xt7tmp4vj722 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7tmp4vj722/data/mets.xml Busbey, Hamilton, 1840-1924. 1907 books b98-47-42334521 English Dodd, Mead, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Horses Breeding. Horse racing United States. Recollections of men and horses / by Hamilton Busbey. text Recollections of men and horses / by Hamilton Busbey. 1907 2002 true xt7tmp4vj722 section xt7tmp4vj722

Photo bv Harrv LI Brown

RECOLLECTIONS

MEN AND HORSES

BY
HAMILTON BUSBEY
AUTHOR OF "THE TROTTING AND THE PACING
HORSE IN AMERICA," "HISTORY OF THE
HORSE IN AMERICA," ETC.

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK:
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1907

Publijhed March, 1907

PREFACE

AT the close of I904 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary
of Agriculture, reported that the value of farm
products in the United States for that year was
4,goo,ooo,ooo-nearly double the gross earnings of
the railroads added to the value of the production
of all the mines of the country for the same period.
This official statement opened the eyes of feverish
municipalities to the importance of agricultural life.
The value of horses owned by farmers is placed at
I,I50,ooo,ooo. In 1905 horses increased in num-
ber to 17,000,000, and in value to 1,200,000,000.
The type of the farm horse has been elevated by the
dissemination of blood, the virtue of which was
proved by the sharpest of physical tests. For genera-
tions the progressive farmer has striven to excel in
the creation of an animal combining activity with
strength, and his trial ground has been the road and
oval at the County or District Fair. He has labored
unceasingly to eliminate the running gait, and to
establish the trotting gait. The harness horse, not
the saddle horse, has been his hope and pride. It is
only in the large city, where speculation, mildly speak-
ing, borders on the hysterical, that the running horse
is a popular favorite. The farmers, who dominate
the national life, gather at the tracks of smaller
V

PREFACE
centers of activity to gratify a desire for excitement
and to enlarge the human understanding by watching
the distribution of prizes among trotters and pacers.
The tracks on which the light harness horse per-
forms are counted by the thousand, and the results
of races on which comparatively little money is risked
have shown the way to a standard of excellence. In
i906 speculation was restricted or prohibited in some
localities, but as a rule the meetings were never so
largely attended or the races more earnestly con-
tested, thus demonstrating beyond cavil the strong
hold of trotting on the public at large. In " The
Trotting and the Pacing Horse in America," pub-
lished in July, 1904, 1 have given a compact history
of harness speed evolution, and the reader is referred
to it for a grouping of foundation families. In these
pages I have enlarged upon the subject, and given
nersonal recollections of the men, as well as horses,
who played conspicuous parts in the formative era
of breeds and track discipline. Millions of people
are deeply interested in the question, and I have
endeavored to discuss it from a high standpoint and
to reflect the truth as revealed by thousands of let-
ters, many of which, in being kept so long from the
public eye, show the ravages of time. At the urgent
request of George B. Raymond, I undertook this
task, and, when I grew weary of it, was encouraged
to go on by one in whose judgment I had confidence,
whose loyalty was sincere, whose sympathy was re-
sponsive, whose religion was to speak kindly of those
vi

PREFACE
with whom she was brought in contact, and upon
whose face the eternal shadow fell, even while the
wonderful sunshine of Colorado was flooding the
landscape with a glory which rivaled in poetic con-
ception that of the throne upon which Wisdom sits
and reads as a child does its " A B C " the profound
Mystery which so staggers intellects not freed by
Faith as to cause them to take refuge in " I do not
Know."
HAMILTON BUSBEY.
NEW YORK, March, x907.

vii

This page in the original text is blank.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE CORNER STONE OF BREEDING . I
II. GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER OF HORSES 7
III. ROBERT BONNER ON SHOEING. . 14
IV. WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT SELLS
MAUD S. . . . . . 26
V. THE STRUGGLE TO HOLD THE THRONE 39
VI. JAY-EYE-SEE AND SO.ME MATCH RACES 44
VII. EDWIN THORNE AND MANIBRINO CHIEF 52
VIII. CHARLES BACKMAN AND STONY FORD 64
IX. LELAND STANFORD AND PALO ALTO . 79
X. WOODBURN FARM-ALEXANDER BROD-
HEAD . . . . . . 94
XI. THE TRANSYLVANIA-CORNING-
HAVEMEYER . . . . II3
XII. C. J. HAMLIN AND VILLAGE FARM . 118
XIII. HAMLIN AND SPEED DEVELOPMENT . i26
XIV. HENRY C. MCDOWELL AND ASHLAND 148
XV. DOUBLE HARNESS RIVALRY . . i6i
XVI. HORSE SHOWS AND THEIR CONTRO-
VERSIES . . . . . 174
XVII. R. S. VEECH AND INDIAN HILL . 183
XVIII. E. H. HARRIMAN AND OTHER
BREEDERS . . . . . I88
XIX. WILLIAM EDWARDS AND DISCIPLINE . I97
XX. S. S. HOWLAND AS A BREEDER . . 201
XXI. SIMMONS, STONER, AND THAYER . 207
ix

CONTENTS

MARSHLAN'D AND SHULTSHURST
WALNUT HALL AND CRUICKSTON PARK
THE HORSE OF CONQUEST AND CERE-
MONY
MARCUS DALY AND BITTER ROOT FARM
THE TROTTING HORSE IN TENNESSEE
HARRISON DURKEE AND RICHARD WEST
J. MALCOLM FORBES AND FORBES FARM
BREEDING FARMS IN THE BERKSHIRES
HENRY N. SMITH AND OTHER BREEDERS
EVOLUTION-ENVIRONMENT AND NU-
TRITION
MCFERRAN, WITHERS, AND WVILSON
JEWETT FARM .
SOrIE OLD ORANGE COUNTY BREEDERS
STOUT, WILLIAMS, CATON
EAST VIEW AND OTHER FARMS
A COSTLY DINNER IN A STABLE.
THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG
FIRST AID IN DISEASE AND LAMENESS
FOUNDATION SIRES
BREEDING STATISTICS .

CHAPTER
xxII.
xxIII.
xxiv.

xxv.
XXVI.
xxviI.
xxviII.
xxix.
xxx.
xxxI.

xxxII.
xxxIII.
xxxiv.
xxxv.
xxxvI.
xxxvI".
xxxvIII.
xxxix.
XL.

PAGE
217
229

240
246
255
265
271
280
29I

296
303
311
316
319
326
330
333
340
352
354

ILLUSTRATIONS

DARE DEVIL (Owned by Thomas W. Lawson), Cover inlay

HAMILTON BUSBEY

FACIN
Lou DILLON (Owned by C. K. G. Billings)
ROBERT BONNER
JAY-EYE-SEE IN i906 (Twenty-eight Years Old)
THE MANSION AT STONY FORD
CARLL S. BURR, JR.
JOHN W. COULEY
LUCAS BRODHEAD
HARRIETTA (Owned by H. 0. Havemeyer)
GEORGE B. RAYMOND
ETHELWYN, THE GREAT PRODUCING DAUGHTER
OF HAROLD
HENRY C. MCDOWELL
ASHLAND, THE FORMER HOME OF HENRY CLAY
JOHN SHEPARD . . .
E. T. BEDFORD DRIVING ALICE MAPES
A. J. CASSATT .
W. M. V. HOFFMAN
CORNELIUS FELLOWS .
AUSTRAL (Owned by J. Howard Ford, Stony Ford)
H. M. WHITEHEAD
JOHN E. THAYER
BENJAMIN F. TRACY
xi

Frontispiece

G PAGE
4
20
46
66
74
88
102
114
128

136
150
158
i68
170
176
I80
182
I90
i98
212
2i8

ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
MOKO (Owned by L. V. Harkness, Walnut Hall
Farm) . . . . . . . 230
ORO WILKES (Owned by Miss K. L. Wilks, Cruicks-
ton Park). . . . . . 234
WALNUT HALL (Owned by L. V. Harkness) 242
WILLIAM RUSSELL ALLEN . . . . . 272
J. MALCOLM FORBES . . . . . . 276
BELLINI (Owned by W. B. Dickerman) . . 300
KENTUCKY TODD (Owned by Miss K. L. Wilks) . 308
SILIKO (Owned by John E. Madden). . . 320
A GROUP AT EAST VIEW FARM . . . 326
J. M. JOHNSON . . . . . . 328

xii

CHAPTER I

THE CORNER STONE OF BREEDING

AFTER a formal dinner on New Year's Eve the
guests adjourned to the library and were spinning
yarns over cigars. The host, reclining in a big arm-
chair, was absorbed in thought, but roused himself
and said:
" Gentlemen, you saw Flora this afternoon and
noticed that she was big with promise. She is my
best brood mare, and I have nominated her in the
Produce Stake, colts to trot at two and three years
old. As you well know the age of a horse dates from
January Ist, and I have planned to have the foal
come the second or third day of the New Year.
Everything is going smoothly, and, if there is no slip,
the foal will be wvell grown as a yearling, and should
be fleet and strong as a two-year-old. The way to
win rich stakes is to have early foals. The one that
is born May 2d, when opposed by one born January
2d, takes up a handicap of four months. The start
on the road to development will beat him if nothing
else does."
" I agree with you," remarked one of the guests,
"but do you not risk a great deal in drawing it so
fine Suppose the foal should come before the clock
strikes twelve to-night
I

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
" Good gracious, why do you make such a sugges-
tion! You give me the cold shivers. If the birth
should be premature, good-by to all of my fond
hopes."
The host looked so serious that other guests ridi-
culed the idea that anything at this late hour could
go wrong. At eleven o'clock, when the " Good old
mountain dew " chorus was filling the room and the
echoes were rising through the frosty air to greet
the stars, the foreman, lantern in hand, stood in the
big hall, and replied to the hurried question of the
host, if anything had gone wrong, that the noise of
toy cannons in the village had so greatly upset Flora
as to bring on labor pains. The newborn at that
very moment was lying on a bed of straw in the big
box stall. The cloud of disappointment on the
face of the host was so unmistakable that one of the
merrymakers remarked: "Why keep count of an
hour If your foreman had not come to us with his
tale of woe, we should not have discovered the foal
until morning, and then the record would have been
born January ist."
" Such false records may be made, under strong
temptation on some farms, but never on this. Deep
as my disappointment is, the colt, when the clock
strikes twelve, will be, under the racing rule, a year-
ling instead of a suckling. I played to reduce the
handicap and have made the weight crushing. Well,
it is a chance I took, and I must abide by the result.
Gentlemen, once more the chorus!
2

THE CORNER STONE OF BREEDING
Premature birth has marked the greatest epochs
in history. When Joseph, the carpenter of the vil-
lage of Nazareth, was driven with Mary, his wife,
by an edict of Augustus, to a weary journey on foot
to Bethlehem, and the humble pair arrived at the
inn and found it so crowded with strangers that
they had to clear a corner in the inn yard for a
lodging place, anxiety and fatigue hastened the birth
of the Child. " I never felt the full pathos of the
scene," writes James Stalker, " till, standing one day
in a room of an old inn in the market town of
Eisleben, in central Germany, I was told that on
that very spot, four centuries ago, amidst the noise
of a market day and the bustle of a public house, the
wife of a poor miner, Hans Luther, who happened
to be there on business, being surprised like Mary,
with sudden distress, brought forth in sorrow and
poverty the child who was to become Martin Luther,
the hero of the Reformation and the maker of mod-
ern Europe."
Flora's foal was not able to compete in the two-
year-old division of the Produce Stake, owing to the
noisy celebration of village lads, but in escaping
early training, the vitality of the colt was pre-
served for tasks in other fields, and, as a progenitor
of speed, he obtained renown and enriched the
world.
Integrity is the corner stone of the breeding struc-
ture. The business transactions of a well-conducted
stock farm are as free from deception as the trans-
3

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
actions of any business of good repute. The accu-
racy of pedigree is guaranteed by the strictly enforced
rules of registration, and the correctness of time
records is fostered by the far-reaching machinery
governing track contests. Through vigilance that is
sleepless and through discipline that is unbending,
type has been elevated and the speed standard ad-
vanced. Nowhere are the fruits of Law more appar-
ent than in the breeding industry.
At the close of the trotting season of 1903 Lou
Dillon had a record of i.581, and Major Delmar
a record of I.59Q, with pacemaker and shield in
front. The court of last resort placed the shield
performances in a class by themselves, and in 1904
there was a general return to unpaced records. The
earnest rivalry was still between Lou Dillon and
Major Delmar, and at the close of the campaign
the bay gelding by Delmar out of Expectation stood
higher than ever before. He trotted at Memphis
October 24 to a record of 2.OI0, and at the same
place October 26 he beat the high-wheel sulky rec-
ord of Maud S., 2.081, made in Cleveland in i885.
His time was 2.07. October i8 at Memphis Major
Delmar defeated Lou Dillon to wagon for the Mem-
phis gold cup. The mare was not in good shape
for such a contest, and the time was slow, 2.07, 2.181.
Lou Dillon finally recovered her form and at Mem-
phis, November i i, reduced her sulky record to
2.0I. It was clearly demonstrated by the perform-
ances of both horses that the pacemaker in front
4

A
U-

W:i(
Of)

U c

CCl

This page in the original text is blank.

THE CORNER STONE OF BREEDING
is a material help to the horse going for a fast
record. At the Old Glory sale in Madison Square
Garden in November, I904, Major Delmar was
knocked down to the highest bidder, C. K. G. Bil-
lings, whose offer was iS,ooo. Through the pur-
chase of Major Delmar Mr. Billings now controls
the issues so sharply drawn in 1903 and 1904. The
Queen and the King could not be in the hands of
anyone who has more at heart the best interests of
the trotting horse.
September I9, I904, Robert E. Bonner addressed
a letter to the Boston Herald, resenting the insinua-
tion that his family held fast to the belief that Maud
S. represented the limit of trotting speed.

" Allow me to say, no member of the Bonner fam-
ily made such an absurd claim. About a year ago,
in a communication to the New York Sun, I said:
' In common with the majority of horsemen, I be-
lieve that Lou Dillon can beat Maud S.'s time when
she starts under the same conditions that obtained
when Maud S. made her mile in 2.o8j.' After a
year has elapsed I think I can safely add to that
statement by saying that, in common with the ma-
jority of horsemen, I believe that there are now two
trotters (Lou Dillon and Major Delmar) who can
surpass Maud S. 's performance, notwithstanding
that about every world-beater since Maud S. made
her mile in 2.o8a, in July, i88S, with the exception
of Major Delmar, has started to surpass Maud S.'s
performance and failed, the best time made in these
trials being 2.0gi by both Nancy Hanks and Loti
Dillon."
5

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
After the publication of this letter Major Delmar
succeeded in carrying the high-wheel record down
to 2.07. Lou Dillon is now in brood-mare ranks,
and under the revised rule a record cannot be made
by a horse preceded by a pacemaker. There is no
longer bitterness of feeling between the Bonner and
the Billings families.

CHAPTER II

GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER OF HORSES

GENERAL U. S. GRANT was fond of horses as a
boy, and, in his period of obscurity in Missouri pre-
vious to the Civil War, the horse assisted him to
bread and butter. When in command of the army,
he rode good horses and insisted that they should
be as well cared for as circumstances would allow.
After he had passed through the campaign which
made him President of the United States, his ad-
miration for the trotter on the road increased. He
accepted an invitation from that stern churchman,
Robert Bonner, to ride on Harlem Lane behind
Dexter, and was as enthusiastic as a taciturn soldier
could be over the elastic movement of the king of
trotters. On the way back to town Mr. Bonner
asked, " General, would you like to take the reins "
" Yes," said the President-elect, and a new light
came into the eyes. The white-faced and white-
legged gelding seemed to feel the touch of a master
hand, and he stepped with a conscious feeling of
pride and obeyed readily. After a brush on the
smooth road, which was suggestive of the force of
the whirlwind, General Grant exclaimed: " Bonner,
I like to ride this way. You had better give me the
7

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
horse." The silence which followed was almost
painful. Mr. Bonner cheerfully would have given
the price of Dexter to avoid replying, but he liked
the horse too well to part with him. Finally he said:
" I do not think that I can spare him just yet," and
turned the conversation into other channels. Ehnin-
ger's crayon, " Taking the Reins," of General Grant
driving Dexter to a road wagon with Robert Bonner
by his side, was received with much approbation by
the people of the nation, and it was suggestive of
events to come. In the White House President
Grant firmly held the reins. In Washington Presi-
dent Grant watched carefully over his stables, and
even sought lessons in shoeing from Alexander Dun-
bar. He took his summer vacations at Long Branch,
and he drove a spirited pair on the roads of that
watering place. In talking horse he found relaxa-
tion, because it took his mind from the perplexing
questions of State. He established a trotting horse
breeding farm in Missouri, but, as he was unable
to give it personal supervision, it was not a pro-
nounced success. He delighted in visiting Stony
Ford, and discussing breeding questions with Charles
Backman. He was charmed by the hospitality of
Stony Ford, and was assured that within its gates
he was safe from the importunities of politicians.
The stallions, brood mares, and colts greatly inter-
ested him, and, in driving through the fields where
the carpet of green was buttoned down by the gold
of dandelions, he studied with critical eye the out-
8

GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER OF HORSES
lines of foals and attempted to predict their future.
In that realm of peace doubtless his thoughts often
reverted to the turbulent scenes of war, of which
he grew weary when the great Captain of the South,
Robert E. Lee, laid down his sword.
It was in the autumn of the year after General
Grant's second term in the White House that a select
party was at Stony Ford. The air was bracing, but
a trifle crisp for an invalid, and Mr. Backman had
a top wagon drawn under the trees at the edge of
the training track. In this General Grant took his
seat and, well-wrapped up, had a full view of the
mile course, and held his watch on the young trotters.
When the horses were not in action, the eyes of
the General rested upon the banks of the WValkill,
where the sumac and thornapple blushed scarlet,
and beyond upon the Shawangunk, over which hung
a veil as delicate as any ever woven by the looms of
man. He was a little weary when assisted from the
wagon and walked with hesitating step to the house,
and up the broad stairs into the large smoking-room.
He took a seat in a big leather-cushioned chair,
lighted a strong cigar, and smoked it almost in
silence. He looked through the windows out upon
the fair fields, while the smoke curled upward, then
suddenly threw away the stump of fragrant tobacco,
and said: " Backman, that is my last cigar. I shall
never smoke another."
Excessive smoking had injured his health, and he
kept his word. In a series of articles which I con-
9

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
tributed in I896 to Scribner's Magazine, on the
"Evolution of the Trotting Horse" is a full-page
illustration of " A Typical Evening in the Smoking
Room at Stony Ford." It was drawn by W. R.
Leigh from nature and from photographs, and at-
tracted much attention. General Grant is sitting in
the big chair near the center-table, smoking and in
deep thought. Next to him is Robert Bonner talk-
ing in his emphatic way. Then comes Charles Back-
man in his favorite rocking chair, and then Benjamin
F. Tracy in a chair with his arm resting on a time-
worn sofa. Standing to the right of General Grant
is William C. Whitney. Mr. Leigh had the advice
of Mr. Backman in posing the figures, and the scene
is as historically correct as such scenes usually are.
WVhen I turn to the picture, I am reminded of the
change which attends the footsteps of time. It fills
me with sadness to think that, at the time I write,
Benjamin F. Tracy is the only member of the group
who is alive. All the others have gone to explore
the mysteries of the Beyond.
I shall carry with me to the end of life's pilgrim-
age the picture of General Grant as I saw him on the
field of Shiloh. The slaughter had been dreadful,
and the timely crossing of the Tennessee by the army
of General Buell changed defeat into victory. For
a time Grant was out of favor at Washington, and,
as he rode from camp to camp that April morning,
his face was stern to sadness. There were no out-
bursts from the soldiers who had borne the brunt of
I0

GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER OF HORSES

conflict, but they regarded the taciturn commander
with silent sympathy. General Grant was well
mounted and it was evident that his horse was re-
garded by him with affection. He passed from view,
and the question was how long the shadow of Hal-
leck, who came from Stanton, would rest upon
him.
In the summer of i866 Jerome Park was opened
and people from all sections of a once-divided land
were in the throng. Those who had worn the Gray
with honor touched elbows with those who had given
distinction to the Blue, and General Grant was there
surrounded by a brilliant company. Thousands of
eyes rested upon him, but he bore the scrutiny with-
out flinching. His eyes kindled over the close finishes
on the saddlebags course, showing that love of the
high-bred horse was always with him, but the lips
usually were silent. Numerous attempts were made
after this to get him to tracks where thoroughbreds
sported silk, but a polite excuse for not accepting
invitations was found. In I879, after his triumphal
tour of the world, he went to the Oakland track in
California to see St. Julien trot against the 2.1341
of Rarus, and the success of the horse aroused his
enthusiasm. He left the judges' stand to visit St.
Julien in his stall and to offer his personal congratu-
lations to Orrin A. Hickok, the driver of the gelding.
In my file I find a copy of a letter to Mr. Bonner,
dated " Headquarters of the Army of the United
States, March 30th, i868 ":
II

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
" I hope by the time your present stock is broken
down by old age to present you a pair of my own
raising, better than you have now. The next ten
years ought to produce something that will go in
2.IO. If you hold out as well as the Commodore
has, you will still then be young enough to hold the
reins over such stock.
U. S. GRANT."

At the time this was written Dexter, with his rec-
ord of 2.174, was the trotting king and the shining
light of Mr. Bonner's stable. In after years two
horses with records better than 2.10 to high-wheel
sulky were occupants of the stable, but neither was
bred by General Grant.
General U. S. Grant tells us in his personal
memoirs that as a boy his father, Jesse R. Grant,
found a home in the family of Judge Tod, the father
of the late Governor Tod of Ohio, and remained
there until he was old enough to learn a trade. John
Tod, one of the sons of Governor Tod, was for
many years a prominent owner of trotting horses,
and, prior to the William Edwards regime, was the
President of the Driving Park Association at Cleve-
land. George Tod, the brother of John, is a dis-
tinguished breeder and owner of trotting horses at
Youngstown, Ohio.

"I detested trade," writes General Grant, " pre-
ferring almost any other labor; but I was fond of
agriculture, and of all employment in which horses
were used. When I was about eleven years old, I
12

GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER OF HORSES
was strong enough to hold a plow. From that age
until seventeen I did all the work done with horses,
such as breaking up the land, furrowing, plowing
corn and potatoes, bringing in the crops when har-
vested, hauling all the wood, besides attending two
or three horses, a cow or two, and sawing wood for
stoves, etc., while still attending school."

Before he was fifteen he began trading horses with
varying degrees of success. Brought up as he was, it
is not strange that admiration for the horse of high
form and action should have intensified with the
years. He was a student of pedigree and perfectly
at home in the saddle or behind a fast trotter.

CHAPTER III

ROBERT BONNER ON SHOEING

ROBERT BONNER was born in Londonderry, Ireland,
April 28, I824, and was brought up a strict Presby-
terian. When fifteen years old, he came to the
United States with his mother and brothers and sis-
ters, and entered the printing office of the Courant
at Hartford, Conn. He was ambitious to excel and
worked over hours to learn as much as it was possible
to learn about the business. He came to New York
in I844 and founded the New York Ledger, mak-
ing a phenomenal success of it. He accumulated a
large fortune and spent money generously to uplift
humanity and to advance the interests of breeding.
He despised shams and resolutely set his face against
the foibles of fashionable society. His associates
were the intellectual men, the dominating spirits of
his day and generation. It was my good fortune to
win his confidence, to study him behind the scenes
as it were, to see him in all of his moods, and to
closely advise with himn. I always found him as
true as the magnet to the pole, never stooping to
deception, unflinchingly advocating what he believed
to be right, never swayed by public clamor, and his
word was in truth as good as his bond. There is
much that I should like to write about him, which
14

ROBERT BONNER ON SHOEING
I cannot do, because, although he has preceded me
across the river which separates night from morn-
ing, the seal of confidence is still on my lips. And
yet I feel at liberty to make extracts from the hun-
dreds of letters in my possession. There was never
a more enthusiastic horseman than Robert Bonner,
and his heart was adamant when you sought to per-
suade him to deviate even a little from the policy
which he had mapped out in the beginning. He was
not the slave of Dogma, but he kept faith with the
Church, while indulging a fancy for speed in light
harness. He did not pull the Church down to the
level of tricksters, but took the horse of high form
and action and lifted it into an atmosphere respected
by the Church. To do this was no easy task. Perse-
verance, tact, and courage were necessary to success.
From the memoranda published by Mr. Bonner in
the spring of I895 I extract:

" In July, i856, when I bought my first trotting
horse, there were only i9 horses, including the living
and the dead, that had trotted a mile in 2.30. Now
there are IO,539 in the list. In the summer of that
year, i856, I came near breaking down from over-
work. My personal friend and family physician,
Doctor Samuel Hall, advised me to get a horse and
take an hour's exercise every morning in the open
air. He not only gave me the advice, but he actually
purchased the horse for me. So that if I have done
anything to stimulate the interest that nearly all
Americans take in the trotting horse, the credit is
due in no small degree to Dr. Hall. The increase,
'5

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
when you come to think of it, in one man's life-
time, from i9 to 10,539, seems to be almost beyond
belief. . . . Besides such record-breakers as
Dexter, 2.171; Rarus, 2.13-1; Maud S., 2.08j, and
Sunol, 2.084, I own or have owned, Alfred S., rec-
ord 2. I 64; Edwin Forrest, record 2.I8-trial
2.Il+; Pickard, record 2.I84; Ansel, record 2.20;
Music, record 2.2I-; 1 Molsey, record 2.21+; Joe
Elliott, the first horse to trot a public trial in 2.ISJ;
NIay Bird, record 2.21 ; Peerless, trial 2.231 to
wagon- driven by Hiram Woodruff-the fastest
mile the great driver ever drove any horse; Elfrida,
record 2.I31; Grafton, record 2.22' ; Pocahontas,
record 2.264-trial 2.17+; Startle, the first Eastern-
bred three-year-old to get a record of 2.36, and the
first horse to trot a public trial on Fleetwood in
2.19. To this list I could add Maud Macey, Lady
Stout, and several others with records better than
2.30; to say nothing of Lady Palmer and Flatbush
Maid, the first team to trot a public trial in 2.26,
over thirty years ago."

Among the brood mares enumerated by Mr. Bon-
ner were Russella, own sister to Maud S.; Jessie
Kirk, dam of Majolica, record 2.15, and Miss Ma-
jolica, 2.241; Daybreak, by Harold (sire of Maud
S.), dam Midnight (the dam of Jay-eye-see); Lady
Stout, the first trotter to beat 2.30 as a three-year-
old; Lady Winfield, sister to Sheridan, record
2.201; Lucy Cuyler, trial to skeleton wagon 2.154,
and a half mile to top road wagon at Fleetwood in
IL05; Manetta, trial 2.i6l, and Maud Macey, trial
2.I61. The performances of these horses were made
i6

ROBERT BONNER ON SHOEING
without the advantage of ball-bearing axles and pneu-
matic tires, which in the opinion of good judges
increased speed on an average from five to six
seconds.
In the memoranda of 1897 Mr. Bonner stated
that he had expended about 6oo,ooo in the purchase
of trotting horses. " To those friends who have
criticised me for having paid so much money for
horses, I may be pardoned for saying that I have
given away a much larger sum for religious and
benevolent purposes." Attention was modestly called
to the fact that over i00 horses with public records
could be traced to animals bred on his farm at
Tarrytown.
" But the thing of all others in connection with
horses, if I except the great benefit to my health
from driving them, which necessarily keeps me out
of doors, that has afforded me the most gratification
is the improvement I have been able to make in
the speed of those I have purchased, and the conse-
quent relief from suffering and lameness the poor
animals experienced after coming into my possession
and having their feet treated under my direction."
Mr. Bonner was the ablest student of the foot
of the horse and the greatest enthusiast on balancing
through shoeing that this country has produced, and
the hours that I spent with him in discussing this
subject and in following practical demonstrations
were hours dedicated to wisdom. I was his com-
panion in many long journeys, undertaken solely for
17

RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES
the purpose of studying hoof bearings and their in-
fluence on motion. The shelves of Mr. Bonner's
library in the house on West 56th Street, New York,
were filled with all the known writings on the anatomy
of the horse and the treatment of feet, and every
theory advanced was put to actual test in the black-
smith's shop. Although Mr. Bonner had great faith
in the originality of David Roberge, I heard him say
on more than one occasion that the " old man " could
not always be depended upon to wisely apply his
own laws. " I always want him with me when I
shoe Maud S. for a great performance, but not for
io,ooo would I allow him to direct her shoeing in
my absence." About the first thing that Mr. Bonner
did after Maud S. had been turned over to him by
Mr. Vanderbilt was to remove her shoes and change
the bearing of her feet. When his critics heard of
this, they predicted that he would ruin the mare,
that he would rob her of her speed, but, under the
shoeing of her new owner, she twice reduced her
record, a thing that would have been impossible had
she remained as she was when delivered.
Right here I deem it appropriate to introduce an
extract from a paper read by Mr. Bonner at a meet-
ing of