392 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 



shoes as it is for a boy to skate with dull skates. A horse 

 should always be shod with leather iu winter, or some other 

 arrangement made to keep him from balling iu the snow. I 

 have tried two j)lans with satisfaction. First, the leather 

 pads, and if you use patent leather you can oil it a little 

 and the snow can not possibly stick to it in the least. My 

 other plan is, buy some sheets of guttapercha at the rubber 

 factory, take a small quantity of it and put it in boiling 

 water and in that way soften it, and while in that condition 

 press it into the bottom of the horse's foot the same as you 

 would putty. It will harden very quickly and can be left 

 in as long as you like without injury. One thing to rec- 

 ommend this plan is that it can be done without removing 

 his shoes. In driving your horse on the snow, always remem- 

 ber to have him in good condition before you commence to 

 work him, as one hard drive when out of condition in the 

 deep footing is liable to sore his muscles and body so that 

 you will not have any pleasure with him the balance of the 

 winter. 



I think most of the people who interest themselves in 

 the thoroughbred horse do so not so much from a matter of 

 sentiment and love for the horse, as they do for gain. I 

 notice that when it comes to a matter of pleasure a great 

 many of them keep a trotter or two. McLaughlin, the crack 

 jockey, and Garrison, both keei3 private road establishments, 

 and while they are both small men they drive extremely 

 well, thus proving to me that it is not a matter of strength 

 in driving a trotter, but of talent. Some of the most noted 

 men now connected with the running turf have at some 

 time in their lives been connected Avith the trotting turf. 

 For instance, theDwyer brothers long before they interested 

 themselves in runners had trotters on the turf. John 

 Campbell made himself famous with pacers and trotters 

 before running reached anything like the i^roportions it has 

 reached now. Ed. Corrigan, who has taken a very active 

 part in running the last few years, used to train and own 

 trotters, and was one of the first men I ever saw drive Rob- 



