THE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 367 



dred yards in a mere dog-trot. The day was not favora- 

 ble ; and the second was his great heat. This shows the 

 bottom of the horse. If the first heat had been a slow one, 

 we might l.ave looked for a better ; but it was fast, much 

 faster than any body expected. And then to go and beat 

 that by four seconds and a half, with such a start as he took 

 and such an outcome, was truly wonderful. 



While Dexter had been achieving the great feats which I 

 have related, Mr. Alley was living at Astoria, and the horse 

 was taken there to be wintered. A little paddook and box 

 were constructed for him on the sheltered slope of a hill 

 looking towards the south-east, and thus protected from the 

 north-west winds. Peter Conover went with him to look 

 after him ; and there he ran out of doors all winter, without 

 clothing. He had a good many visitors there ; and gentle- 

 men from the West often went up to Astoria with Capt. 

 Longstreet, on the Sylvan Stream, for the express purpose of 

 seeing him. Towards the close of that winter, the horse 

 being then eight years old, Mr. Foster, who was always one 

 " of his greatest admirers, came to me, and told me that he 

 thought he had grown since the fall. He seemed to think 

 it almost impossible that it should be so ; but I told him I 

 had no doubt his idea was correct. 



It is never to be forgotten, in connection with this horse, 

 that he was not subject to the early-forcing process. He 

 had no oats to eat until he was four years and a month ol4 ; 

 and he did not trot untU he was six. Now, I have heard 

 some express the opinion that he would have been a better 

 horse if he had had grain early. For my part, I can hardly 

 conceive of a better trotting-horse than Dexter ; for he has 

 all the qualities and gifts that a good trotter can have. He 

 is amazingly fast, and he is as stout as he is fast ; he is 

 good under the saddle, good in harness, and good to wagon; 

 he is good on a hard track, and good in the mud ; finally, he 

 is a grand campaigner. His last race in this hard season 

 just gone by was, as we have seen, his best. Such another 



