346 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS, 



strong breechiiig for tlie trotter, covered with sheepskin. 

 He had a wide girth made of strong canvas to go around 

 the horse under tlie harness saddle ; made it with buckles 

 and straps, so as to be able to girt the horse moderately 

 close vdih it ; had the saddle of his harness fastened to this 

 girth, and in that way he was able to girt it tight enough 

 to keep the harness in place. From the breeching he had 

 side straps to run up and buckle into the tug buckles. He 

 also had straps from the breeching runuj) and fastened into 

 the choke-strap that ran to the neckyoke from the girth. 

 To keep the breeching from getting up under the horse's 

 tail, -s^hicli it will often do when the animal is rigged in 

 that manner, he had a steel shank made out of steel wire 

 inserted in the hip-strax), which went through the back- 

 strap over the horse's hip, all the way, except a coux)le of 

 inches at each end where it buckled into the breeching. 

 This I find a very good invention to use on a single liarness 

 for the same purpose. By hooking a horse in this way all 

 the trotter had to do was to lay in the harness and keep 

 his legs going, letting the runner do all work. 



In later days we have had some XDhenomenally fast time 

 with j)acers and running mates, as well as with trotters. 

 With the pacers that way hitched the two star performers 

 have been Westmont and Minnie R. I have already told 

 what the mare did while she was in my stable, and it only 

 remains to say of Westmont that Johnny Cami;)bell, now on 

 the running turf, drove him a mile with running mate in 2:01|, 

 Peter Johnston taking him a little later and doing the dis- 

 tance in 2:02. Johnston came naturally by his ability as a 

 driver of trotters, having been educated to it while a boy in 

 ]Michigan, and since then has made a great reputation as a 

 successful handler of stallions, while the good work he did 

 with Bodine has been alluded to elsewhere. With trotters 

 and running mates John Murphy and James Golden have 

 been most successful of late years. For benefit of my read- 

 ers who do not know Jimmy Golden I wish to say that I 

 consider him well up in everything appertaining to a trot- 



