EVERY MAN HIS OWN TRAINER. 33 



King to bring him to me on his hind legs and then he would 

 be fit to trot for a man's life. When he went out of my hands 

 he was worked entirely different. In his repeats they gave 

 them to him faster than I did. As the boys term it they tried 

 to break the watch and consequently he was no good. He 

 got low in flesh and spirits and could not trot better than to 

 2:27 or 2:28. During a trip down the Grand Circuit in 1877 

 he came into my hands again at Buffalo. I commenced my 

 usual way of training him, that is to say, let him alone, for 

 about a week or ten days ; did not drive him a mile better 

 than 2:40 until two days before I started him at Utica, which 

 was the second week after he came into my hands again. He 

 trotted in a race there against Rarus, 2 :13|-, and Lucille Gold- 

 dust, 2:16^, and trotted in 2:17|, timed separate. I kept him 

 six weeks. He gained sixt^-five pounds of flesh in that time 

 and got a record of 2:15|- to saddle, the fastest to date. He 

 now went out of my hands and in two or three weeks could 

 not trot a mile in 2:25 to saddle. 



Bonner was very different. He was a glutton ; would eat 

 thi-ee pecks of oats a day if given to him and twenty-five 

 pounds of hay ; consequently I had to keep at him all the 

 time, that is to say, give him plenty of strong work and sweat 

 his neck often to keep the flesh down. I had to put on a 

 muzzle as soon as he had eat his feed or he would fill him- 

 self so full that he could not go a bit. He was a good race 

 horse and dead game. Should there come a few days of bad 

 weather just before a race so I could not give him plenty of 

 work, empty him out and get him in condition, when I started 

 him in the race if I gave him a stiff heat first he would quit the 

 third heat as bad as any horse I ever saw ; but if I would let 

 him go the first heat easy, he would then empty himself and - 

 get ready to trot as good a race as you would ask of any horse 

 and fight it out game to the bitter end. I don't like such a 

 gross feeder as well as one that is a little delicate, as I have 

 had better luck with horses who people call poor feeders, as 

 they are more apt to be on a feather edge. Horses that re- 



