348 LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEES. 



which he did, and after giving her a short breathing spell 

 Mr. Bonner told him that if he would ride the mare a mile 

 and then guess within two seconds of how well he had ridden 

 her he would make him a present. He rode her the mile, 

 and if I was sure of seeing a horse as well ridden again I 

 would go a long way to see the two perform. After riding 

 the mile Murphy came back and told Mr, Bonner within a 

 second of how well he had gone, which shows that he not only 

 rode the mare well, but was also a first-class judge of pace. 

 Muri)hy has one grand thing in his character that some other 

 good drivers lack, a reputation for honesty that a king might 

 be proud of. 



In training a pair of horses to go a race in double harness, 

 do not think that you are obliged to give them all their work 

 together. You may have two horses whose disposition, 

 temper, etc., are wholly at variance. They may require 

 entirel}^ different work to prepare them for the same race. 

 If that is the case and you give them all their work together 

 one or the other of them is bound to be out of condition on 

 the day of the race. The first thing to do is to decide how 

 you will drive them — that is which horse you will i^ut on 

 the ofl' side and which on the nigh side. Everything else 

 being equal, always put the fastest horse on the off side. In 

 hitching a joair of horses I would always use a breeching. 

 If they make a break you will find that you are in better 

 shape to catch them with the breeching than without. If 

 you have one horse in the team that you think from lack of 

 education or otherwise ought to be worked in double harness, 

 and his mate does not need that sort of work, get some extra 

 horse for a mate and work him in that way. If your trotting 

 horse is of a mild disposition you will find that a running 

 horse is very good to use in this case. The only thing to be 

 careful of in using a runner is not to go too fast for the trotter. 

 Work them well within themselves at all times. I think it 

 is a good idea to jog the team often together and give them 

 all their slow work that way, provided they work without 

 friction. In getting a team rea<iy for a race I would suggest 



