LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 263 



idea of how I trained and drove liim. In making a stndy 

 of Protection the first few weeks he was in my hands I found 

 him what I considered to be an overly large horse to be a 

 successful campaigner, and a perfect glutton to eat ; having 

 in the stable more the manner of an ox than a race-horse. 

 His feet were very large; long at the toes, and with a low 

 heel both in front and behind. In gait he went very low to 

 the ground, and in jogging him on the road he would contin- 

 ually stub his toes and knuckle over both in front and behind. 

 He had always been driven with a heavy shoe and toe- weight. 

 I had seen him get a good deal of what I call rough training, 

 and as that treatment had not made him a race-horse I con- 

 cluded to try the opposite plan. I had at this time a young 

 friend of the name of Harry Devereux, and for an amateur 

 I considered him to have as man j^ good ideas about training 

 as anyone I knew of. I knew Harry had seen a great deal 

 of Protection and without his suspecting what I was really 

 doing I interviewed him on the subject, got all the points 

 from him that I could as to who had driven the horse, what 

 kind of Avork they had given him, and how well he had ever 

 seen him go, and when he told me that he had seen his 

 owner, Mr. William Fasig, whose rei)utation as a horse 

 driver is not quite so good as it is as secretary of a race- 

 track, drive Protection to a road wagon a full mile in 2 :26|, 

 I was sure he would certainly go in 2:20 or better in harness 

 and so told Harry. He did not agree with me on this j)oint, 

 but nevertheless told me that he Avould be willing to help me 

 train to the best of his ability, which he did and I was af- 

 terward glad to thank him for his services. The first order 

 in connection with Protection's training was to put him on 

 a light diet, about one half the feed that he had been in the 

 habit of having. I had his shoes taken oif all around and 

 found his feet in rather a neglected condition. One of them 

 had a slight quarter crack and the rest were more or less 

 dry and hard. He had at one time suffered severely from 

 the distemper, and I think that, as is often the case, it had 

 settled in his feet, and had it been winter, I would have treated 



