The Leavenworth weekly times., 1879-05-29
Cincinnati Commercial


SAINT routine Of newspaper drudgery, is his
love of fast trottipg horses, and his special
pride aside from owning and driving them
IS his knowledge of the anatomy and physi.
ology OF the horses foot. Mechanical
insight" il fsvorite phrase with him, and
il is questionable whether any living veter-
mary surgeon or accomplished fsrrier
knows more about the mechanical action oi
the horses foot, and how to dress and shoe
it, to relieve all the sfllictions, and to rem.
edy the vsrious imperfect ons of the trot
ting gait, than does this distinguished horse
amateur. In the prosecution of these
studies he has collected the largest library
Of noted authors on the horses foot in the
English language, and every psge shows
how he has carefully read and annotated
them, until they aie without any blank
margins. Moreover, he has collected about
him all the farriers of mechanical skill and
genius in the East, in whose company thi:
rireless man spends many evenings far be-
yond midnight in consultation and discus
sion.
His favorite smiths are the ingenious
Canadian, David Roberge, the inventor Of
the rolling ball shoe, 10 relieve an anchy.
losed ankle, such as the famous trotter
Sensation, suffered with, even in all hi.
most successful races, and the as.ute DIR.
Dryden, who claims that he can add to the
arch of the cres, and ,ba Graceful cnrva NJ
the saddle place by dressing and shoeing
the horses foot. Mr.. Bonner has prose.
cuted these studies for many wears with
such intense assiiui;y that the ordinary
horseman, unappreciariye of his sue ,ess.
has long since concluded that he ia slioh,ly
daft on this subject. but such ia far from
being the fact
MI. Bonner personslIv sunerin,ends the
shoeipp of his own horses In the carly
morning. before business enorosses his A..
tention' he can fr,onen,Jv he seen in the
sbop Of Mr.. Roberpe owing minnie direc.
take off a slice of the boof inst bov far IN
foresborten the wall in front and inst how
much to lower the heel. bsbind 10 make the
foot have the rroper relative inclination
with the slant of The nas,ern 40 as 10 hal
apce the bones in the journals Of the Joints
and to make the foot perfec,Iv level in ali
its bearipps Corps snd snlints and curbs
To him are trivial disordsrs which he can
remedy in a few shoeings and be claims to
have mastered spavins nv the nae of the
four calkin shoe. which to the AVERAGE
borseman are REGARDED "a incur,ble "a that
great dread of the veterinary surseon. nav
ocular Iamepess.
All the onarations tooeiber with those
more nearly related 10 tIe ,ro,,i,g action
such a. eleyating and 0n;cksning The action
in front or ratsrding the nronelIsr lever.
behind 10 nreyent q snsaJv rnt,;no y " foro.
inuD and "over.r. arbingn and delicate
operstions 10 obviste the provokinp habit
of bitcbing bebind wiring in of the stitIas
and thru.ting one hind lee in between the
two frontones which so freouentlv distu rbs
the centre of Gravity of The trotting bor.e
in full mo,ion-sli tba.a and msny more
opsrations of oreat vslua in nerfectinp the
action of the swift tro,tinp horse. he has
csrefnIlv reduced 70 msnnsc,int which he
proposes 10 have pnbIisb.d az his postbu.
nous contribution to horse literature This
il merely the recreation Of a remark sbiy
busy life. Robert R,nner. in ger eoloey. il
q m,.ture of scotch. Irish and "a the read.
or NAV we'll conclude he ia a perfect bundle
of nervous energy. When he began his
monoIopue to ma he held in hi. left hand a
hoof co9tsinIpp The three ned al b3nes-,be
lower coron.I the psvicnIs, and the coffin
k9Dltly he pynIrlnpI their action and
mutual depepdence bo,h. at rest and in mo
ton. His pecuiiar gestu-e e is that of bring
ing the fins of the thumb and index finger
together, which he darts toward Won like an
expert spearsman throwing a ;avelin. AZ
he makes his poip,s he punctuates them
with the refrain. /" Do Won see ~ "Do Won
see? ?n and at each repeti,iou he uncon-
sciously pushes the chair on which he Is
sitting toward Won till your knees actually
doye-tair with his and s,iIl he rusbes on
with bisexplanatious lill his iayelin gesture
il thrust into yery close proximity with
vour face ard his knees hing yours with a
oenerons sntbnsiasm1
Mr.. Bonner keeps horses simplv for his
own deligbt and rrder no circumstances
can he he b,dge,ed into Contests on the
nnblic race oonrse Rn, hi. snrri,ed trots
with the noted wbips of New York C,ty. in
Guiding the late Commodore Vanderbilt.
furnish the subjects of many Conversation
and disputes to the idle borsemeu during
the long bonrs of their winter aveninp oath.
er;no, While oens,ops 10 bis friends he
neve, Ief, unnun;sb.d snv discourtesv bv a
rival b,hi,ue Of the road Commodore
Vanderbilt was his especial antaponist
That m,o,.,e coli, c,ed .hont him .
c;,cIe of fswn;na sa;eI;,e. who gr.t,fs5 ,bs
vanity of the Commodore bv ridiculing the
bor,es of Mr. Ronner A. ore time thev
occas;oned a der;s;ve I.nob At M. Ron.
ne,;s eYnsnse bv dec,e,;no that the Commo-
dore conIJ drive . oo., and ha.t Mr. Ron.
ner's hes, borsa down Harlem lane This
nie.sed ,bsir ch;sf vsrv mucb ard he erded
the rib.ldrv bv declaring that he should
take OCCASION 10 take the wind out of the
Lsdosr pronrietor with Mountain Bov
vbenever tbev csms tooe,ber Mr. Bonner
was apprised of This de,erminatlou. and
Concluded to punish the Commodore At The
irst Opportunity. Nh. Bonner had Dur.
chaeed the mighty sou of Major Winfield.
that trotted a mile at Boston iu 2:I5J. and
nam.d him Joe Elliott For days he
watched along the road for the doughty
Commodore. Presently he esp:ed him With
his newly-m aae wife behind the swift