The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-27
lL-IEAPERED HORSES
Some Famous Racers Who
Have Been Man-KiIIerS.
WAY THEY WERE HANDLED
Had Much to Do With It.
SireS of Swift Ones.

ne d MEMBER or MS string next season.
| l didn't think you'd be able to do it,
was the reply. She's been used TO hav-
ing her own way with my stable boy, and
you know what that means
Yes said West, but we were care
ful not to try to make particularly nice
| job of it, avoiding places where the clip
per was likely to bother or scare her,
SO we got along pretty we'll"
Then the talk drifted to the great i'm
provement in the disposition of fast trot-
tiers of the present day over those OF
two decades ago, and as the stallion Tom
my Britton was just being led from his
stan preparatory to a run in the paddock
pack OF the barn, he was cited as an in
stance There is no horse more full of
HE than Britton and on occasion he can
be as willful as the worst of them. but
when treated we'll he is as clever as a
dog. He stood on the barn floor with half
a. dozen men around him, but never Of
fered to kick or bite.
Talking the matter over again, the ex-
perts agreed that it was the vast amount
of unnecessary jogging, speed work and
especially hand-rubbing that made the
old time trotters always peevish and Of
ten vicious. West. who began his edu-
cation as a horseman as a caretaker,
told how horses in those days were
worked early in the morning and the last
thing in the afternoon: how they were
speeded every day and repeated twice
week when training, and on top of this
came handwriting and the putting of a
tight bandage on each leg after every
workout Then on race day they were
walked around between heats.
Il wasn't cured of that last fad" said
West, until I had been in business sew
eral years for myself. One awfully hot
day in June some years ago 1 was trot-
ting a big sixteen-hand stallion in a race
at FreeDort, Ill. He went we'll in the
first heat, and at its close we had done
the usual cooling stunt and had be-
gun walking him-out in the blazing sun
mind-when the owner came along We
used to think him good deal of q crank
about horses, but he paid his bills on the
nail, and that goes a long ways.
" " hat are you leading that horse
around in the sun for?' he asked.
81 said something about it being the
customary way, but he stopped me.
" If you had Just finished hard heat
in a foot race said he, on a day like
this, and your eyes were bullying out with
the heat, what you would want would
be to sit down in the shade and fan
yourself. Now just take that horse over
in the shade of that tree and wen all
fan him with rub-rags. He'll get all the
leg exercise he wants out On the track
Il saw the point. and from that day
to this have never allowed one of my
horses to be walked around between
heats on a hot day. Last summer at
Columbus, O., Tommy Britton's race
came on the hottest day you ever saw.
and after each heat 1 would have him
into the shade and let him stand still,
while his competitors were being walked
around on their tired legs. One of the
other boys who was in the race asked me
why I wasn't walking Britton, and rath-
er seemed to think was emitting an i'm
portant part of the program, but as Brit
ton went the fastest three consecutive
heats on record by a stallion that day. so
1 guess the idea is all right.
1.-The thoroughbred stallion Longfellow
was as vicious g horse as l ever saw,
and Powhattan, the brother to Parole
was another pretty fierce one. Among
the trotters I remember the old-timer,
Bodine, Pisa. 1t took man with
club to keen track of him in the barn,
and one day at Buffalo he tried to kill
Peter Johnson, who trained and drove
him. Then we had one right in this barn
a few years ago that was ready to XIII
a man. He was son of Sidney, and
boy called George was the only one that
could really handle him, although an
other rubber that We called Dutch Fred
wasn't afraid OF him. I finally requested
the horses owner to take him away"
Nearly all the old-time tr0tters were
cross, and many of them were vicious.
Goldsmith Maid didn't want anybody
around but "Old Charlie" her groom.
Rarus had only one friend, a terrier dog
called Jimmy Maud S. was pretty clev- /
er in the stable. but was light behind /
when in harness. and sometimes ap-
peared with kicking strap on that &C |
count. The PAGER Johnston, champion IN |
his day, was nervous and would fret /
himself into a sweat II left alone IN the 1
stall Dexter would try to be savage 70 /
any one who came near him: and Prin- /
cess. the rival OF Flora Temple, was an 1
other of the same sort. General Grant /
an ear!y-day Chicago trotter was so i
fierce that his groom habitua.ly carried (
a stout stick while working around the +
stan. and yet when this gr0oD-as was I
quite often the case-wculd come 70 the /
barn IN an advanced stage Of Iutoxica-
ton and Eau heiqlessly in a corner o. the /
stall. the horse not only would not cfer 4
10 harm him. but would crouch aEalas
the wall OF the far side % the stall and 4
trerlbls Ike a leaf he knew thai for /
some reason the nan was Hoc afraid o.
him. and THAI [4ct seemed 20 lake al
the horse 8 c1urzEe away
The little stallion Hannls. thac John
Turner caupalgne6 Hss another Ha1
killer. but when Big Nike" MS groom,
would get outside If so much whisseg-
taat ne feared neither man. deva nor
Hanri=. Tho horse wouId exhibit fear
Like General GRAFT. he seemed 70 think
II the man was NOT afraid - him he czr-
tainlr would take q club or mp and get
even far all the caution t1e horse hsc
made him exercise IN TIRE past Another
uzly stallion vas Grange Bod. H.s special
aversion was a negro BE vas 19t f-ssnd-
Is wish white men. but = a zeEr8 came
IN sight Orange Bad w'u.d actually irT
20 break out - the srau 20 g; a. Es-
Robe-z AcGrsG3r was r Eaaa killer and
not two hours before MS death DRIVE
his groom our - his stall Aaa-h@r fe--
ra- xzs the EIectfo-ser sta1l.91 Antfaa-
. le.s Re would kck n harness tsfe.
strike and s-zs uzsase - have sroari-
o-o uirhe Re A-aks eyvn his 9En stsil.
-. -. - -. as-- n, El-ks-- she h,.1-