38 LIFE WITH THE TEOTTEES. 



trotters that he had not previously met, they being James 

 Howell, Jr., and Fleety Golddust. In the second heat of 

 this race Kansas reduced his record to 2:24|, and this, of 

 -course, made me a very happy young man. 



Between his races the Chief had but little work, putting 

 in all the time nursing him, relying on his extreme speed 

 and gameness to carry him through on the day of the race. 

 During the winter we had poulticed his feet, as narrated 

 in a former chapter, and after the campaign began the 

 practice was continued, poultices being applied about twice 

 -a week, fearing that if it were done more frequently his feet 

 might become too soft. We walked him in the dew as much 

 ~as possible, gave his feet a bath in warm water occasionally, 

 .and used a lotion of Pond's Extract and arnica. We kept a 

 ■swab on his feet, wet with liniment all the time, and it is one 

 •of the best remedies for acute soreness in a horse's feet I 

 «ver tried. In the Cleveland race Kansas Chief wore shoes 

 that weighed about eight ounces in front and five ounces 

 behind. 



We left Cleveland thinking there was a fair chance to 

 win first money at Buffalo, but when we arrived there the 

 "track was very hard, and the Chief was far from being over 

 the effects of the Cleveland race. In working him out one 

 morning he hit one of his forward legs a terrible blow, the 

 ;result being a big swelling and plenty of fever. All these 

 things aided in causing him to lose the race, which fell to 

 Fleety Golddust. We looked the horse over that night, 

 .and it seemed to our minds that his turf career was over, 

 for awhile at least, as he was very lame and sore in his 

 forward feet, and a forward leg was greatly swollen from the 

 -effects of the blow noted above. His shoes were taken off, 

 and Mike Ward started in to nurse him. That night, Mr. 

 Simmons left for New York, telling me to use my own judg- 

 -ment about starting the horse at Utica. We went to Utica, 

 .and the day after our arrival had the Chief's shoes nailed on 

 .and gave him a slow jog of five miles. He was so lame and 

 ^ore that I decided not to start him, and so wrote Mr. Sim- 



