LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 199 



him in the following manner, and for the following reasons: 

 He was inclined to be rather a sluggish horse when worked 

 alone and would not try to extend hims(;lf . I did not like 

 to work another horse with him, as that ke]3t him pulling 

 all the time. I confined his work to very little walking, 

 short jogs, repeating him slow miles, and brushing him the 

 last part of the mile as fast as I could and keep him on a 

 trot. In getting ready for the Bonesetter match I drove him 

 a mile in about 2:30 tv^enty minutes before the race, letting 

 him come the last half in about 1:10. Some of the critics said 

 I drove him a great deal too fast, but I had my watch in my 

 hand, and I knew just what I was doing, and as I wanted 

 to be ready to go with Bonesetter as fast as he could make 

 me right from the start, I knew that it would take good 

 sharp work to have Ford well opened out for his effort. 

 Everyone supi30sed that Bonesetter would be able to out- 

 speed Ford, and the. only hox3e I would have of beating ]iim 

 would be to force the pace and beat him at the finish, but I 

 felt differently, I wanted to out-trot him right from the 

 start, thinking that was the surest way to get the money. 

 Whether or not my theories were right. Ford won the race. 

 After that I trotted Ford several races through the 

 Michigan circuit with more or less success, and in this cam- 

 paign came across General Turner and his wonderful horse 

 Hannis. I had seen enough of Hannis and Turner to know 

 that they were about as formidable a pair as a man would 

 want to meet with a horse and sulky, and made up my mind 

 that no matter what else happened I would keep my eye 

 on them, whether they won or not. I did so, and for my 

 pains had the satisfaction of learning enough to save my 

 money. I had noticed this about Turner's horses, — that in 

 the spring he works them just enough to see whether they 

 are good or not, then he starts them out on an easy cam- 

 paign, or, in other words, instead of training them gets them 

 out and trots them in public races, and lets them trot them- 

 selves into condition. When he gets them to what he thinks 

 is an edge, he makes a raid on the pool-box, and in this 



