150 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEKS. 



the track, never better tlian a tliree-minute gait, and after 

 a couple of weeks of that I began to drive him a great 

 many slow miles in from 3:00 to 2:50, kept all the flesh 

 on him that I could, was very careful about clothing him, 

 and did not blanket or scrape him in any way. I gradually 

 increased his feed to about ten quarts a day. He seemed to 

 be ery strong on his legs but acted as though he did not 

 have much speed. I had, by this time, increased the work 

 to about a 2:85 gait, and would drive him five or six heats a 

 day about twice a week in from 2:50 to 2:35. I did not 

 attempt to brush him, but simply rated him along, and 

 sometimes would drive a mUe and a half or two miles at a 

 2:40 clip. In this way I got his flesh very hard and smooth. 

 I found that he kept to his feed well, but still continued to 

 act as though he did not have much speed. The latter part 

 of May I commenced to reduce the number of miles 1 gave 

 him, shortened his work, and brushed him in places nearly 

 as fast as he could go. Instead of giving him slow mUes, I 

 worked him oftener, and brushed him a way nearly every 

 day, and, in a short time, I found he had plenty of speed. 

 He had by this time worn his shoes off untU they weighed 

 about twelve ounces. His feet were naturally rather long at 

 the toe and low at the heel. I shortened his toes all I 

 could and raised his heels. 



The best mile I drove Johnston over Chester Park was 

 in about 2:25. I then went with the balance of my horses 

 through Indiana to trot them, and took Johnston with me, 

 but as the tracks there were all half-mile ones, and rather 

 bad, I did not do much with him excepting to give him 

 plenty of slow work, and nothing in the way of trying to 

 speed him. I gave an exhibition with him at Indianapolis, 

 but did not try to drive fast as I considered the track un- 

 safe for that sort of a performance. From there I brought 

 him to Chicago, where I had an engagement to show him, 

 and, one week before this race, gave him five heats, twenty- 

 five minutes apart, commencing at 2:25 and gradually im- 

 proving the pace, so that his last heat was in 2:16. I drove 



