Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-03-02

ance. | never weighed or measured her,
but | should Judge she made mare
about l4t or 10 hands high, and would
weigh about $50 pounds when | let her
go. She was dark bay, some would
say she was bearing on brown. In
appearance she was hawky, wild and
nettlish, but was perfectly kind and
gentle to harness, and the best roader
| ever drew a line over. 1t was fun
to sit in a buggy behind her for ten-mile
drive. have driven her ten miles in
less than an hour and not sweat a HAIR,
aud she was ready to go back as she
came. She was the truest horse to draw
ever saw. She would not give up.
have worked her on an 'evener' with
horses 300 pounds heavier than she,
but she was always too much for them"
She had but one bad trick, and that
was being bad to catch when turned out.
She would not be caught If she could
help it. This trick was great annoy
ance to Mr.. Adams, as it would be to any
farmer who wished to turn his horses out
to pasture. The mare would come
up and put her nose into measure of
oats, but she had an 'eye to business"
and as soon as move WAS made to lay
"a hand on her she was away like
flash, and it would take all the help
on the farm, the women and neighbors,
boys included, to corner her or get her
into the yard so that she could be caught.
Let no one suppose that Mr.. Adams
used any profane language about
this matter. He is deacon in the
church and does not swear. What he
might have thought we will not attempt
to imagine, but he conceived the idea
of using little strategy in surmounting
this difficulty. SO he procured chain
fetter and put it on to her when he
turned her out. As soon as she was let
loose, like Sampson with Deilah's
withes, she broke the letters "as thread
of tow is broken when it toucheth the
fire." leaving a large part of the chain
attached to the hind ankle, jumped over
the fence into the road and ran three
miles with it. She bruised the ankles so
that she never fully recovered while Mr..
Adams owned her.
When Mr., Billings visited Mr.. Adams
some years after to learn about her breed
ing, he inquired of Mr.. Adams if he
knew anything about this ankle having
been injured, saying that since she had
been put in training it had troubled her.
This was one strong point made in try
to establish the fact that the Adams
mare was Princess, and a point which
those who were trying to establish the
Mogadore pedigree found it convenient
to entirely ignore. This mare was not
an ideal farm horse, on account of her
nervous disposition and difficulty of
being caught.
When in the fall of 1852 an opportuni-
ty was presented to Mr.. Adams to trade
her for two-horse lumber wagon he at
once improved it, getting about $50 for
her, and thinking he had made very
good trade at that. The men to whom
Mr.. Adams traded the mare were farmers
living in Hartland, VT. named William
Densmore moved from Michigan in 1850,
bringing with him two-horse lumber
wagon. He located at a place called
Densmore Hill, in Hartland, VT, and
lived there till he died, Dec. II, 1893.
In the fall of 1852 Mr.. Densmore and
his brother-in-law. William Cowdrey,
went to Rutland, VT, to the State fair,
taking with them this Michigan wagon.
They traded the wagon TO Mr.. Adams
for the mare. As the wagon belonged
to Mr.. Densmore, he of course owned
the mare. He kept her through that
winter ard the next spring ClS53) bred
her to a horse called the Mckenzie
Horse, a son of Iale's Green Mountain
Morgan, and the fall after he traded her
to Rev. John G.. Bennett for larger
horse, as he wished to engage in thresh-
Ing and wanted a larger and steadier
horse, and Princess would not work in
the machine. Mr.. Bennett did not like
her. She was thin in flesh when he
traded for her, and he claimed she was
too nervous and did not hold her feed,
so he could not get any flesh on her. He
tried to trade back with Mr.. Densmore,
offering him $40 to do so, but as Mr..
Densmore was then engaged in thresh-
ing, and liked the large horse much bet
ter than the mare for that business, he
refused to accept the offer. Mr.. Ben
nett kept her two or three months and
traded her to Mr.. A. Billings, then of
ClaremOnt, n. ii.
When Mr.. Billings got her she was in
foal from the breeding to the Mckenzie
Horse before mentioned, and in the
spring of 1854 she produced her first
colt. Mr.. Billings kept her during that
year, working her on the farm and driv-
ing her on the road. He soon discovered
her great speed, and the next year (1S55)
cold bor RI n A GoUa ~ Cb;ooOo Co.