LIFE WITH THE TEOTTERS. 391 



tion and temperament. Then you want them gaited as near 

 alike as possible, and you will find that no horse that has 

 to wear weights and a great number of boots can by any 

 possibility be a first-class road horse. What you want is a 

 horse gaited so that he will balance himself. If either one 

 of theni x^nlls at all, they will be both disagreeable and use- 

 less as a team. I find that most horses when being used in 

 double harness need to be shod a little heavier than the 

 same horse would in single harness. This arises I think from 

 the fact that you do not have the same chance to balance 

 him and steady him with the bit that you would in single 

 harness. I think that as a rule road horses are checked 

 entirely too high. To place a horse's head in that position 

 and then ask him to pull 500 pounds in weight at a high 

 rate of speed is wrong. The horse is not only uncomfort- 

 able but at a great disadvantage. I notice that in drawing- 

 weight most horses hold their heads in a medium position. 

 I can not remember a horse now that carried his head ex- 

 tremely high and had to be checked in that manner, that I 

 ever considered a first-class road horse. I think that Aveight 

 has something to do with a road horse. Hoi3eful was not a 

 racy- looking horse. He is what we would call a "chunk," 

 had a short, thick neck, strong shoulders, plenty of body, 

 short, strong back, very stout legs, and here too ' he was 

 short. By the record he was the best weight puller we ever 

 had, he having made the best record to wagon. I don't 

 wish to say by this that I think there was no other horse 

 could have done the same thing or gone better, for I am sure 

 that there was. Dexter was a wonderful horse for his size to 

 draw weight, which is not only proven by his races to wagon, 

 but also by his being driven to a road w^agon in 2:21|- by his 

 owner, which is a performance I think never equaled by any 

 other horse. 



In slioeing a horse to drive in the snow, you will find 

 that at all times he wants to be shod sharp. If the calks 

 get dull and he slips a little, he soon becomes discouraged 

 and will not try. It is just as hard for a horse to go in dull 



