THE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERIGA. 79 



shows rigLt smart trotting action. It is believed that he 

 can go a four-minute clip, and that without the least educa- 

 tion. I attribute it solely to the Messenger blood there is 

 in him, Eclipse having been his grandsire. 



It is a circumstance not to be passed over without notice, 

 that a number of our fast trotters were pacers first, and 

 were trained as such before they struck a trot. After some 

 time they changed their gait, and not only went fast, but 

 were squars and steady as weU. Pelham was a notable 

 instance of this. He came off the ice from Maine, wher? 

 he had been a very fast pacer ; and, in 1846, 1 got him ia 

 Boston. From the time he struck a trot he improved right 

 along, and soon became an uncommon good one. Horace 

 Jones had him afterwards, and then Whelan. He made 

 the best time on record, in harness, in a race against 

 Lady Suffolk and Jack Kossiter, — 2.28. The mare won it, 

 but Pelham got two heats. He was a square-gaited horse as 

 a trotter. PUot was another pacer that quitted it for a bet- 

 ter gait, and went like a humming-bird as a trotter. When 

 1 he first struck a trot it surprised his owner ; but he improved 

 80 rapidly, that, before very long, he trotted in 2.28^ at 

 Providence. 



Another very remarkable instance was that of Caynga 

 Chief. This horse was not only a pacer, but single-footed 

 when at a moderate rate, like the old Narraganset pacers. 

 He belonged to a livery-stable keeper at Worcester, Mass., 

 and was let out as a hack. His easy gait and fine appear- 

 ance — he was brown, with a blaze in the face, and very 

 handsome — made him a great favorite with the ladies; 

 and, whenever there was a riding-party, he was spoken for 

 beforehand by some of the beUes. He paced fast when 

 called upon ; but, carrying a lady, he always went ambling 

 off single-footed, in the easiest and most gentle style. He 

 was at this until nearly the fall of 1839, and then the ladies 

 of Worcester had to say good-by to their favorite as a sad-^ 

 die-horse. One day he struck a trot, and went very fast 



