412 LIFK WITH THE TROTTERS. 



the spring of 1868 and carried out my system to the 

 letter. 



I looked after the matter personally, and the only point 

 I had in view was to keep her on a trot. Of course this 

 meant that I must go slow with her, just as it does with any 

 horse that is inclined to be rough-gaited, because the instant 

 they are driven a little faster than they can trot easily they 

 will begin to roll in their gait and eventuallj^ hitch and adopt 

 that scrambling motion behind that is so distasteful to the 

 admirers of a pure trotting gait. I continued this for some 

 time, and after awhile I could see that the Maid l^egan to go 

 a little faster. She Avas not a mare that at any time in her 

 career made speed early in the spring, or in fact had much 

 speed at any time when she was out of condition, and of 

 course at this time when her best gait was only a little better 

 than 2:30 she was going very slowly indeed under the system 

 I adopted. Bur, as I said before, there was finally an im- 

 provement and when the warm weather came and I could 

 send her along some I was greatly pleased to find that she 

 had lost much of the disposition to become rough in her gait 

 and hitch Avhen asked to go as well as she could. I shall 

 not attempt at this time to give any detailed account of the 

 work done that season, contentingmyself by saying that I won 

 eight good races Avith her against American Girl, General 

 Butler, Rhode Island, George Wilkes, George Palmer, and 

 other famous horses of that day, reducing her record to 

 2:22J, and demonstrating that she was not out-classed at all 

 when going against the best ones in the land. 



I have been exjilicit in what I had to say about this matter 

 of Goldsmith Maid's gait because it seems to me to contain 

 a valuable lesson to any man who is learning the business of 

 training horses, or Avho may at any time have occasion to 

 look after- a fast trotter. Everybody at all posted in matters 

 pertaining to the trotting turf knows that in these days a 

 rough-gaited horse stands very little chance of Avinning in 

 his class, and although there are a good many men aa^io will 

 contend that no animal can be broken of this habit, I think 



