xlviii IN THE DARK. 



handled himself very well without anything in the shape of boots. 

 Since then I have driven him occasionally, putting on toe- weights of 

 three and three-fourth ounces, and quarter-boots, and restricting his 

 fast work to brushes through the stretch. The hind feet I keep 

 level by cutting the inside every few days to correspond with the 

 wear on the outer, and being careful to round the edges to guaixl 

 against breaking. When wearing tips in front and three-quarter 

 shoes behind, all the boots he required wei'e ankle and seal ping- 

 boots ; with the tips, toe- weights and quarter-boots, and hind feet 

 entirely bare, he requires shin boots with a speedy-cut attachment, 

 and these he marks with the outside of the fore-foot, and occasion- 

 ally brushes the outside of the quarter-boot with the inside of the 

 hind-foot. Now what is the cause of this going wider behind I 

 will not undertake to say with any degi^ee of authority. I think he 

 is showing more speed than he did previously, as he hauled the cart 

 through the stretch in thirty-eight seconds, and I only drove him at 

 his best for about two hundred yards. Last summer the toe-weights 

 were detrimental, retarding his speed in the few trials I gave them. 

 Now they are surely an advantage, or else it is the change in his 

 disposition that must be credited with the improvement. As he has 

 become less obstinate, more ready to go and a willingness to trot 

 from the start, there may be something more potent than the weights 

 to ascribe the change to. At all events, the data is presented, and 

 my readers can draw the inferences. 



