76 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
birth,” says the historian, “it was treated differently 
from any other animal on the place. As soon as it 
had been weaned, a suitable stall was built in a big 
barn for its accommodation, and from that day forth 
nothing was left undone to secure its comfort; and 
it was not long before Conklin and his colt were the 
talk of that end of Long Island. When the colt was 
three years old it was broken to harness, and during 
the following summer took part in a little race on 
the Island, winning the contest in about three min- 
utes. Then the old man was more certain than ever 
that he had the wonder of the world, and redoubled 
his efforts in the way of care, etc., had a special sta- 
ble built for the colt, with an office adjoining, where 
in winter, all seated around a big fire, he would 
entertain his neighbors, telling them what a great 
horse that colt was going to be... . For the next 
two years Mr. Conklin gave almost his entire time 
to the care and education of this colt. He bought 
himself a light wagon, got a set of double harness, 
secured an old runner, and as he was a very heavy 
man, and did not want to compel the colt to draw his 
weight, he hooked him by the side of the runner, 
and in this manner he received his first lessons in 
trotting.” } 
The extraordinary part of this story is that the colt, 
who was called Rarus, perfectly fulfilled the extrav- 
agant expectations of his breeder and owner, becoming 
the champion trotter of the world, and reducing the 
record in 1878 to 2.13}. Mr. Conklin brought him 
up well, for Splan, in whose hands Rarus passed the 
1 This quotation is from John Splan’s “ Life with the Trotters,” 
a very entertaining work. 
