12 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
horse has speed enough to make a racer, but lacks the 
requisite courage and determination. “She was tried 
a good mare, but never won anything,” is a phrase 
of frequent occurrence in William Day’s reminiscen- 
ces. ‘There are cases in which thousands of dollars 
have been spent for fast trotters that were afterward 
sold for a few hundreds, simply because they were too 
sluggish and faint-hearted to keep on after they be- 
came tired. On the other hand, almost all the fastest 
horses, the “record breakers,” whether among racers 
or trotters, have been remarkable for their nervous, 
“high-strung” constitutions. The trainer of Sunol 
(the California filly, who has a three-year-old record 
of 2.10, and who at four years of age trotted a mile 
upon a kiteshaped track in 2.081), after describing 
the great difficulty that he experienced in breaking 
her, says: “Not that she was actually vicious, but 
she had and has a will, a temper, and a determina- 
tion of her own, and at that time every individual 
hair seemed to contain a nerve.” 
Even among the best breeds of cart horses, such as 
the Percherons and Clydesdales, the same quality is 
not altogether wanting, and in general it distinguishes, 
as I have said, the horse from all other dumb animals. 
It follows, of course, that the horse is the most irri- 
table of creatures, the most easily worried and dis- 
tressed. Little things, such as no other animal, man 
included perhaps, would mind, annoy and exasperate 
him. If, for example, you notice a row of express- 
wagon horses backed up against the curbstone, you 
will easily perceive that every horse there has his 
temper permanently ruined by the frequent passing 
of vehicles before him, thus obliging him to turn 
