478 THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 



favorite gait with many riders, but unless the horse can occasionally 

 change his way of going into a canter, it becomes very tiresome on 

 a long journey. Though the rider may not be jolted from the 

 saddle so much as by a trotter, the wabbling twists his back first 

 one way and then the other most fatiguingly. 



Pacing and cantering are pleasant gaits for ladies' hackneys, 

 and are well enough adapted to short journeys. In harness the 

 pacer is not graceful. There is a gait, somewhat between a pace 

 and a trot, and called a single-footed pace, that does pretty well in 

 harness, but very few horses have it. For taking weight in har- 

 ness, or on muddy or rough roads, the trot is greatly preferable. 



To teach a pacer to trot, various expedients are resorted to. 

 Fence-rails are put down about as far apart as a trotter steps in a 

 jog. The pacer is ridden over them, and finds it difficult to lift 

 his feet over them in that gait, and adopts the trot. When a horse 

 has become very tired by long pacing he will sometimes ease his 

 weary muscles by a change of action into a trot; and this he is 

 more likely to do if the roads are muddy. From such a beginning 

 a skillful driver may make the trotting permanent. The modern 

 method of converting pacers to trotting, and that which supersedes 

 all others, is putting weights on the toes of the forefeet when the 

 horse is to be driven. 



Pelham was first a very fast pacer, and afterward became a dis- 

 tinguished trotter. In 1849 he was the first to win a heat in har- 

 ness in 2 m. 28 s. Cayuga Chief was a pacer in a livery stable, in 

 Worcester, Mass., and a favorite ladies' hackney. One day he 

 struck a trot, and soon became distinguished. In 1844 he trotted 

 to a wagon with 220 lbs. in 2 m. 36£ s. The black gelding Pilot, 

 probably a son of the old pacer of the same name, was first a fast 

 pacer. He surprised his owner by striking a trot, and improved 

 so rapidly that in a short time he trotted in 2 m. 28 J s. Tip, and 

 Dart, and Sontag were all pacers that afterwards trotted fast. Old 

 Pacer Pilot went fast in both gaits, and so did his grandson, Tom 

 Wonder, the sire of the famous twenty-mile trotter, John Stewart. 



In 1843, Sir Walter Scott paced on Beacon Course eighteen 

 miles in less than an hour without a break or halt. In the same 

 year, Oneida Chief paced against the best trotters of that time — 

 Lady Suffolk, Confidence, and Dutchman — and won more races 

 than he lost, making 2 m. 28£ s., the best time then on record. 

 In the following year, Tippecanoe paced at New Orleans in 2 m. 

 36 s., carrying a very heavy rider; and Unknown paced on 

 Beacon Course in 2 m. 23 s., a performance that had never then 

 been equalled by trotter or pacer. Old Pacer Pilot paced in 2 m. 

 26 s. with 165 lbs. on his back. In 1850, Roanoke paced under 

 saddle in 2 m. 21 i s. He was a roan gelding, and nothing ig 



