234 LIFK WITH THE TIIOTTKHS. 



have gained a reputation in that line. The gist of the letter 

 was that Harry Wilkes could easily beat Maud S., and it 

 closed by saying that he could trot a mile in 2:09 and "fin- 

 ish as calm as a summer morning." Mr. Gordon seemed to 

 think there must be something to this, but I told him it was 

 too calm to be true, and further said that if Clingstone was 

 himself he would beat Harry Wilkes sure. We had 

 eighteen days in which to get Clingstone ready for the race, 

 and the first time I worked him I was a little surprised and 

 disappointed. He seemed dull, sluggish, and without much 

 speed. After careful inquiry of Phil Biley, the boy who 

 rubbed him, I found that there had not been much done with 

 the horse in the way of speeding. He had been given a 

 good deal of long, slow work on the track, and long jogs on 

 a sandy road. He showed a disposition to want to lie down 

 and sleep a great deal in the daytime, which I think very 

 unnatural in a horse. I asked Phil how much he had been 

 feeding Clingstone, and he replied that the horse had been 

 getting about fifteen quarts a day. When I weighed the 

 oats I found they went about thirty -six j)ounds to the 

 bushel, and this proved to me that he was being a good deal 

 overfed. Clingstone always looked to me as though he car- 

 ried too much body for the size of the horse. Phil said they 

 had a great deal of trouble with him, and were obliged to 

 keep him muzzled in order to x^revent him eating his bed- 

 ding, etc. I made up my mind that if Clingstone's condi- 

 tion did not alter very jDerceptibly he would not cut much 

 of a figure in the race with Harry Wilkes. 



My first move was to call in Dr. Fair, the veterinary, to 

 whom I gave a description of the horse's condition as well 

 as I could see it. Dr. Fair decided to give Clingstone medi- 

 cine to act on his stomach, said the horse had been overfed, 

 and advised me to not let him have more than eight pounds 

 of oats a day, a moderate feed of hay, with plenty of grass 

 and occasionally a couple of tablespoonfuls of Glauber's salts 

 in his feed. I had myself often tried the plan of giving a 

 horse salts while in training, and always with the best 



