Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-04-22
Riding u Horse Fifty Miles in Two
Hours.

The Egeniug Nens, Of Gold Hill, Ne
vada, contains the suhjoined account of a
great race against time, on the Carson City
course, by Johnny Fayor, for a stake Of
81 900, or $500 to $4,000 that he could
ride fifty miles in two hours:
"At Just II o'clock, Fayor made his ap-
pearance mounted and ready for the Fray.
He is lght-built, dark complexioned
young man, and weighs lS pounds. Af
ter few minutes preliminary arranging of
details, away he dashed on the first heat.
We have never seen better rider. Per-
fectlv erect and steady, he rode firmly in
his stirrups, and seemed no impeding
weight for horse to carry, but on the con-
trary, light, lively, aud anything but a dead
weight. johnny knows just how to ride a
horse, that's certain. We did not time all
the heats separately, as that would be too
lengthy a matter for punishment, but the
shortest was made in two minutes and two
seconds; the average was about two min
utcs and eight seconds. Some of the
horses he rode twice AROUND, at single
heat, and one three times; most Of hem
however, he rode only once around AT
the further side of the track in the vicinity
of the halt mile poe he had fresh horses
also waiting, and had TO change at that
point on two or three occasions. When
coming in on the home stretch, if the horse
he rode was observed to be failing, fresh
horse was taken out TO meet him. and eX.
changed; this was done also two or three
times. One very interesting feature TO no.
tice was the extreme rapidity and facility
with which he changed horses at the stand.
A fresh one ready saddled and brid!ed was
held there, and when he rode up two or
three men would seize the horse and assist
him to leap down and into the saddle of
the other horse, these changes thus occu-
pying far less time than it takes for us TO
write about them. Indeed, the last dozen
or twenty heats he WAS not allowed to touch
the ground at all but simply was picked
off one saddle and placed into the other,
with slap bestowed on his horses rump
in order to start lin off in a hurry. 1t
was a little the livliest horse navigation
most people ever saw. About the twenty
third mile round, blood was observed COM
ing fIom Faylor's mouth and and one ear,
being subject to bleeding at the lungs on
such occasions, under the fearfully severe
exercise, but as he kept ''stf upper lip"
and about that time also shouted tor some
one to get his watch ard bet that Oh the
race, we felt assured that he wonld live
through it, and he did. About two o'clock
p NJ he finished the race; time, one hour,
Gfty.eight minutes and thirty-three seconds
within the two hours. AS he rode IN
from that concluding heat, looking still
quite vigorous, and anything but exhausted.
he was taken from the saddle amid loud
cheers of triumph, and hilariousy carried
on the shoulders of his friends to the front
Of the Judges stand, from which the resul,
was announced Immediately. Taylor being
called upon for speech, replied, thanking
his friends for their effort in his behalf, and
expressing the hope that he would be as
successful in the great race he is to run OF
200 miles in ter hours at Jerome Park,
New York, in May next. Faylor had pro-
cured fifteen horses for his race yesterday,
but he had to use three more on account of
some o! them getting lame.