CHAPTER VII. 



STRANGE INCIDENT IN HORSE TRAINING — THE TEN- 

 NESSEE PACING-BRED PACER. 



I ONCE had a very remarkable incident in horse train- 

 ing occur. A gentleman by the name of Brown, 

 living near Lynnville, Tenn., owned the bay mare 

 Ella Brown. About the first of March, 1890, he sent her 

 to me to be trained. She had the reputation of being 

 quite speedy and much was expected of her. I worked 

 faithfully with her from the time she was first brought 

 to me until about the first of June, and the best I 

 could do with her was to drive her a mile in about 

 2.45 ; and as that was not fast enough to compete with 

 horses she would have to meet, I wrote Mr. Brown 

 that I did not think she had speed enough to make a 

 first-class race horse, and I would not advise him to 

 spend any more money on her, and that he had 

 better come and take her home, and if he would let me 

 know when he would come I would save her and work 

 her in his presence. He notified me of the time he 

 would call, and at the appointed time he came, and I had 

 her hitched up, shod, harnessed and hitched in exactly 

 the same way she had always been during the several 

 months I had been training her. After warming her 

 up I commenced to show her speed to Mr. Brown. She 

 seemed to take in the situation at once and instead of 

 pacing along at a 2.45 gait, as she had always done 

 before, she just let herself out and paced a quarter at 

 a 2.20 gait ; and when she showed this burst of speed 



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