet would 

 get out of place occasionally, and she would make a break. 

 That was the reason I kept the weight on her behind. After 

 training her thirty days more with the weight in this man- 

 ner, she got to be so steady and true that I drove her a mile 

 in 2:25, and she could have gone some faster. I gradually 

 reduced the weight on her hind feet; the only change I made 

 on lier forward feet was that I shod her with leather pads 

 and a sponge of oakum. I then took her, with the balance 

 of the stable, to Indiana, and paced her several races, all of 

 which she won with ease. 



From there we went to Chicago and Michigan, and she 

 never lost a race. At Buifalo, during the summer meeting, 

 Minnie R. i)aced the race of her life. That year " Knap " 

 McCarthy had Jewett. He had been a trotter, with a dis- 

 position to pace, and " Knap," seeing Minnie R. going so 

 well, concluded to try it on Jewett. The repoi't had got out 

 that he had shown him a very fast trial, which I think must 

 have been true, as, when the bell tapped for the race at 

 Buffalo, " Knap '' had Jewett in the race, and Peter Schatz, 

 his owner, was there, with all his relatives from over the 

 line, to bet their money on him. I thought Minnie R. ought 

 to beat him pretty handily, as I had rated him to go a mile 

 in about 2: 18, but, for fear that they might have a "sleeper," 

 I concluded to lay up a heat or two. It was very fortunate 

 for us that we adopted that plan, as I now think that, if we 

 had gone out in the first heat, we would have been beaten in 

 the race. When the judges said ''go" in the fii\st heat, 

 Jewett went out in front, and was never headed, winning in 

 the fast time of 2:16^, and Peter Schatz was corresptmdingly 

 happy. In the next heat, Jewett led from start to finish, in 



