I have often seen him, after a hard-fought five-heat 

 race, being cooled out when another race would be 

 called on, and he would commence to get restless and 

 uneasy and show by every action that he wanted to 

 get back to the track and take a hand in the excite- 

 ment. 



Hal Pointer was a difficult horse to make score 

 fast, and was always slow in starting away. He did 

 not seem to be imbued with the necessity of winning 

 the heat until the middle or latter part of the mile had 

 been reached, and then he would bend all his mighty 

 energies in an endeavor to first reach the wire, and 

 very few horses were ever able to withstand his 

 terrific rush. He never required, and would not 

 endure, punishment. Once when I was giving him a 

 workout he did something I did not like and I struck 

 him with the whip twice, and, in spite of everything I 

 could do, he ran three miles before I could stop him ; 

 I never tried it again, and in all the races I ever drove 

 him I never did anything more than to carry the whip 

 over him, and when I wanted some extra speed I 

 would shake it at him. I gave him a record of 2.04^, 

 which was the world's record at that time. 



It is a lamentable fact that many good horses after 

 their days of usefulness are over, and they are no longer 

 able to earn money for their owners, are, through 

 avarice or want of sympathy, either killed or compelled 

 to eke out a miserable existence doing drudgery for 

 strangers, when, by reason of their past services, they 

 should be tenderly cared for by those whom they have 

 faithfully served. I am glad to know that no hard- 

 ships of this kind are in store for grand old Hal 

 Pointer. I am giving him just enough light road work 

 for exercise, driving back and forth from Village Farm 



65 



