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diff --git a/old/54716-0.txt b/old/54716-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fc084cf..0000000 --- a/old/54716-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6541 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Horse in America, by John Gilmer Speed - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Horse in America - A practical treatise on the various types common in the - United States, with something of their history and varying - characteristics - -Author: John Gilmer Speed - -Release Date: May 13, 2017 [EBook #54716] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HORSE IN AMERICA *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE HORSE IN AMERICA - - -[Illustration: - - Original lithograph published by Currier & Ives. - - FLORA TEMPLE - - This remarkable mare was the first trotter to go a mile better than - 2.20. For more than six years she was called “Queen of the Trotting - Turf.” Nothing is known as to her breeding, but from 1853 to 1859 - she beat all the good horses in the country. She was a light bay, - 14⅛ hands in height, and weighed 835 pounds when in training. -] - - - - - The Horse - IN AMERICA - A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE VARIOUS TYPES COMMON IN THE UNITED STATES, - WITH SOMETHING OF THEIR HISTORY AND VARYING CHARACTERISTICS - - - BY - JOHN GILMER SPEED - -[Illustration] - - _Illustrated_ - - NEW YORK - McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. - MCMV - - - - - _Copyright, 1905, by_ - McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. - _Published, October, 1905_ - - - - - THIS BOOK - THE AUTHOR DEDICATES TO HIS FRIEND - COLONEL CLARENCE R. EDWARDS, U.S.A. - WHOSE INHERITED LOVE FOR HORSES HAS - BEEN CULTIVATED BY STUDY AND - STRENGTHENED BY PRACTICE - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - INTRODUCTION - CHAPTER ONE PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES - CHAPTER TWO ARAB AND BARB HORSES - CHAPTER THREE THE THOROUGHBRED IN AMERICA - CHAPTER FOUR THE MORGAN HORSE - CHAPTER FIVE MESSENGER AND THE EARLY TROTTERS - CHAPTER SIX RYSDYK’S HAMBLETONIAN AND THE STANDARD BRED TROTTERS - CHAPTER SEVEN THE CLAY AND CLAY-ARABIAN - CHAPTER EIGHT THE DENMARK, OR KENTUCKY SADDLE-HORSE - CHAPTER NINE THE GOVERNMENT AS A BREEDER - CHAPTER TEN FOREIGN HORSES OF VARIOUS KINDS - CHAPTER ELEVEN THE BREEDING OF MULES - CHAPTER TWELVE HOW TO BUY A HORSE - CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE STABLE AND ITS MANAGEMENT - CHAPTER FOURTEEN RIDING AND DRIVING - CHAPTER FIFTEEN TRAINING VS. BREAKING - CHAPTER SIXTEEN CONFORMATION AND ACTION - INDEX - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -There have been so many books written about horses that in offering a -new one I feel that an explanation, if not an apology, is due. And I am -embarrassed as to how to frame the explanation without seeming to -reflect on the books previously given to the public. Nothing could be -further from my desire. Most of these previous books have been devoted -to special kinds or types of horses without any effort to cover a very -broad field. Some others have been frankly partizan with the avowed -purpose of proving that this type or that was the only one that was -worth serious consideration. All these are interesting, but valuable -chiefly to the careful student bent on going into the subject of horse -breeding and horse training in all of its branches. To do this an -ordinary reader would have to study half a hundred books with the danger -of becoming confused in the multiplicity of theories and conflicting -statements and with the final result of knowing as little in the end as -in the beginning. In this modest little volume I have endeavored briefly -to show how the horses in America have been developed and have come to -be what they are to-day. If I have succeeded even partly in my purpose I -will have my ample reward; if I fail, my book will end on a few dusty -library shelves along with hundreds of others on kindred subjects. - -There is a peculiar characteristic of most writers on the horse. Let a -man be ever so fair in his ordinary business and social life, he is apt, -when he becomes interested in horses, to throw away his judicial -attitude and change into an advocate who sees only one side. When his -interest in that one side carries him to the length of writing, the -tendency is to be so partizan that he is even discourteous to others who -do not agree with him. This queer disposition to wrangle and dispute is -due, no doubt, to the fact that horse breeding is not yet by any means -an exact science, and the data, guiding even those who exercise the -greatest care and intelligence, is not trustworthy. We do not know with -certainty how any of the great types has been produced, for the -beginnings of all of them are covered up by fictions, based on -traditions not recorded, but handed down from generation to generation, -or on fictions that have been manufactured with ingenious mendacity. All -this is a pity, but there is no help for it now. What we can do is to -tell what is true, show what has been demonstrated by known achievements -and go on working in the material that we have at hand, so that we may -assist in increasing the great property value that this country has in -its horses. - -That property value is immense. In the beginning of 1905, the -Agricultural Department estimated that the (taxable) value of the horses -in the United States was $1,200,310,020, and of mules $251,840,378, or a -total of $1,452,150,398. This is only about eight per cent less than the -aggregate value of the cows, beef cattle, sheep and hogs in the whole -country. Merely, therefore, from an economic standpoint this question of -preserving and increasing the value of horses is one of prime -importance. At this particular time it is a question not only of -increasing, but even of preserving, this value, for new agencies are -coming into competition with horses for many purposes and are being -substituted for horses in many others. The automobiles and the electric -tramways are not merely passing fads. They have come to stay until -substituted by something else which has not yet swum into our ken. The -common horses will soon be obsolete except on our farms, and even on the -farms they ought to be given up, for, notwithstanding all the great -breeding establishments in the various states, by far the greater number -of the horses are bred on the farms at present. That should always be -the case; but it may not be so when the time comes that is rapidly -approaching and a common horse will have next to no value at all. -Farmers more than others need to realize that only such horses should be -bred that will have a value for other than strictly farm work, for a -farmer should be able to sell his surplus stock with a fair profit. If -farmers have not the foresight to anticipate the inevitable, then they -will have to accept the loss that will surely ensue. - -Every breeder whether farmer, amateur or professional, should breed to a -type. Any other method is merely a haphazard waste of time and money. -When I say breed to a type, I mean always a reproducing type. There are -several such in this country, a few of which belong to us, though most -of them are of foreign origin. The Thoroughbred is English, the -Percheron is French, the Hackney is English, the Orlof is Russian, the -Clydesdale is English, the Morgan is American, the Denmark is American, -the Clay-Arabian is American, and the standard bred trotter a kind of -“go-as-you-please” mongrel; nevertheless he is considered by many the -noblest achievement of intelligent American horse breeding. When any one -goes in for horse breeding on either a small or a large scale, whether -with one mare or with one hundred mares, he should, in selecting mates, -always strive for a definite type in the foal. If intelligence and -correct information be guided by experience the results are apt to be -pleasantly satisfactory. - -The first cardinal principle of horse breeding was formulated in England -a century and a half ago in the expression: “Like begets like.” This -rule has been followed in the creation and maintenance of all the great -horse types in the civilized world, and singularly enough all of them, -both great and small in size, have descended from Arab and Barb stock. -This concise rule of breeding, “Like begets like,” has been -misunderstood by some who did not take a sufficiently comprehensive view -of it. This likeness does not refer merely to one thing; not to blood -alone, nor to conformation, nor to performance; but to blood and to -conformation and performance, but most of all to blood. Where blood -lines, as to likeness, are disregarded, and conformation and performance -are alone considered, the result is sure to be a lot of mongrels, some -of them, it is true, of most surpassing excellence, but as a general -thing, quite incapable of reproducing themselves with any reasonable -certainty. - -The great danger always in breeding horses and other domestic animals -with the idea of improving a type or a family, is that mongrels may be -produced. A mongrel is an animal that results from the union of -dissimilar and heterogeneous blood. An improved and established -reproducing type has hitherto been, and probably always will be, the -result of the mingling of similar and homogeneous blood, crossed and -recrossed until the similar becomes consanguineous. The Arab and Barb, I -have said, are the foundation in blood of all the great types from the -Percheron to the Thoroughbred. To be sure, other and dissimilar blood -was used in the beginning of the making of all the types, but there was -such crossing and recrossing, such grading up by a selection of mates, -that the blood became similar, and the rule: “Like begets like,” being -constantly followed a type becomes established. - -When a type has been established and is of unquestioned value to the -world, it should be preserved most carefully. The French, the Russians, -the Germans and the Austrians do this by means of Governmental breeding -farms. The English accomplish the same result by reason of the custom of -primogeniture and entailed estates. Continuity in breeding is essential -to its complete success. In this country when a breeder dies, his -collection of horses is usually dispersed by sale to settle his estate. -Considering our lack of Governmental assistance we have done amazingly -well to become the greatest horse-producing country in the world. Our -greatness, however, is mainly due to the vastness of our area, the -fertility of our soil and consequent cheapness of pasturage, and to the -high average intelligence of the American people. We have not exercised -the scientific intelligence in breeding that some European people have -done. So as breeders we have not a great deal to be proud of. We have -done better as to quantity than quality. But we can do better, and I am -sure that we will, for the time is hard upon us when the four-year-old -horse that is not worth $300 in the market will not be worth his keep. - -There is, however, an important public aspect to this question of -improving and maintaining the breed of horses. Without good horses for -cavalry the efficiency of an army is very much crippled. When our Civil -War broke out horseback riding in the North had as an exercise for -pleasure been generally given up, and nine-tenths of the men who went -into the service on the Union side could not ride. On the other hand, at -least seven-tenths of those who went into the Confederate army could -ride. Moreover, the North had a scant supply of horses fit for cavalry, -while in many States of the South such animals were abundant. Here we -had on one side the material for a quickly-made cavalry, and on the -other side practically no material either in horses or men for such a -branch of the army. Critics of the war attribute the early successes of -the South to the superiority of the cavalry. The Northern side was -obliged to wait for nearly two years before that arm of the service was -equal to that of the South. Thus, this distressful war was probably -continued for more than a year longer than it would have been had the -two sides in the beginning been equally supplied with riders and riding -horses. And in the Japanese-Russian War, now in progress, the Japanese -are hampered dreadfully by their lack of cavalry. They have beaten the -Russians time and again only to let the Russians get away because of the -Japanese inability, from lack of horses and horsemen, to cut off the -line of retreat. It is a most distressingly expensive thing to be -without horses in time of war; unless proper horses are abundant in time -of peace, and the people who own them use them under the saddle, when -war comes there is a scarcity of men who know how to ride. Good material -for cavalry in horses and men is an excellent national investment. - -In addition to my chapters on the breeding of various types I have added -several others on the keeping, handling and using of horses so that if -an owner have only this one book, he may be able to have at least a -little useful information of many sorts and kinds. - - - - - THE HORSE IN AMERICA - - - - - CHAPTER ONE - PREHISTORIC AND EARLY HORSES - - -The paleontologists tell us that the rocks abound with fossils which -show that Equidæ were numerous all over America in the Eocene period. -These were the ancestors of the horse that was first domesticated, and -though there were millions of them on the Continent of North America in -the period mentioned there were no horses here at all when Columbus made -his great discovery, and the first explorers came to find out what this -new India was like. The remains of the prehistoric horse, when first -found, baffled the naturalists, and he was called by Richard Owen -Hyracotherium or Hyrax-like-Beast. The first fossils discovered showed -that the horse was millions and millions of years ago under twenty-four -inches in stature, with a spreading foot and five toes. In his -development from this beginning the horse furnishes one of the most -interesting examples of evolution. When he had five toes he lived in -low-lying, marshy land and the toes were needed so that he could get -about. He had a short neck and short jaws, as longer were not needed to -enable him to feed on the easily reached herbage. As the earth became -harder, the waters receding, his neck and jaws lengthened, as it was -necessary for him to reach further to crop the less luxuriant and -shorter grasses. He lost, also one toe after another so that he might -travel faster and so escape his enemies. These toes, of course, did not -disappear all at once, but grew shorter, until they hung above the -ground. The “splint bones” on a horse’s legs are the remains of two of -these once indispensable toes, while the hoof is the nail of the last -remaining toe. - -As the neck of the horse grew longer and two toes had been dropped, the -legs lengthened and by the time he became what the scientists call a -“Neohipparion” he was about three feet high, and his skeleton bore a -very striking resemblance to that of the horse of to-day. The teeth also -changed with the rest of the animal. In the earliest specimens -discovered the teeth were short crowned and covered with low, rounded -knobs, similar to the teeth of other omnivorous animals, such as monkeys -and hogs, and were quite different from the grinders of the modern -animal. When the marshy lands of the too-well watered earth had changed -into grassy plains the teeth of the horse also changed from short -crowned to long crowned, so that they could clip the shorter and dryer -grasses and grind them up by thorough mastication into the nutritious -food required for the animal’s well being. - -Indeed, the whole history of the evolution of the horse by natural -selection is a complete illustration of adaptation to environment. Even -to-day in the Falkland Islands, where the whole surface is soft, mossy -bogland, the horses’ feet grow to over twelve inches in length, and curl -up so that frequently they can hardly walk upon them. Where we use -horses on hard, artificial roads it is necessary to have this toe-nail -or hoof pared, and protected by shoes. - -Where the horse was first domesticated is a matter of dispute upon which -historians are not at all agreed. Some say it was in Egypt, some select -Armenia, and some content themselves with the general statement that -horses were indigenous in Western and Central Asia. It would be -interesting to go into this discussion were it not that it would delay -us too long from the subject in hand. At first they were used only in -war and for sport, the camel being used for journeys and transportation, -and the ox for agriculture. Indeed, I fancy the horse was never used to -the plough until in the tenth century in Europe. The sculptures of -ancient Greece and contemporaneous civilizations give us the best idea -obtainable of what manner of animal the horse was in the periods when -those sculptures were made. Mr. Edward L. Anderson, one of the most -careful students of the horse and his history, says: “Whether Western -Asia is or is not the home of the horse, he was doubtless domesticated -there in very early times, and it was from Syria that the Egyptians -received their horses through their Bedouin conquerors. The horses of -the Babylonians probably came from Persia, and the original source of -all these may have been Central Asia, from which last-named region the -animal also passed into Europe, if the horse were not indigenous to some -of the countries in which history finds it. We learn that Sargon I. -(3800 B.C.) rode in his chariot more than two thousand years before -there is an exhibition of the horse in the Egyptian sculptures or proof -of its existence in Syria, and his kingdom of Akkad bordered upon -Persia, giving a strong presumption that the desert horse came from the -last-named region through Babylonian hands. It seems after an -examination of the representations on the monuments, that the Eastern -horse has changed but little during thousands of years. Taking a copy of -one of the sculptures of the palace of Ashur-bani-pal, supposed to have -been executed about the middle of the seventh century before our era, -and assuming that the bareheaded men were 5 feet 8 inches in height, I -found that the horses would stand about 14½ hands—very near the normal -size of the desert horse of our day. The horses of ancient Greece must -have been starvelings from some Northern clime, for the animals on the -Parthenon frieze are but a trifle over 12 hands in height, and are the -prototypes of the Norwegian Fiord pony—a fixed type of a very valuable -small horse.” - -The British horse is as old as history. He was short in stature and -heavy of build. New blood was infused by both the Romans and the -Normans, and when larger horses were needed to carry heavily-armored -knights, Flemish horses were introduced both for use and breeding, so -that by the time the Oriental blood was introduced they had in England -many pretty large horses, resembling somewhat the Cleveland Bay of the -present time, though not so tall by three or four inches, and not so -well finished. The horses that were first brought to America by the -English were such as I have suggested. But the first horses brought -hither were not English, but Spanish, and these were undoubtedly of -Oriental blood as were the horses generally in Spain after the Moslem -occupation. But when the Spanish first came there were no horses, as has -been said before, in either North or South America. Columbus in his -second voyage brought horses with him to Santo Domingo. But Cortez, when -he landed in 1519 in what is now Mexico, was the first to bring horses -to the mainland. They were the wonder of the Indians who believed that -they were fabulous creatures from the sun. The wild horses of Mexico and -Peru were no doubt descended from the escaped war horses of the Spanish -soldiers slain in battle. These escaped horses reproduced rapidly, and -the plains became populous with them. So, also, with the horses -abandoned by De Soto, who returned from his Mississippi expedition in -boats leaving his horses behind. Professor Osborn of the American Museum -of Natural History, has recently been conducting explorations in Mexico, -studying the wild horses there, and his conclusions are proof of the -accuracy of the surmises which have been made by the historians of the -early Spanish adventurers. - -Flanders horses were brought to New York in 1625 and English horses to -Massachusetts in 1629. Previous to these importations, however, English -horses had been landed in Virginia, and in 1647 the first French horses -reached Canada, being landed at the still very quaint village of -Tadousac. Indeed, during all the colonial times there were many -importations as well as much breeding, for on horseback was the only way -a journey could be taken, except by foot or in a canoe. They needed good -serviceable horses, and they obtained them both by importation and -breeding. I suspect that the general run of horses in the Colonial era -in New England and along the Atlantic seaboard was very similar to the -horse that is now to be found in the province of Quebec, Canada. Every -one who has visited this province knows that these habitant horses are -very serviceable and handy, besides being quite fast enough for a -country where the roads have not been made first class. Harnessed to a -calash, an ancient, two-wheeled, French carriage, they take great -journeys with much satisfaction to their drivers and small discomfort to -themselves. Then the Colonists had the Narragansett pacer, a horse -highly esteemed not only for speed but for the amble which made his slow -gait most excellent for long journeys. When Silas Deane was the -colleague of Benjamin Franklin at the French Court during the -Revolutionary War, he proposed getting over from Rhode Island one of -these pacers as a present for the queen. Indeed, there are those who -maintain stoutly that the virtues of the American trotter as well as the -American saddle-horse came from these pacers. That may be the case so -far as the trotters are concerned, for of the horses bred to trot fast, -as we shall presently see, more are pacers than trotters. As a matter of -fact, however, Barbs are apt to pace, and these Narragansetts may have -had such an origin. In the blood of all our horse types there is some -proportion of Barb blood, and we find pacers among all except -Thoroughbreds. I am sure I never saw a Thoroughbred that paced, or heard -of one. - -The history of the American horses with which we are concerned to-day -may be said to have begun after the War of the Revolution. But the basic -stock upon which the blood of the post-revolutionary importations was -grafted was most important and also interesting. It was gathered from -every country having colonies in North America and blended after its -arrival. The Spanish and French blood was strongly Oriental and mixed -kindly with that from Holland and England. At any rate, when Messenger -came in 1788 and Diomed in 1799 there was good material in the way of -horse-flesh ready and waiting to be improved. - - - - - CHAPTER TWO - ARAB AND BARB HORSES - - -The Arab horse from Nejd and the Berber horse from Barbary are the most -interesting and most important specimens of the equine race. This has -been the case as far back as the history of the horse runs and tradition -makes it to have been so for a much longer period. And, moreover, these -horses in the perpetuation of established European and American types -are as important to-day as ever. From this Nejdee Arabian and Berber of -Barbary have sprung by a mingling of these ancient bloods with other -strains, all of the reproducing horse types of signal value in the -civilized world, including the Percheron of France, the Orlof of Russia, -the charger of Austria, the Thoroughbred of England, the Morgan of -Vermont, Mr. Huntington’s rare but interesting Clay-Arabians of New York -and the Denmarks of Kentucky. The same is the case with other types or -semi-types, but I only particularize these because the mere mention of -them shows to what uses this singularly prepotent blood can be put when -the two extremes of equine types, and those between the extremes as -well, appear to owe their reproducing quality to the blood of these -handsome little animals that have been bred, preserved and, so far as -possible, monopolized by the nomadic tribes of Barbary and of Nejd. Nejd -comprises the nine provinces of Central Arabia, while the Berbers wander -all through the Barbary states which consist of Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, -and Tripoli, but keep as remote as possible from what European influence -that exists in that section of the world. - -[Illustration: - - NIMR (ARAB) - - Imported by Randolph Huntington -] - -To most horsemen in America the name of Arab is anathema. They will have -none of him. So far as their light goes they are quite right in their -prejudice. But prejudice in this instance, as in most others, is the -result of ignorance. And I trust in the light of what I shall say about -the Nejdee Arabian, the Berbers of Barbary and the influence of this -blood on the equine stock of the world, I may say this without any -offense. If I give the offense then I preface it with the apology that I -mean none. The truth is that seven out of ten of the Arabian horses -taken into Europe or brought to America have been inferior specimens and -not of the correct breed; twenty per cent at least have been mongrels -and impostures, while of the remaining ten per cent not more than one -per cent have been correct in their breeding, conformation and capacity -to do what was expected of them. - -Some men reading the history of this type and that have persuaded -themselves that a few Arabs selected personally in Arabia would enable -them to beat their competitors as breeders and even to win against -horses that traced back one hundred or two hundred years ago to Arab and -Barb ancestors. Such folly always resulted in costly disappointment. -This folly and consequent disappointment will become manifest as my -narrative proceeds. But before going any further I do not wish any of my -readers to harbor the notion that I think an Arab would stand any chance -on an ordinary race-course to outrun an English Thoroughbred, or to -out-trot in harness or under saddle an Orlof or an American. I maintain -no such absurdity. But I do maintain that all these types, so that they -may preserve their reproductive capacities, must get from time to time -fresh infusions of this blood. That is why the purely bred Arabian—and -the Nejdee is the purest of all—is as valuable to-day as when the -Godolphin Barb and the Darley Arabian began the regeneration of the -English horse into that wonderful Thoroughbred, which is one of -England’s proudest achievements and most constant sources of wealth. - -Historical records dating back to the fifth century show that the best -quality and the greatest number of Arabian horses were to be found in -Nejd. They are also to be found there to-day, and the number has not, so -far as the records speak, increased. They have never been numerous, as -it has never been the policy of the chiefs to breed for numbers, but for -quality. It is not true, however, that a lack of forage was the -restraining cause of this comparative scarcity of horses in the very -section where they have been kept in their greatest perfection. As a -matter of fact, the pasture land of Arabia is singularly good. The very -desert, during the greater part of the year, supplies sufficient browse -for camels; while the pasture grass for horses, kine, and above all for -sheep on the upper hill slopes, and especially in Nejd, is first-rate. -To be sure there are occasional droughts, but few grazing countries in -the world are free from them. No, the scarcity in horses is not due to a -lack of food, but to two other reasons entirely satisfactory to the -chiefs of Nejd. Horses there are not a common possession and used by -all. On the contrary, their ownership is a mark of distinction and an -indication of wealth, as they are never used except for war and the -chase and racing, the camel carrying the burdens and doing the heavy -work of the caravans. The second reason for the scarcity is that Nejdee -horses are very rarely sold to be taken out of the province. This is not -the result of sentiment, but one purely of protection and the desire to -preserve a monopoly in a race that is easily the very purest in the -world. - -The traditions as to the origin of the Arabian horse are numerous. Some -hold that they are indigenous. If this were supported, then the -traditions would lose interest. But the traditions are interesting and -in general effect were thus expressed by the Emir Abd-El-Kader in 1854, -in a letter addressed to General Daumas, a division commander who served -long in Arabia and who was later a senator of France. He said that God -created the horse before man, and then this domestic animal was handed -down: “1st. From Adam to Ishmael; 2d, from Ishmael to Solomon; 3d, from -Solomon to Mohammed; 4th, from Mohammed to our own times.” This -tradition, it must be said, is very general and comprehensive in its -scope, but to the Arabs it has a significant meaning, as they claim that -Ishmael, the bastard son of Abraham, was not only one of themselves but -their founder, for is it not written in the Bible that when Hagar, the -concubine of Abraham, fled into the wilderness, an angel appeared to her -and said: - - “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be - numbered for multitude. Behold, thou art with child, and shalt - bear a son and shalt call his name Ishmael; and he will be a wild - man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand - against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his - brethren.” - -Indeed, this son of Abraham was the very personification of the Arabian -people throughout their whole history, and he needed horses as the -Arabian people have needed them ever since to assist in the forays and -expeditions which give to life its spice and its prize. Then again, -there is a tradition that Nejd got its horses from Solomon; another that -they came from Yemen. This seems to me the same tradition, for Yemen’s -ancient name was Sheba; and what more natural than for Solomon to have -rewarded with gifts of horses the Queen of Sheba’s people for giving him -one of his most satisfactory wives. Then there is a story that has been -builded up in our own days by a man who was a Methodist minister before -he became a manufacturer of trotting-horse pedigrees in this country. -This interesting man in his old age, if he did not resume the occupation -of his youth, did study the Bible in the endeavor to show that the -Arabian horses never had been much in quality and many in numbers, and -that their antiquity was not of any importance for they had not been -taken into Arabia from Armenia until the third century. A century or so -made little difference to a man like Wallace, who unwittingly gave to -these horses two centuries more of record than history really accounts -for. But whether the Nejdee Arabs were indigenous or brought into the -land by Ishmael, or sent by Solomon, or taken there by the Armenians, it -is certain that they were there a hundred years before Mohammed became a -prophet, and in characteristics of size, temper and performance they -were the same that we find to-day. So that gives us a long record of -fifteen centuries during which we know that the greatest care has been -taken to keep them pure in blood and to train them to the work for which -they were required. - -The tradition as to the Berber horse of Barbary is much simpler, as -these robber tribes have not developed poets or historians, and content -themselves with saying that the horses have always been there. And so -far as we are concerned that statement is as satisfactory as any other. -But we do know that supplies of these horses were obtained by Saladin in -his domestic wars, and were used also in his contests with the -faith-breaking crusaders who vainly tried to destroy the Moslem rule and -obtain perpetual possession of Jerusalem. From the earliest times it has -been a mooted point as to which was the superior, the Berber or the -Nejdee. Among the Europeans who have lived much in Egypt this is still a -disputed matter, and when Count de Lesseps was a young man he endeavored -to decide the question by a series of races at 4½ kilometers (about 2⅘ -miles). Other horses, however, were admitted. In the first heat there -were three Nejdee horses all bred in Cairo—the purity of the blood being -open to suspicion—and one Syrian horse. A Cairo-bred Nejdee was the -winner. In the second heat there were three Nejdee horses, one bred in -Cairo, and one Barbary horse from Tunis owned and ridden by Count de -Lesseps himself. The Barb won. In the third heat there were three Nejdee -horses, one of them ridden by de Lesseps, and one Samean horse. A -Cairo-bred Nejdee horse won. In the fourth heat there were three Nejdee -horses and one Egyptian horse from Abfeh. A Nejdee horse was the winner. -Then came the final heat between the winners of the trial heats. The -result was that the de Lesseps Barbary horse was first, a Cairo-bred -Nejdee horse was second, and Nejdee horses third and fourth. - -This trial was cited by General Daumas as evidence that at least the -Barb was not inferior to the Nejdee in fleetness. It only indicates to -me that Count de Lesseps was the shrewder of the contestants and had -selected the best individual animal among the sixteen competitors. -However, the Emir Abd-El-Kader believed in the superiority of the Barbs, -and as an instance of this, quoted the practice of Aamrou-El-Kais, an -ancient King of Arabia, who “took infinite pains to secure Barbary -horses wherewith to combat his enemies. He was doubtful of success if -obliged to trust himself to Arab horses. It is not possible, in my -opinion, to give a more invincible proof of the superiority of the -Barb.” This illustration may have been convincing to the learned -Musselman, but to-day we should want, I think, a more modern instance to -be satisfied; and we should want to know more of the individuals in the -de Lesseps’s trials than has been recorded. That the Barbs have had as -great influence in the creation of other types as the Nejdees is -undoubtedly true, for while it has never been easy to get the best -specimens of Barbary horses for exportation, it has never been so -difficult as to get Nejdee Arabians of equivalent excellence. The -Berbers were natives of Palestine and expelled by one of the Persian -kings. They emigrated to Egypt, but were refused permission to settle, -so they crossed over to the other side of the Nile. They were -adventuresome robbers, as they are to-day, and no doubt have taken their -horses with them from their first setting out from Palestine. So I quote -Abd-El-Kader again: “As for the Berbers themselves, everything proves -that they have been known from time immemorial, and that they came from -the East to settle in the Maghreb, where we find them at the present -day.” - -Europe did not know much of these Arab and Barb horses until the Arabs -and Moors invaded and conquered Spain. The invasion of Spain began in -the eighth century and the rule lasted until into the thirteenth -century, though the Moors held Grenada for two centuries later. What -became a conquest was begun merely as a raid for rich booty, and, of -course, the Arabs, of whom it has been said, “their kingdom is the -saddle,” were mounted. The Berbers, of course, took their horses, and it -is likely that during those long centuries, it was the first time out of -the Sahara that Arabian and Barb horses were bred extensively and their -blood united. It is undoubtedly a fact that after the expulsion of these -conquerors, Spain was well supplied with excellent horses, horses which -assisted the armies of Spain to hold what her navigators had discovered. -The pilgrims returning from Palestine, also told of the excellent horses -in the East, and the Crusaders, more practical men, had all the evidence -that they needed in their battles with the Musselman to enable them to -testify to the hardiness and the fleetness of the horses of the desert. -And so when lighter cavalry was needed to replace the heavily-armed -knights, whose armor the use of gunpowder had made obsolete, the -soldiers and statesmen of the seventeenth century knew where to look for -the blood that would improve the home-bred horses. It was as difficult -then as now to get Arabs and Barbs of the best blood, but some at least -were obtained, and from the beginning in England in the earliest years -of the eighteenth century we trace back to Eastern horses to find the -founders of the wonderful Thoroughbreds, which in their way are the best -horses the world has seen. In France, too, there were many importations -for the upbuilding of the native stock, but this took a different -direction, and we are not so much concerned with it as with the English. - -The English stud book of the Messrs. Weatherby, the first effort to keep -trustworthy records of the breeding of horses, begins with 1700, the -only Eastern horse mentioned before this being the Byerly Turk, a -charger used by Captain Byerly in Ireland in 1689. Then they had the -Darley Arabian, Markham’s Arabian, the Alasker Turk, Leede’s Arabian and -the Godolphin Barb. The most important of these were the Godolphin Barb -and the Darley Arabian. We do not know exactly whence any of these came, -nor do we know the pedigree of any. Indeed, to know, or pretend to know -the pedigree of a Nejdee or Berber horse is to show ignorance or to -confess imposture. The breeders do not keep or give pedigrees except -when they wish to bolster up the merits of an inferior animal. And then -they do it because they have been asked to do so by European or American -purchasers not acquainted with the Arab practices. It seems as sensible -to ask an Arab for the pedigree of a horse as to ask a diamond merchant -for the pedigree of a stone. The Arabs have had these horses time out of -mind. They know them to be purely bred. What more could a sensible man -want? But if the purchaser insists, then he may have any kind of -pedigree that seems to please him most. He can have pure Nejdee, pure -Barb, a cross between the two, or any admixture of Egyptian, Syrian, or -Turkish blood that best suits his taste. But as a matter of fact, these -Eastern pedigrees are pure fakes, merely made up things, such, for -instance, as the recorded pedigree of the famous Hambletonian, the -founder of the standard bred trotter in America. To the Arabs in their -breeding, pedigree makes no more difference in mating than it does to -the birds of the air or the beasts of the forest. They know that they -have animals of pure blood and that the progeny of them will still be -pure no matter how closely the parents may be related. There is -selection, of course, as inferior males are not permitted to be sires. -Instead of that they are sometimes destroyed, or sent to Syria and even -to Mesopotamia to serve the mares of those regions where the mares are -Arabs but not pure Nejdees. Here is one queer fact about the Arab and -Barb blood, and proof also of its wonderful prepotency. So long as it is -mingled with other blood not too heterogeneous, the most close -inbreeding appears not only to do no harm, but actually to do good. This -is particularly so with the English Thoroughbred, the American Morgan, -and the Kentucky Denmark. - -All we are told about the Darley Arabian is this. Mr. Darley of -Yorkshire, had a brother who was a merchant in Aleppo. This brother -brought home a black bay[1] stallion some 14 hands in stature, about -1700. He became in 1707 the sire of Flying Childers, the greatest -race-horse in England and the progenitor of most of those on the running -turf in America and England to-day. The dam of Flying Childers was also -rich in Oriental blood, as she was an inbred Spanker and Spanker was by -D’Arcy’s Yellow Turk from the daughter of Morocco Barb and Old Bald Peg, -the latter being by an Arab horse from a Barb mare. So we see that this -first great English race-horse was almost of pure Eastern blood. - -Footnote 1: - - A very unusual color for a Nejdee. - -Of Markham’s Arabian we only know that he met with the disapproval of -the then Master of Horse, the Duke of Newcastle, and had scant chance. -Of the Godolphin Barb we know very little previous to his coming to -England, where he was held in such little esteem that he was used as a -teaser for Hobgoblin. We are told, however, that he was first taken to -France and held of such little account that he was used as a cart horse, -in Paris. He was finally brought to England about 1725, and became the -property of Lord Godolphin. He was a brown bay, 15 hands high, and with -an unnaturally high crest. He served Roxana in 1731, the produce being -Lath, next to Flying Childers the greatest horse in England in the first -half of the eighteenth century. Roxana was by Bald Galloway, her dam -sister to Chanter by the Alasker Turk from a daughter by Leedes’s -Arabian and a mare by Spanker. Here we see again the value of these -crosses of Oriental blood. From the mating of the Godolphin Barb and -Roxana also came Cade, the sire of Regulus, the grandam of that most -marvelous horse, Eclipse. When all this had happened the English were -sure they were on the right road. And they have kept on that road with -great persistency, not going back, however, in my opinion, frequently -enough to the pure Nejdee and Berber stock for fresh infusions. That -they have not done this is natural enough, however. A breeder wants -results quickly. To get a collateral strain from fresh Arab and Barb -blood equal to the present thoroughbred would probably take fifty years. -No private breeder cares to do that. And the English government does not -officially breed horses. The French, the Austrians and the Russians all, -however, have agents in Arabia trying to buy the animals that are best -suited to do just what I have suggested. And they all succeed. It is too -much, however, to expect this from a private breeder.[2] - -Footnote 2: - - According to the reckoning of Major Roger D. Upton of the 9th Royal - Lancers, there were used in the formation of the English stud from the - time of James I, to the beginning of the 19th Century, Eastern horses - to this extent: 101 Arab stallions, 7 Arab mares, 42 Barb stallions, - 24 Barb mares, 1 Egyptian stallion, 5 Persian stallions, 20 Turkish - stallions, and 2 “Foreign” stallions, or 210 in all. In the popular - mind of all of these were classed as Arabs. This is not right, as the - real Arab is much purer in blood than the others, though the Barbs - have virtues by no means to be despised. - -One, however, in this country has had the courage and the tenacity of -purpose to do this. I allude to Mr. Randolph Huntington, of Oyster Bay -on Long Island. Mr. Huntington has mingled Arab and Barb blood with that -of the Henry Clay family to which he is very partial. His success in -creating a reproducing type has been demonstrated in the face of -handicaps that would have worn out the patience of a less tenacious and -determined man. This experiment of Mr. Huntington makes a story of its -own which I shall tell in a later chapter. - -[Illustration: RANDOLPH HUNTINGTON AND HIS IMPORTED ARAB MARE NAOMI, AND -FOAL] - -From the time that superior horses began to be imported into this -country, and that was in the Colonial era, there have always been a few -Arabs and Barbs brought over of various degrees of excellence. Of -course, all of the English Thoroughbreds were rich in the blood, -Messenger among them. They came also into Canada with the French, and -the Spaniards who had crossed the Mississippi and gone to California -from Mexico brought many horses all presumably of this breed. The hardy -Mustangs of the West, which were a very distinct type, were evidently -descended from the castaways of the Spanish explorers. To President -Jefferson there came a gift of Arab stallions and mares. These were sold -and the money turned into the treasury. After Ibraheem Pasha overran -Arabia in 1817, and took several hundred head of Nejdee horses to Egypt -it was easier for a time to buy them for exportation. And from there at -about this time there were several importations into America. This -supply, however, was soon exhausted, as the Egyptians are not skilled -horse breeders. Besides, the French got the pick of this captured lot. - -Then again, Teysul, King of Nejd, made a present of forty stallions and -mares to Abdul-Azeez, Sultan of Turkey. From this source came Zilcaadi, -the grandsire of the great Morgan horse Golddust, and also the Arab -stallion Leopard, given to General Grant in 1879, when the Barb, Linden -Tree, was also presented to him by the Sultan. It was with these two -Grant stallions, by the way, that Mr. Huntington began the experiment I -just alluded to. - -What gave the Arab horse a kind of disrepute in America was the -experiments of Mr. A. Keene Richards. Mr. Richards was a man of wealth -and education and a breeder of race-horses in the Blue Grass section of -Kentucky. In studying the history of the English Thoroughbred he came to -the conclusion he would like to get fresh infusions of the original -blood. He went to Arabia, and personally selected several stallions. -These he mated with his Thoroughbred mares, and when the colts were old -enough he entered them in the races. They were not fast enough to win -even when conceded weight. He went again, this was about 1855, taking -with him the animal painter, Troye. They took their time, and came back -with a superior lot. Mr. Richards tried over again the same experiment -with the same result. The colts did not have the speed to beat the -Thoroughbreds. It seems to me that any one except an incurable -enthusiast would have anticipated exactly what happened. If Mr. Richards -had waited several generations and then injected the new infusions of -the Arab blood, the result probably would have been quite different. The -Civil War came along about this time, however, and the experiment ended -in what was considered a failure. But that blood taken to Kentucky at -that time by Mr. Richards has been valuable in an unexpected way, for it -has been preserved in the half-bred horses in the horse-breeding -section, and it crops out all the time in those wonderful saddle-horses -of the Denmark strain, which are sent all over the country to delight -the lovers of horseback exercise as well as to monopolize the ribbons in -the horse shows. Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, in England, has had experiences -similar to Mr. Richard’s. But he has gone the same wrong road, and has -been in too much of a hurry. Continuity in breeding is something beyond -the capacity of an individual; his life is not long enough. That is why -every government should have a stud to keep up the standard of the -horses. In the United States the interests are so diverse that it is not -likely that this will soon be done in an extensive way, though already -begun on a small scale, but each State, whose people are horse breeders, -should do something of the sort, so that the success of an undertaking -might not depend upon the uncertain life and more uncertain fortunes of -any one man. - -In Arabia the horses are trained at a very early age. Indeed, the -suckling colt is handled almost from his birth. As a yearling he is -trained to obey, exercised with the halter and the bit. At two-years old -he is ridden gently but without fear of hurting him. At three there is a -let-up in his work, so that he may acquire his full growth; but he is -used enough to keep him from forgetting what he has been taught. At four -he is considered full-grown and is put to as hard service as the Arab -usually knows. It is a mistaken idea that the Arab horse is considered a -member of the family to which he belongs, and that he is pampered, -petted and caressed by the women and children, and stabled in the same -tents as his owners. Those are all fanciful ideas of the poets. On the -contrary, an Arab horse is early immured to hardships, so that in -emergency he may subsist on scant food and little water. Every one has -heard it said that an Arab would give his last crust to his horse rather -than eat it himself. I readily grant that in some cases he would do so, -and so would any other man of sense in a like predicament. The Arabs are -great robbers and wonderful chaps to run away. In the desert they do not -have telegraphs and telephones to intercept a fleeing thief. There it is -a question of the fastest and longest enduring horse. So of course, a -fleeing Arab, with his pursuers hot on his track, would give his last -crust to his horse rather than eat it himself. He would be a fool if he -did not. That last crust might be the very fuel that would keep life and -strength in his engine of escape. The Arab is not a sentimentalist -except when he talks or makes poetry. In his words he exhausts his whole -supply. Beneath them he is a very shrewd, cold and able man of affairs. - -In his horses the Arab has immemorially had the means to gratify his -vanity, to give him his best beloved sport, to enable him to make war, -and, above all, to run away. The distances that these horses can go on -scant rations and small quantities of water seem incredible, while that -they can carry heavy weight without inconvenience is entirely true, for -I have tried them. But we have heard weird stories of them from the -Arabic poets themselves, and also from the English who have used what -they could get for their sports in India, where pony racing has ever -been, since the English occupation, a most attractive diversion. A -frequent expression that one comes across in old books of life in India -is that some named Arab horse had a head so small that it could be put -in a quart cup. That, of course, was an absurd exaggeration, but they -undoubtedly have very small and handsome heads. Their heads, I am sure, -were never so small nor their necks so long as the painters have -represented the heads and necks of the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin -Barb to have been. At that time in England, however, the painters even -took the liberty of exaggerating the length of neck and diminutiveness -of head of the women who sat to them. It was the fashion of the time, -and to that fashion we owe the loss of correct likenesses of two of the -famous horses of those breeds that have left their impress upon the -fleetest racers in the world, besides contributing the reproducing -capacity to all the horse types that amount to anything in the civilized -world. - - - - - CHAPTER THREE - THE THOROUGHBRED IN AMERICA - - -In the previous chapter I have told, as well as I could, how the English -race-horse was developed by a commingling of Oriental blood with that of -horses that had been used for sporting purposes in our mother country. I -confess that my explanation must seem very slipshod to any who are -looking for a mathematically exact exposition of facts. Nothing would -have pleased me better than to have been able to gratify the natural -craving that people have for exactness. But I cannot be less general -than I have, for more specific information is not at my command. It was -simply demonstrated by practical experiments that the mixture of the -bloods mentioned produced a very fast and sturdy horse that was superior -to what had previously been known in England, together with the more -important fact that this new Anglo-Arab was a type that was reproducing -and kept on improving in speed and staying qualities so long as the -cardinal principle of breeding: “like produces like” was adhered to with -the comprehensive intelligence which made the rule embrace performance, -conformation and blood. To the narrow-minded the law “like produces -like,” indicates that the progeny of the fastest stallion and the -fastest mare, when breeding for speed, would be faster than either -parent. It is a well-known fact that mares whose fleetness and gameness -has been demonstrated by long careers on the turf are rarely successful -as dams. Of course, there have been exceptions to this general -statement, but notwithstanding these exceptions, the narrow-minded -application of the rule breaks down just at this point. It is likeness -in blood, conformation and general characteristics that the rule more -particularly refers to. At any rate, the English had, by the middle of -the eighteenth century, developed a distinctive type of horse of most -marvelous fleetness and courage and with a blood prepotency that has -been so great, that after a century and a half the Thoroughbred is as -much improved over what he was at the beginning as the beginners were -better than the common stock of England a century earlier. And this is -the type that we call to-day in America the Thoroughbred. - -The importation of the Thoroughbred into this country began in Colonial -Virginia, where there was then probably more sporting blood than there -is now, when it cannot be said to be at all pallid, but on the contrary -very red. The first Thoroughbred of which there is record, and the -record is not as exact as we should like, was brought to Virginia in -1730, by Messrs. Patton and Gist, and was called Bulle Rock. He was said -to have been foaled in 1718, and to have been sired by the Darley -Arabian, first dam by the Byerly Turk. That was good breeding, and the -gentlemen of Virginia accepted, to an extent, at least, the invitation -of Bulle Rock’s owners to use his services in improving the general -stock of the Old Dominion, for every now and then in the very oldest -records he appears in the genealogy. How good the horses were that were -landed in Virginia previous to this time, we can not say, but only -presume that they were as good as the importers could find and afford to -buy, for they were fox hunters and hard riders from the beginning of -their coming. After Bulle Rock’s coming to Virginia, very quickly -Dabster, Jolly Ranger, Janus, and Fearnaught followed. - -The South Carolinians were not long behind the Virginians in their -importations, and by 1760 a jockey club had been established in -Charleston, and regular race meetings were held. Many of the wealthy -land owners imported and bred horses for these contests. In the same -year that this club was founded, Colonel De Lancey, of New York, brought -out Lath from England, and a little later Wildair, the horse supposed by -some to have been the great grandsire of the dam of Justin Morgan, -founder of the Morgan type of Vermont. About the same time there came to -New York the Cub Mare and Fair Rachel, both still famous in the -pedigrees in the “American Stud Book.” These matrons found homes in -Virginia, and assisted in the making of those old time “four mile heat” -horses, the only kind which our ancestors deemed really first rate. -Before the Revolutionary War there was much racing in Long Island as -well as in Virginia and the Carolinas, but the great contests between -states and sections did not begin till a later date. During the -Revolutionary War there were few importations of Thoroughbreds, but when -the young country had a little recovered in her industries from the -effects of that conflict, the importations began again and in 1788 the -gray stallion Messenger, the founder in some measure of our trotting -stock, was brought out, and in 1799 the Derby winner Diomed—the most -important of all horses, so far as race-horses in America are -concerned—came out to Virginia. Of Messenger, much will be said in the -proper place; of Diomed, here is the place to speak of his record and -his influence on the Thoroughbreds born to America. As a race-horse he -was par excellence the horse of his day in England, carrying practically -everything before him while that day lasted. But he was kept in training -too long—for what may be called two days instead of one—and rather lost -his fame before he was retired to the stud. In the stud he was -successful, but was not fashionable, his standing fee being reduced to -two guineas before he was sold to Colonel Hoomes to be taken to -Virginia. In Virginia he was an immense success as a sire, and few -successful horses of American stock up to the present time lack a strain -of this blood. Among his American progeny were Sir Archie, Florizel, -Potomac, Peacemaker, Top Gallant, Hamiltonian, Vingt-un, Duroc, Hampton, -Commodore Trixton, the dam of Sir Henry and the dam of Eliza White. He -was in the stud only eight years in this country, but left an -imperishable impression. While he lived he dominated all other stallions -in America, and afterwards his sons worthily took his place. He was a -chestnut, 15.3 in stature, and was got by Florizel out of a Spectator -mare, her dam by Blank, grandam by Childers out of Miss Belvoir by Gray -Grantham, and so forth. The greatest race-horse of Diomed’s get in -America was Sir Archy; and Sir Archy rivaled his sire’s performances in -the stud. He was retired early and, living to a great age, had -opportunities denied to Diomed. - -[Illustration: - - LEXINGTON - - Bred by Dr. Warfield and owned by Mr. Ten Broeck and Mr. Alexander -] - -Before the death of Sir Archy, racing was well established in America in -several sections and was pre-eminently the sport of gentlemen. The -wagers made were heavy—would be considered heavy to-day when the sport -has become defiled by being very much of a gambler’s game—but the races -run were comparatively few. Section against section soon became -popular—the North against the South, Virginia against South Carolina, -Kentucky against Tennessee, and so on. The first, and in many regards -the most important of these contests, was a race at four mile heats over -the Union Course on Long Island in 1823, for a wager of $20,000 a side. -Sir Henry, the representative of the South, was by Sir Archy, dam by -Diomed and grandam by Bel Air. He was four years old, and carried 108 -pounds. Eclipse (or American Eclipse) was by Duroc, his dam being -Miller’s Damsel by Messenger. He was nine years old and carried 126 -pounds. So it will be seen that the contestants were both grandsons of -Diomed; indeed, Sir Henry was a grandson through both sire and dam. The -description of the race I take from that entertaining book, “Figures of -the Past,” by the late Josiah Quincy, with the consent of the -publishers, Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., of Boston. Here is what Mr. -Quincy wrote from his diary. - - “ECLIPSE” AGAINST THE WORLD - -“On the 27th of May, 1823, nearly fifty-seven years ago, there was great -excitement in the city of New York, for on that day the long-expected -race of ‘_Eclipse_ against the world’ was to be decided on the -race-course on Long Island. It was an amicable contest between the North -and the South. The New York votaries of the turf—a much more prominent -interest than at present—had offered to run _Eclipse_ against any horse -that could be produced, for a purse of $10,000; and the Southern -gentlemen had accepted the challenge. I could obtain no carriage to take -me to the course, as every conveyance in the city was engaged. Carriages -of every description formed an unbroken line from the ferry to the -ground. They were driven rapidly, and were in very close connection; so -much so that when one of them suddenly stopped, the poles of at least a -dozen carriages broke through the panels of those preceding them. The -drivers were, naturally, much enraged at this accident; but it seemed a -necessary consequence of the crush and hurry of the day, and nobody -could be blamed for it. The party that I was with, seeing there was no -chance of riding, was compelled to foot it. But after plodding some way, -we had the luck to fall in with a returning carriage, which we chartered -to take us to the course. On arriving, we found an assembly which was -simply overpowering; it was estimated that there were over one hundred -thousand persons upon the ground. The condition of the race were -four-mile heats, the best two in three; the course was a mile in length. -A college friend, the late David P. Hall, had procured for me a ticket -for the jockey-box, which commanded a view of the whole field. There was -great difficulty in clearing the track, until _Eclipse_ and _Sir Henry_ -(the Southern horse), were brought to the stand. They were both in brave -spirits, throwing their heels high into the air; they soon effected that -scattering of the multitude which all other methods had failed to -accomplish. And now a great disappointment fell, like a wet blanket, on -more than half the spectators. It was suddenly announced that Purdy, the -jockey of _Eclipse_, had had a difficulty with his owner and refused to -ride. To substitute another in his place seemed almost like giving up -the contest; but the man was absolutely stubborn, and the time had come. -Another rider was provided, and the signal for the start was given. I -stood exactly opposite the judges’ seat, where the mastering excitement -found its climax. Off went the horses, every eye straining to follow -them. Four times they dashed by the judges’ stand, and every time _Sir -Henry_ was in the lead. The spirits of the Southerners seemed to leap up -beyond control, while the depression of the more phlegmatic North set in -like a physical chill. Directly before me sat John Randolph, the great -orator of Virginia. Apart from his intense sectional pride, he had -personal reasons to rejoice at the turn things were taking; for he had -bet heavily on the contest, and, it was said, proposed to sail for -Europe upon clearing enough to pay his expenses. Half an hour elapsed -for the horses to get their wind, and again they were brought to the -stand. But now a circumstance occurred which raised a deafening shout -from the partizans of the North. Purdy was to ride. How his scruples had -been overcome did not appear, but there he stood before us, and was -mounting _Eclipse_. Again, amidst breathless suspense, the word “Go!” -was heard, and again _Sir Henry_ took the inside track, and kept the -lead for more than two miles and a half. _Eclipse_ followed close on his -heels and, at short intervals, attempted to pass. At every spurt he made -to get ahead, Randolph’s high-pitched and penetrating voice was heard -each time shriller than before: ‘You can’t do it, Mr. Purdy! You can’t -do it, Mr. Purdy! You can’t do it, Mr. Purdy!’ But Mr. Purdy _did_ do -it. And as he took the lead what a roar of excitement went up! Tens of -thousands of dollars were in suspense, and, although I had not a cent -depending, I lost my breath, and felt as if a sword had passed through -me. Purdy kept the lead and came in a length or so ahead. The horses had -run eight miles, and the third heat was to decide the day. The -confidence on the part of the Southern gentlemen was abated. The manager -of _Sir Henry_ rode up to the front of our box and, calling to a -gentleman, said: ‘You must ride the next heat; there are hundreds of -thousands of Southern money depending on it. That boy don’t know how to -ride; he don’t keep his horse’s mouth open!’ The gentleman positively -refused, saying that he had not been in the saddle for months. The -manager begged him to come down, and John Randolph was summoned to use -his eloquent persuasions. When the horses were next brought to the -stand, behold the gentleman[3] appeared, booted and spurred, with a red -jacket on his back, and a jockey cap on his head. On the third heat -_Eclipse_ took the lead, and, by dint of constant whipping and spurring, -won by a length this closely contested race. - -Footnote 3: - - Arthur Taylor, a Virginian. - -“There was never contest more exciting. Sectional feeling and heavy -pecuniary stakes were both involved. The length of time before it was -decided, the change of riders, the varying fortunes, all intensified the -interest. I have seen the great Derby races; but they finish almost as -soon as they begin, and were tame enough in comparison to this. Here for -nearly two hours there was no abatement in the strain. I was unconscious -of everything else, and found, when the race was concluded, that the sun -had actually blistered my cheek without my perceiving it. The victors -were, of course, exultant, and Purdy mounted on _Eclipse_, was led up to -the judges’ stand, the band playing, ‘See the Conquering Hero Comes.’ -The Southerners bore their losses like gentlemen, and with a good grace. -It was suggested that the comparative chances of Adams and Jackson at -the approaching presidential election should be tested by a vote of that -gathering. ‘Ah,’ said Mr. Randolph, ‘if the question of the Presidency -could be settled by this assembly, there would be no opposition: Mr. -Purdy would go to the White House by acclamation.’” - -[Illustration: - - TEN BROECK (THOROUGHBRED) - - Bred and owned by John Harper -] - -The first heat was run in 7.37½, the second in 7.49, and the third in -8.24. Not very fast time considering what has been done since; and -contemptible according to the pretensions made by race-horse owners of -the present day, when “four-mile heats” are obsolete because they -interfere with the _business_ of the sport, and do not give the -bookmakers frequent enough chance to turn over the money of the public. -They base these pretensions on the performance of Lucretia Borgia, a -four-year-old, that ran a four-mile dash in 1897, in California, in -7.11, carrying eighty-five pounds. I have no doubt that the -Thoroughbreds of the present are much faster than those of 1823, but the -only way to compare them as to gameness and bottom is to have them -repeat and repeat again, and see whether or not this increased fleetness -is maintained. Probably it will not be done, for the one-time sport of -gentlemen is nowadays very much a mere gambler’s game. - -The next great contest that old-time racing men spoke of with a respect -that was akin to awe was that between Gray Eagle, a Kentucky horse, by -Woodpecker out of Ophelia by Medley, and a Louisiana horse, Wagner, by -Sir Charles out of Maria West by Marion, at four-mile heats. This was at -Louisville in 1839. Wagner won the first two heats, Gray Eagle being -badly ridden, in 7.48 and 7.44. This race was run on a Monday. The -following Saturday the race was repeated. Gray Eagle won the first heat -in 7.51; Wagner took the second heat in 7.43. Gray Eagle broke down on -the second mile of the third race, and no time was kept. Though I was -not born for many years after these races were run, they were so -important in the history of the neighborhood where I lived and such -frequent topics of conversation that I sometimes have difficulty in -persuading myself that I was not present. In this I somewhat resemble -the gallant King of England, who believed that he was at the battle of -Waterloo. - -Kentucky had become prominent before this time as a breeding place for -Thoroughbreds. The Kentuckians, mainly from Virginia in the early days, -were horse lovers by inheritance and habit, so they took with them to -their new homes very little but good stock. They were not impoverished -adventurers seeking new pioneer homes because they had failed in the -places of their birth. Not a bit of it. They were well born and of good -substance, and they went to this new country to found estates, for the -gentlemen of that period had not outgrown the Elizabethan land hunger -which took so many of the cavaliers to Virginia in an earlier century. -That they took good horses with them was a matter of course. And -arriving there they found that the native blue grass, which grew -plentifully even in the woods, was pasturage upon which horses -flourished mightily. The advertisements in the _Kentucky Gazette_ from -1787 to 1805 show that there were many Thoroughbred stallions standing -in the neighborhood of Lexington during those years, and not a few of -them were imported from England, the others coming from Virginia, the -noble pedigrees being printed at full length, with references nearly -always to the Newmarket Racing Calendar to substantiate the turf -performances of the sires advertised. So Kentucky was prepared with -stock of her own to take the place of the Virginia horse breeders when -the wasteful methods of agriculture, and the costly habits of -hospitality, had impoverished the mother State and made racing a sport -too expensive for the depleted purses of the gentlemen who stayed at -home. The Sir Archy blood was what the Kentuckians seem to have been -after, and soon there was more of it in Kentucky than in Virginia. Some -six of Sir Archy’s sons stood in the neighborhood of Lexington at one -time, and there were mares there fit to mate with Diomed’s grandsons. - -The Whip family were also well represented, and among the other English -stallions taken thither may be mentioned Buzzard, Royalist, Dragon, -Speculator, Spread Eagle, Forrester, Alderman, Eagle, Pretender, -Touchstone and Archer. All a reader, who wishes to go deeper, needs to -do is to look at the stud book and see what pure and royal blood the -Kentuckians were working with to make that foundation stock which made -the State so famous, that at this time there are more Thoroughbreds -foaled there than in all the other States of the Union combined. - -The breeders there were amateurs, however—men who bred for the love of -the horse and the love of sport—until Mr. Robert A. Alexander began his -operations at the famous Woodburn farm, where the breeding of -Thoroughbreds was more extensively carried on than in any other place in -the world. Mr. Alexander was a native Kentuckian, but educated at -Cambridge in England. He died at forty-eight, but he gave a great -impetus to stock breeding in Kentucky. When I first visited Woodburn, -the great Lexington was at the head of the stud. Later Mr. Alexander, as -well as his brother and successor, had many other great stallions and -brood mares, and colts and fillies from this farm for a score of years -captured the richest prizes of the American turf. The history of -Woodburn from 1850 to 1880 would almost amount to the same thing as a -history of Thoroughbred breeding in Kentucky for that period, though -there were many other smaller breeders, as there are now, when the James -B. Haggin Elmendorf farm has taken the premier place, and that, too, on -a very much larger scale even than Alexander’s Woodburn. As it was in -Alexander’s time, however, the smaller breeders, particularly Mr. Keene -and Mr. Belmont, are still fortunate in producing most admirable horses; -and it will be a bad thing for the Thoroughbred industry in Kentucky -when this is no longer so. The result of a monopoly of breeding horses -would be the same as the result produced by the trusts in oil, in steel -and in beef; the industry would be controlled by one man, or several in -combination, and the only competition that would remain would be between -the men who attend to the gambling end of the game. This is not likely -to happen, unless a corporation be formed to take over the chief -breeding farms, for in nine cases out of ten, when an owner dies, his -horses are sold and his collection dispersed so as to settle his estate. - -After the Gray Eagle-Wagner race, the next one that was watched with -breathless interest by the whole country was the match at four-mile -heats between Fashion and Boston for $20,000 a side. This was run on -Long Island in 1842, and both heats were won by Fashion, the time being -7.32½ and 7.45. The time of this race, it will be seen, was an -improvement on that of the Eclipse-Sir Henry race, and also on the time -in the race between Gray Eagle and Wagner. It was called a match between -North and South, and the North was again the winner. Fashion was bred in -New Jersey, and was by Commodore Stockton’s imported stallion Trustee -out of the Virginia bred mare, Bonnets o’ Blue. Boston came from -Virginia, and was by Timoleon out of Robin Brown’s dam by Florizel. -Boston was a grandson of Sir Archy, and foaled in 1833. From the time of -his training as a three-year-old until he met Fashion, six years later, -he had campaigned all over the country and had meet with almost -universal success. He was considered the greatest horse of his day, and -there are many students of Thoroughbreds who to-day consider that he was -the greatest influence for good of any horse ever bred in this country, -greater even than his very wonderful son, Lexington. - -The last great race—classic races, the turf writers call them—prior to -the Civil War, was at New Orleans, between two sons of Boston—Lexington -and Lecompte. The former was out of Alice Carneal by imported Sarpedon, -the latter out of Reel by imported Glencoe. This race was in 1854 and, -of course, at four-mile-heats, for the Great State Post Stakes. The city -of New Orleans, the place of the race, was packed with visitors from all -over the country. Lecompte won the two first heats, the time being 7.26 -and 7.38¾. Mr. Richard Ten Broeck, the owner of Lexington, was so -dissatisfied that he tried to arrange a match with Lecompte. This came -to nothing, so he issued a challenge to run Lexington against Lecompte’s -time, 7.26, which was the record. This challenge was accepted and the -trial was made over the Metarie Course in New Orleans in April, 1855. -The most famous jockey of the time, Gil Patrick, was taken from Kentucky -to ride Mr. Ten Broeck’s horse, and again the sporting world of the -country crowded to New Orleans. Lexington beat the record, doing the -four miles in 7.19¾, and Mr. Ten Broeck was $20,000 richer for his -belief in his horse. There was at that time, and is now for that matter, -a feeling that a record made against time is not so satisfactory as one -made in an actual race, so the friends of Lecompte were not cast down by -Lexington’s performance. This trial against time took place on the 2d of -April. On the 24th of April was to be run the Jockey Club Purse of -$1000, and both Lecompte and Lexington were entered. Mr. Ten Broeck and -General Wells, the owner of Lecompte, bet $2500 against each other, -though in the general betting Lexington was the favorite at $100 to $80. -A writer of the day thus describes the race: - -“Both animals were in the finest possible condition, and the weather and -the track, had they been manufactured to a sportsman’s order, could not -have been improved. At last the final signal of ‘Bring up your horses’ -sounded from the bugle; and prompt to call Gil Patrick, the well-known -rider of Boston, put his foot in Lexington’s stirrup, and the negro boy -of General Wells sprang into the saddle of Lecompte. They advanced -slowly and daintily forward to the stand, and when they halted at the -score, the immense concourse that had, up to this moment, been swaying -to and fro, were fixed as stone. It was a beautiful sight to see these -superb animals standing at the score, filled with unknown qualities of -flight, and quietly awaiting the conclusion of the directions to the -riders for the tap of the drum. - -“At length the tap of the drum came, and instantly it struck the -stationary steeds leaped forward with a start that sent everybody’s -heart into his mouth. With bound on bound, as if life were staked on -every spring, they flew up the quarter stretch, Lexington at the turn -drawing his nose a shadow in advance, but when they reached the -half-mile post—53 seconds—both were exactly side by side. On they went -at the same flying pace, Lexington again drawing gradually forward, -first his neck, then his shoulder, and increasing up the straight side -amid a wild roar of cheers, flew by the standard at the end of the first -mile three-quarters of a length in the lead. One hundred to seventy-five -on Lexington! Time, 1.49½. - -“Onward they plunge; onward without pause! What makes this throbbing at -my heart? What are these brilliant brutes to me? Why do I lean forward -and insensibly unite my voice with the roar of this mad multitude? Alas, -I but share the infatuation of the horses, and the leveling spirit -common to all strife has seized on all alike. Where are they now? Ah, -here they fly around the first turn! By Heaven! Lecompte is overhauling -him! - -“And so he was, for on entering the back stretch of the second mile the -hero of 7.26 made his most desperate effort, reaching first the girth, -then the shoulder, then the neck of Lexington, and finally, when he -reached the half-mile post, laid himself alongside him, nose by nose. -Then the mass, which during the few seconds of this special struggle had -been breathless with hope and fear, burst into a shout that rang for -miles, and amid the din of which might be heard here and there, ‘One -hundred even on Lecompte!’ - -“But this equality was only for a moment’s term. Lexington threw his eye -jealously askant; Gil Patrick relaxed a little of his rein, which up to -this time he had held close in hand, and without violence or startling -effort, the racer of racers stole ahead, gently, but steadily and -surely, as before, until he drew himself a clear length in the lead, in -which position they closed the second mile. Time, 1.51. - -“Again the hurrah rises as they pass the stand—‘One hundred to -seventy-five on Lexington!’—and swells in wider volume when Lexington -increases his one length to three from the stand to the turn of the back -stretch. In vain Lecompte struggled; in vain he called to mind his -former laurels; in vain his rider struck him with the steel; his great -spirit was a sharper spur, and when his tail fell, as it did from this -time out, I could imagine he felt a sinking of the heart as he saw -streaming before him the waving flag of Lexington, now held straight out -in race-horse fashion, and anon nervously flung up as if it were a plume -of triumph. - -“‘One hundred to fifty on Lexington!’ The three lengths were increased -to four, and again the shout arose, as in this relative condition they -went for the third time over the course. Time, 1.51. - -“The last crisis of the strife had now arrived, and Lecompte, if he had -any resources left, must call upon them straight. So thought his rider, -for the steel went to his sides; but it was in vain, he had done his -best, while, as for Lexington, it seemed as if he had just begun to run. -Gil Patrick now gave him a full rein, and for a time as he went down the -back stretch, it actually seemed as if he were running for the very fun -of the thing. It was now $100 to $10 on Lexington, or any kind of odds, -but there were no takers. He had the laurel in his teeth and was going -for a distance. - -“But at this inglorious prospect Lecompte desperately rallied, and -escaped the humiliation by drawing himself a few lengths within the -distance pole, while Lexington dashed past the stand, hard in hand, and -actually running away with his rider—making the last mile in 1.52¼ and -completing the four in the unprecedented time of 7.23¾, I say -unprecedented, because it beats Lecompte’s 7.26, and is, therefore, the -fastest heat ever made in a match.” - -I have taken pains to transcribe this account of the race for a double -purpose. This race fixed Lexington’s place as the best horse in the -country and it was also his last public appearance. Then, again, I think -it interesting to show how the reporters of half a century ago dealt -with an important sporting event. After this race Lexington was taken -back to Kentucky and covered thirty mares without being thrown entirely -out of training. It was Mr. Ten Broeck’s intention to take the horse to -England and race him there. Unfortunately, exactly how even Mr. Ten -Broeck never knew, the horse was over-fed just before a long gallop and -went blind, so he never faced a starter after his contest with Lecompte -at New Orleans. Mr. Ten Broeck and Mr. A. J. Alexander meeting in -England, where Mr. Alexander had gone in search of a stallion for -Woodburn, a bargain was struck and Lexington changed hands for $15,000. -There never was a horse in Kentucky, or in the world for that matter, -that was held in such esteem as was Lexington. The feeling for him was -actually one of reverence. I remember being taken to see him when I was -a boy by my father. We felt and acted as though we were visiting a -shrine. When the sightless veteran was brought from his box it was the -most natural thing in the world for us to remove our hats. A few years -before I had been taken to the White House to see Mr. Lincoln. Upon my -word Lexington to me at the time seemed the greater and more impressive -of the two. - -This best four-mile record of Lexington lasted for nineteen years, when -one-quarter of a second was clipped from it at Saratoga by Fellowcraft, -a colt by imported Australian out of Aerolite, a daughter of Lexington. -This only lasted two years, when at Louisville it was beaten by Ten -Broeck, by Mr. Ten Broeck’s imported Phaeton[4], the dam being Fanny -Holten by Lexington. Ten Broeck’s time was 7.15¾. Mr. Ten Broeck, by the -way, was the first man to take American horses to race in England. He -met with moderate success and thoroughly persuaded the English that we -had first class horses in this country. His Prioress ran fifth for the -Goodwood Cup, much to the chagrin of the Americans who had backed her -heavily. Even the “Autocrat at the Breakfast Table” preached a charming -sermon on the occasion. It was left for Mr. Pierre Lorillard and Mr. -Keene to win classic events on the other side, the Derby for one, the -Grand Prix and Oaks for the other. Lexington’s great influence as a sire -was rather through his daughters; when bred to imported English sires -they were wonderfully successful in producing winners. The name of -Lexington probably recurs more frequently than that of any other horse, -except his own ancestors, in American Thoroughbred genealogies. - -Footnote 4: - - This splendid sire was not appreciated in Kentucky until after his - death. Lexington lost his eyes through neglect, and Phaeton actually - lost his life. So Mr. Ten Broeck had bad luck with the two best sires - he ever owned. But Lexington’s loss of his eyesight was probably - America’s gain, for it is very unlikely, if this great horse had ever - gone to England, that he would have been suffered to return. - -During the Civil War the breeding of Thoroughbreds was severely -interrupted, as in Kentucky and the South generally there were sterner -things to be done. Besides, the armies were always looking for horses -without any prejudices against Thoroughbreds, and the guerrilla bands -had an absolute fondness for them. It did not cease, but languished. -Immediately afterwards it started again, there being many new -importations from England, and in 1866 Jerome Park was opened and a new -era in racing began. In this new era the first horse to catch the -popular affection was Harry Bassett, by Lexington out of Canary by -imported Albion. This horse was the people’s idol, and whenever he was -to run the accommodations of the race-course were all too small to hold -the crowds. As a two and three-year old he won all of his engagements, -except the first, in which he started, when a blunder at the post took -away his chances. Although bred in Kentucky, the Kentuckians sought a -horse to clip his laurels, and the choice fell on old John Harper’s -Longfellow, by imported Leamington, dam Nantura (the dam, also, of Fanny -Holton, Ten Broeck’s dam). The two met at Long Branch for the Monmouth -Cup, two miles and a half, in July, 1872. Longfellow won so easily that -it was difficult to believe that Harry Bassett was at his best. And he -was not, for two weeks later at Saratoga, for the Saratoga Cup, two -miles and a quarter, Bassett won. One of Longfellow’s plates (shoes) -became twisted after he had gone a mile and a half, and for the -remaining distance the horse had the entire use of only three feet. They -never met again. In the stud Longfellow was a great success, and Bassett -practically a failure. The whole country watched for intelligence of -these two races, and they proved conclusively that the old-time sporting -blood of the people was as rich as it had been in the earlier years. - -[Illustration: LONGFELLOW AND OLD JOHN HARPER, WITH BOBBY SWIM IN THE -SADDLE] - -By this time the four-mile heat races, indeed, any kind of heat races, -were becoming unpopular with the managers of the turf, and both breeders -and trainers were called upon to turn out horses that could go shorter -distances at an increased rate of speed. Indeed, the English methods -were coming more into vogue. That the votaries of the turf might have -what they wanted, the breeders imported many new stallions and not a few -mares from England. The result was that what was needed for the new -style of racing was obtained. I have often had doubts whether this -change was a good thing either for the turf or for the breed of horses. -The short dashes enable the bookmakers to bet against six races in an -afternoon, and so largely increase the toll they levy on the public. The -racing stables are enabled to contest for more purses and so increase -their earnings. There is a greater demand for race-horses, so the -breeders have a larger and a better market. But, after all, the sport of -racing is only permitted because it tends to improve the breed of -horses; not race-horses alone, but because the Thoroughbred, when -crossed with other strains and types, tends to improve those types. Now, -does the blood of the new-fashioned horse assimilate so well with the -common blood as that of the more compact, and possibly sturdier, horse -of thirty or fifty years ago? My opinion is that it does not. The modern -race-horse is merely a racing machine, a racing machine very much as a -Herreshoff yacht is. The contrast between this racing machine and a -Denmark, a Morgan, or even an ordinary trotter is too great, and good -results from the crossing of the strains is hardly to be expected; but -the tendency is all towards greater speed for shorter journeys, and it -will doubtless continue until the men who encourage and insist on the -new style of racing bring racing under the ban of the law. Then will -come the deluge. The racing machine horses will not be worth their oats, -and the race-tracks will be cut up into building lots for suburban -villas. - -Between 1870 and 1880 the coming of the modern type was clearly -indicated, but the horses that were raced in that period were certainly -grand specimens. The Bonnie Scotlands were at this time particularly -strong. Among these Luke Blackburn, Glidelia, and Bramble were probably -the best. It is a pity that Bonnie Scotland did not have a better chance -in his earlier career. When he arrived in America it was at Boston, -whence he was taken to Ohio. It was only in 1872 that he joined the stud -of the Belle Meade Farm in Tennessee. He lived only a few years later, -but in 1882 the winnings of his get led the list. It was during this -period that Mr. Keene sent Foxall to Europe, where he won the Grand Prix -de Paris, was second to Bend Or for the City and Suburban, won the -Cesarewitch and other great stakes. Then there were Falsetto, Duke of -Magenta, Duke of Montrose, Aristides, Eolus, Grenada, Grinstead, Himyar, -Kingfisher, Monarchist, Sensation, Springbok, Tom Ochiltree, Uncas, -Virgil, and Spendthrift, the latter seeming to me to best represent the -virtues of the old and the new-fashioned horse than any other of this -middle period. But Bramble was the most useful of them all, being up to -any weight and ready to start every day in the week. - -The present period may be said to have begun at Coney Island in 1880. -There have been so many wonderfully fast horses developed in this -twenty-five years that even to enumerate them and their breeding would -take a book by itself. The chief characteristics of the breeding, -however, may be said to be in the larger infusions of the English blood, -the English having gone into the racing machine business before we did. -I shall have to content myself with going along very rapidly now, and -mention only those horses and events that have enduring prominence. One -of these horses was Hindoo, by Virgil, the winner of many of the -greatest stakes, and the sire of Hanover and many another star -performer. Thora, by Longfellow, was one of the greatest fillies that -ever looked through a bridle, and as a matron is one of the exceptions -to the rule that hardly worked race-horses rarely reproduce themselves -in their offspring. Miss Woodford, by Billet out of Fancy Jane, came -along about this time, and was so splendid a racer that she was more -than once barred in the betting as invincible. In 1884 was foaled -Hamburg, by Hindoo out of Bourbon Belle. This horse outclassed all of -his time, winning thirty-two races out of fifty starts, was thirteen -times second, three times third and unplaced only twice. His dam was by -imported Bonnie Scotland. We also had Firenzi, Troubadour, The Bard, and -Emperor of Norfolk. Among the most notable contests was that between -Salvator and Tenny in 1890, over the Coney Island Jockey Club track. -Salvator won the Suburban and a challenge was sent by Tenny’s owner for -$5,000 a side. Mr. Haggin, Salvator’s owner, accepted. Murphy rode -Salvator, and Garrison had the mount on Tenny. When the distance was -half over it seemed Salvator’s race in a gallop, but Tenny made up lost -ground in the last half, and Salvator won by only half a head. The first -mile had been run in 1.39¾, while the mile and a quarter was covered in -2.05. Mr. Haggin, who is said to be the most laconic and imperturbable -man alive, is reported to have remarked, with a sigh of relief when the -race was finished: “Uncomfortably close.” After this match Salvator made -one more distinguished appearance. This was at Monmouth Park, where, in -a mile straight away, he ran against time and covered the distance in -1.35½. Salvator was by imported Prince Charlie. Salvator was not a -success in the stud. - -[Illustration: - - DOMINO (THOROUGHBRED) - - Bred and owned by J. R. KEENE -] - -In 1893 appeared another popular champion in Mr. Keene’s Domino, a son -of Himyar out of Mannie Gray. Domino was the perfection of what I have -called a racing machine. He won the Futurity at two years old, carrying -130 pounds, but by a very narrow margin. As the chestnut colt Dobbins, -by Mr. Pickwick, had carried the same weight and seemed to have gained -on Domino in the last few strides, there were many, Dobbins’ owner -included, who thought Dobbins the better colt. So it was arranged that -they should run a match over the Futurity course, each carrying 118 -pounds. They ran like a matched team the whole distance, and the judges -not being able to separate them, it was declared a dead heat. The heat -was not run off. Domino made a clean sweep of his first season. The next -year he went amiss, and was retired to the stud. Though he only had one -or two seasons in the harem, he was a success, and his name will be -perpetuated in the American Stud Book. - -The next great horse after Domino was Hamburg, by Hanover out of Lady -Reel by Fellowcraft. This was a phenomenal race-horse during a long -career, and his get are now doing him honor on the turf. The colts by -imported Watercress have been most distinguished, and one, Waterboy, was -the star of his year. Indeed, the horses now winning the laurels seem to -be mainly by imported sires, though Ben Brush and Hamburg appear to be -holding their own as sires. - -These rapidly sketched events I have only meant as illustrations of the -four periods in the development of the English Thoroughbred in this -country. The first period was Colonial; the second period was up to the -Civil War; the third period from the end of the Civil War to 1880, and -the fourth from 1880 till the present writing. - - - - - CHAPTER FOUR - THE MORGAN HORSE - - -The Morgan horse is the most distinctive reproducing native type in -America, and has been so since the family was recognized as a type in -Vermont some seventy-five years ago. For symmetry, docility, -intelligence, sturdiness, and speed, the Morgans have been justly famous -and have met with the approval of good judges of horse-flesh during the -whole of their history. They reached their highest fame during the two -decades between 1850 and 1870. After that, both as a type and as a -family, they came near perishing, a victim to the desire, which merits -the name of craze, to produce trotting horses of phenomenal speed by -means of crossing and recrossing with the Hambletonian blood. That there -is a revival of Morgan breeding is an excellent thing for the country, -for the Morgan is about the best all-round, everyday, general utility -horse that this country has had and probably as good as any type in the -world. - -The renascence of the Morgan horse is due to the horse shows, which have -become deservedly popular in many parts of the United States. There are -those who speak of the horse shows rather contemptuously as society fads -in which the horses exhibited are of secondary importance and interest. -To many, who care nothing about horses and know less, it is doubtless -true that the social side of horse shows is the important, if not the -only side. This attitude, even if it be the attitude of the majority of -those who attend the exhibitions, does not detract from the value of the -shows so long as the work in the ring be of the right sort, and high -standards be established and maintained as to the various classes of -horses that are produced in this country. Indeed, it is a good thing for -the shows that people with no fondness for or taste in horses should -still patronize them, for their money helps pay expenses and makes it -possible to offer the handsome prizes which go along with the awards. If -the horse shows had done nothing else than stimulate the renewed effort -to re-establish the Morgan type they would have served a purpose far -from vain. - -[Illustration: THE JUSTIN MORGAN TYPE] - -Twenty years or so ago, when the horse shows began to take the place of -the old-time county fairs, the driving horse that was popular in the -United States was the Standard Bred Trotter, which usually traced back -to Messenger through Hambletonian, who has been celebrated with such -insistence of praise as the great begetter of trotters that the majority -of Americans believe all that has been said of him as the actual and -indisputable truth. It is not a grateful task to destroy established and -well-liked fictions, so for the moment I shall pass the Hambletonian -fiction by, and devote myself to telling about horses of superior -breeding, better manners, higher courage, greater symmetry and above -all, a prepotency of blood which reproduces itself in offspring from -generation to generation, so that we have in the Morgans an easily -recognized and most valuable type. Before going on with my story, -however, I must disavow any intention to detract from the merits of -those who have bred and trained the wonderful trotters that have, year -by year, been clipping seconds off the mile record until the two minute -mark has been passed. At the same time I wish to insist that the -breeding and training of these phenomenal animals should be left to the -very rich, just, for instance, as yacht racing is. The breeding of -trotters is far from an exact science, as the trotter, as such, is not a -reproducing type, and only two or three in a hundred of the standard -breeds ever go very fast, while more of the fast horses among them pace -than trot. They are not a type in conformation, in action or in gait; -they come in all sizes and all shapes, and are not to be judged by the -two or three per cent that develop speed. Moreover, they do not pay. -Counting the cost of the ninety-seven or ninety-eight per cent of -failures, I venture to say that the production of each successful -trotter must cost in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. Lottery -prizes, when lotteries were in vogue, were as high as that; but buying -lottery tickets was never considered a good commercial enterprise. I -sincerely hope, however, that rich men will continue to breed for -extreme speed, as they can afford such costly and interesting -experiments. The breeder, however, who wishes to make his stock farm -pay, and the ordinary farmer who raises a few colts annually will surely -find a more profitable business in trying to secure high-grade Morgans -than in pursuing the elusive course which frequently leads to bankruptcy -by the well-known Hambletonian road. - -The founder of the Morgan type was a horse born somewhere about 1789, -and was the property of Justin Morgan, who kept a tavern in West -Springfield, Massachusetts, until he moved to Randolph, Vermont, in the -year the colt that has perpetuated his owner’s name was foaled. I have -examined all the testimony available as to the pedigree of this first -Morgan horse, and I must say with regret, but with entire respect for -those who have gathered the evidence, that none of it seems to me quite -convincing. This was the conclusion of Mr. D. C. Linsley, who published -a valuable book in 1857, called “Morgan Horses.” Mr. Linsley in his book -printed all the stories and traditions about the breeding of the Justin -Morgan with candid impartiality, but he did not decide that any was -correct. According to these stories the first Morgan was anything from a -Thoroughbred to a Canadian pony. Recently Col. Joseph Battell, of -Middlebury, Vermont, himself a breeder of Morgans and the editor and -publisher of the “Morgan Horse and Register,” has re-examined all the -records extant as to the owner of the first Morgan horse, and he -announces, with a thorough belief in his conclusions, that the horse was -a Thoroughbred, got by Colonel De Lancey’s True Briton (also called -Beautiful Bay and Traveler) out of a daughter of Diamond, also a -Thoroughbred. According to the Battell pedigree, Justin Morgan had many -infusions of the blood of the Godolphin Barb, the Darley Arabian, and -the Byerly Turk, and was worthy to be registered in the stud book -established by the Messrs. Weatherby, in England. Indeed, Colonel -Battell personally told me that he thoroughly believed in the accuracy -of this pedigree, adding, however, “that while the evidence is strong -enough to transfer property on, it would not hang a man.” - -As I said before, none of the evidence seems quite convincing to me. And -no wonder. This horse died in Vermont in 1820, and not until nearly -thirty years after was there any systematic effort made to trace his -pedigree. During his life he was known only in his own neighborhood -where, notwithstanding his acknowledged value as a stallion, he was used -the greater part of every year as a common work horse. My own belief is -that this horse was very rich in Arab and Barb blood, but not an English -Thoroughbred. He had, so far as his history has been told, none of the -Thoroughbred characteristics. Nor had his descendants. But whence his -ancestors came and where he was born or when are not matters of so much -importance as the indisputable fact that his progeny now for a hundred -years have had similar excellent characteristics and have remained a -fixed type, through good and evil repute, so that we know by what we can -see to-day that the old stories and songs of our grandfathers as to the -strength, the speed, the beauty and the courage of Morgan horses were -more than mere songs and stories—they were the truth put into pleasing -form. - -This founder of the type, when the property of Justin Morgan, who, after -he gave up tavern keeping in Massachusetts, became a schoolteacher, a -drawing and music master in Vermont, was called Figure. When the produce -of his sons began achieving fame, and the family and type needed a -distinctive name, he was called after his old owner (maybe his breeder, -for all that I can say to the contrary), Justin Morgan. His most famous -son was Sherman Morgan, though there were eight or ten others of his -colts kept entire, and the progeny of them have found place in the -Morgan Register. Mr. Linsley’s description of the first Morgan is worthy -of transcription: - -“The original, or Justin Morgan, was about 14 hands high and weighed -about 950 pounds. His color was dark bay, with black legs, mane and -tail. His mane and tail were coarse and heavy, but not so massive as has -sometimes been described; the hair of both was straight and not inclined -to curl. His head was good, not extremely small, but lean and bony, the -face straight, forehead broad, ears small and very fine, but set very -wide apart. His eyes were medium size, very dark and prominent, with a -spirited but pleasant expression, and showed no white round the edge of -the lid. His nostrils were very large, the muzzle small and the lips -close and firm. His back and legs were perhaps his most noticeable -point. The former was very short, the shoulder blades and hip bones -being very long and oblique, and the loins extremely long and muscular. -His body was rather round, long and deep, close ribbed up; chest deep -and wide, with the breast bone projecting a good deal in front. His legs -were short, close jointed, thin, but very wide, hard and free from meat, -with muscles that were remarkably large for a horse of his size, and -this superabundance of muscle exhibited itself at every step. His hair -was short and at almost all seasons soft and glossy. He had a little -long hair about the fetlocks and for two or three inches above the -fetlocks on the back sides of the legs; the rest of the limbs were -entirely free from it. His feet were small but well shaped, and he was -in every respect perfectly sound and free from every sort of blemish. He -was a very fast walker. In trotting his gait was low and smooth, and his -step short and nervous; he was not what in these days (1857) would be -called fast, and we think it doubtful if he could trot a mile much, if -any, within four minutes, though it is claimed by many that he could -trot it in three.” - -So we see that the founder of this great type was, whatever his -breeding, a pony of most admirable conformation. In his performances he -was the most remarkable horse in the neighborhood of his owner. He won -against all comers in the various contests that were indulged in by the -somewhat primitive sportsmen of the Green Mountain State. He won at -walking, trotting, and running and also at pulling. Besides he was in -great demand on muster day as the mount of the commanding officer, who -would make a great show on this elegant, graceful, and intelligent -horse. So we see the founder was exactly what the Morgans have been and -are to-day, a good all-round, general utility horse. And his progeny -have been like him. Many of them, however, have been much larger and -much faster as trotters, and, as we shall presently see, a breeder of -Morgans stands as much chance to produce a very fast trotter as he who -breeds with speed alone as his ultimate object. - -[Illustration: - - DUKE OF ALBANY (MORGAN) - - Bred by Joseph Battell -] - -Justin Morgan was in the stud for more than twenty years in Vermont, and -became the father of many sons and daughters. How many sons were kept -entire is not known. Mr. Linsley mentions only six, but Colonel Battell -accounts for twelve or fourteen on “information more or less reliable.” -Of the daughters we have very little direct information, but that there -were many and that they had a great influence on the stock of New -England, and particularly of Vermont, is inevitable. The records of most -of the sons as sires have not been kept with either fullness or -certainty, and the evidence is usually speculative rather than exact. -This as a rule; sometimes, however, it is exact. This is the case with -some of the progeny of Sherman Morgan, Bulrush and Woodbury Morgan. As -to the others—Brutus, Weasel or Fenton Horse, Young Traveler or Hawkins -Horse, Revenge, the Gordon Horse, the Randolph Horse, and one or two -that went to the neighborhood of Boston—the records are not -satisfactory. For instance, here is the kind of story that was once -current. Revenge was in the stud at Surrey, New Hampshire, in 1823. The -dam of the famous Henry Clay by Andrew Jackson was the noted mare Lady -Surrey, foaled about 1824. She was said by some to be sired by Revenge. -Mr. Randolph Huntington, the historian of the Clay family of horses and -the staunchest advocate of their merits, does not endorse this, as he -says that Lady Surrey was a Kanuck, and brought to New York with twelve -other horses from the neighborhood of Quebec. Had she been the -granddaughter of the original Morgan, the fact would hardly have escaped -Mr. Huntington, who has also always been a believer in the Morgan blood. -But there is very little profit in discussing or analyzing these old -stories. There is no mortal way of getting at the truth, and we can do -little more than grant that many of them are not impossible. What is -important is that in the course of three horse generations the Morgan -was a fixed and reproducing type in Vermont, a type which had attracted -the attention of breeders and horsemen all over the country to such an -extent that commissioners were sent, even from Kentucky, to examine and -report upon the stock. - -Sherman Morgan was foaled in 1808, his dam being a Rhode Island mare -taken to Vermont in 1799. Of her pedigree nothing is certainly known, -but Mr. Sherman, her owner, spoke of her as of Spanish breed, which -means that she was, in all probability, a Barb. Her high quality, -docility, speed, spirit and stamina have been testified to in unusually -trustworthy fashion. She was taller than Justin Morgan, but her colt, -Sherman Morgan, was not so tall even as his sire, being only 13¾ hands -high, and weighing only 925 pounds. He was worked hard as a young horse -on a farm, and for many years also driven in a stage from Lyndon, -Vermont, to Portland, Maine. His team mate was another son of Justin -Morgan, and the “little team” was famous at every inn between the two -ends of the route. In that section Sherman Morgan was the champion -runner in the matches at short distances then frequent in the locality. -This horse was also known for a time as “Lord North,” but there was no -effort to disguise the facts as to his correct lineage. The change of -name indicates that in 1823 the true value of the horse as a sire was -not fully recognized. He died in 1835, some twenty of his sons being -kept entire. As in the case of Justin Morgan we have no records of the -females that sprung from Sherman Morgan. His sons averaged 14¾ hands, -the average weight being 1020 pounds. Here was distinct improvement in -the third generation, and clear evidence also of the prepotency of the -blood, together with the value in breeding of the Arab blood when -transplanted. - -Sherman Morgan’s most famous son was Black Hawk, foaled in 1833, his dam -being a large black mare of unknown breeding, but fast and superior in -quality. Those who had owned the mare said that she was from New -Brunswick or Nova Scotia and of English stock. The pedigree -manufacturers—Wallace, particularly—insist that she was a Narragansett -pacer, with the evident idea of bolstering up their contention that all -fast trotters owe their capacity to trot to the pacing capacity of their -ancestors. As not two per cent of Morgans ever pace, including the -descendants of Black Hawk, this contention is preposterous, to say the -least. Black Hawk’s son, Ethan Allen, was a magnificent roadster, and -his great speed in trotting matches did harm, I think, to the -perpetuation of the Morgan type, for the Morgan breeders began making -efforts to get fast trotters rather than to preserve the type, with the -result that there was, in the course of twenty or thirty years, a -distinct falling off in the interest that was felt in these very -superior horses. Ethan Allen was foaled in 1849 at Ticonderoga, New -York, and his dam was said to be an inbred Morgan. The colt certainly -had all the Morgan characteristics, and was the fastest stallion of his -day, trotting three heats with a running mate when he was eighteen years -old in 2.15, 2.16, and 2.19. He was also the most popular public -performer of his day; and at that time trotting was more attractive to -the people in America than running. “No one has ever raised a doubt as -to Ethan Allen being the handsomest, finest-styled and most -perfectly-gaited trotter than had ever been produced,” was said by the -“American Cultivator,” in 1873. He was a bright bay, a trifle less than -15 hands, and weighed 1000 pounds. He was the sire of a great many colts -and fillies, but being kept in training the better part of his life he -never had so good a chance as some other horses to become famous as an -ancestor. Through his sons, Honest Allen and Daniel Lambert, his name -and that of his sire have been kept very much alive in the records, for -his descendants have been fleet in the track and most successful in the -show ring. His daughters and granddaughters have also done him proud, -proving the excellence of the Morgan blood as brood mares. It is only -when we get to his generation that the chroniclers take much notice of -the importance of the females in perpetuating the Morgan type and -family. Honest Allen spent the last ten years of his life at Lexington, -Kentucky, and he was mated with many of the best mares in that section, -his son, Denning Allen, out of Reta, a granddaughter of Black Hawk, -proving himself one of the best speed producing sires the country has -had, one of his colts, Lord Clinton, being marvelously fast and -courageous. - -Woodbury Morgan was the largest of the stallion sons of the original -Morgan. He was 14¾ hands, and usually weighed about 1000 pounds. He was -in the stud in Vermont for twenty years, and at twenty-two was taken to -Alabama, where he died from an injury received in disembarking from the -ship that carried him. His sons and daughters in New England helped -materially to increase the fame of the type, as they were larger than -the other branches of the family, and had in a great degree the -characteristic virtues—fearlessness, elegance, speed, stamina, and -docility. Three of his sons—Gifford Morgan, Morgan Eagle, and Morgan -Cæsar—became famous sires, their sons, grandsons and great-grandsons -being reckoned among the best horses in America. One of the grandsons of -Gifford Morgan was Vermont Morgan, the sire of Golddust, a horse which -established one of the most noted and valuable families of the Morgan -strain. Golddust was foaled in Kentucky in 1855, and was at his best -during the Civil War, his opportunities being very much curtailed by the -unsettled and distressing social conditions which prevailed in the -neighborhood where he was owned. But he was a wonderful horse, and -having received through his dam another fresh infusion of Arabian blood, -his sons and his daughters were rich in that potent quality, without -which no equine family or type has ever, in the last few centuries at -least, been valuable or permanent. Golddust’s dam was by Zilcaadi, an -Arabian horse given to United States Consul Rhind by the Sultan of -Turkey. The Golddusts were speedy horses, but speed was not their chief -virtue. If Mr. Dorsey, of Kentucky, had not been handicapped by the -prevalent prejudice held by the purchasers of roadsters against any -other than Hambletonians as fast trotters, he would have been able to -perfect a better type of carriage horses than we have in this country, -and have got, also, many very fast trotters. Golddust did get fast -trotters, but his bent was certainly in another direction which was not -followed. He was 16 hands high, and weighed 1250 pounds. He was a bright -gold in color—hence his name—and the perfection of symmetry, while his -action left nothing to be desired. - -The third of the sons of Justin Morgan to establish a distinct Morgan -family was Bulrush Morgan foaled in 1812, and living to the great age of -thirty-six years. The breeding of the dam of Bulrush Morgan is not -known, but she is said to have been a French mare, which I take to mean -that she was brought into Vermont from French Canada. This horse left a -great many descendants, and they were all singularly alike, generally -being deep bays and browns with dark points and a general freedom from -any marks, such as white feet or white spots in the face. They were -noted also for the absence of spavins and ring bones. They were fast, -good all-round horses—good on the road and in the field, in harness and -under the saddle. They did not particularly attract the attention of -trotting horse people until Bulrush Morgan’s great-grandson, Morrill, -began a family of many branches—the Winthrop Morrills, the Fearnaughts, -and the Dracos—all of much distinction in that field where fast mile -records are considered the highest test of merit. - -Suppose that we were to concede that phenomenal speed was the one test -of merit for a driving horse and then examine the records. We should -find that the majority of the really phenomenal trotters from Ethan -Allen’s time till now had in their breeding rich infusions of Morgan -blood. As I have said before, Ethan Allen, with no other than Morgan -blood that we can account for, was the fastest stallion of his time, and -the most popular performer on the trotting tracks, even eclipsing the -famous Flora Temple in his ability to excite the enthusiasm of sportsmen -by the evenness of his work, the smoothness of his gait, his endurance -and courage, and that intelligent docility which made him seem to know -in every emergency exactly what he was called on to do. In his great -race in 1867, at the Fashion Course on Long Island, when, with a running -mate, he met the fleet Dexter, who had taken from Flora Temple her -long-maintained fastest record, we are told that forty thousand people -had assembled to witness the contest, and the betting was 2 to 1 in -favor of Dexter. In Wallace’s “Monthly” of ten years later, there was a -description of the race that I venture to reproduce: - -[Illustration: - - JUBILEE DE JARNETTE (MORGAN) - - Owned by C. X. Larrabee -] - -“When the horses appeared upon the track to warm up for the race, -Dexter, driven by the accomplished reinsman, Budd Doble, was greeted -with a shout of applause. Soon the team appeared, and behind sat the -great master of trotting tactics, Dan Mace. His face, which has often -been a mask to thousands, had no mask over it on this occasion. It spoke -only that intense earnestness that indicates the near approach of a -supreme moment. The team was hitched to a light skeleton wagon; Ethan -wore breeching, and beside him was a great, strong race-horse, fit to -run for a man’s life. His traces were long enough to fully extend -himself, but they were so much shorter than Ethan’s that he had to take -the weight. Dexter drew the inside, and on the first trial they got the -‘send-off,’ without either one having six inches advantage. When they -got the word the flight of speed was absolutely terrific, so far beyond -anything I had witnessed in a trotting horse that I felt the hair -raising on my head. The running horse was next to me, and -notwithstanding my elevation in the grand stand, Ethan was stretched out -so near the ground that I could see nothing of him but his ears. I fully -believe that for several rods at this point they were going a two-minute -gait. - -“It was impossible that this terrible pace could be maintained long, and -just before reaching the first turn, Dexter’s head began to swim, and -the team passed him and took the track, reaching the first quarter pole -in 32 seconds, with Dexter three or four lengths behind. The same -lightning speed was kept up during the second quarter, reaching the -half-mile pole in 1.04, with Dexter further in the rear. Mace then took -a pull on his team and came home a winner by six or eight lengths in -2.15. When this time was put on the blackboard the response of the -multitude was like the roar of old ocean.” - -The team also won the next two heats in 2.16 and 2.19, and Wallace is of -opinion that the team might have won the first heat in 2.12 had it been -necessary. This enthusiastic description of Ethan Allen’s performance -was written before Wallace “took a brief” for the Hambletonians. Then he -belittled the Morgans in every way, and when reminded of his previous -admiration of Ethan Allen, expressed a doubt of his Morgan ancestry. But -the Morgans have kept on going fast, when it has happened to be their -nature so to do, and that really is as much as can be said of any -horses. The dams of the following remarkable performers were of Morgan -breeding:—Jo Patchen, Dan Patch, Sweet Marie, Major Delmar, and Lou -Dillon, while the only trotting inheritance of Rarus, Fearnaught, and -Lord Clinton was from Morgan forebears. The Morgans can go fast enough. -There is no doubt about that. But that is not their chief value or their -highest merit. Probably not a much greater percentage of Morgans would -go phenomenally fast than of Standard Bred Trotters with no Morgan -strain, though such a proposition has not been proved; but the Morgans -are what the Standard Bred Trotters are not—the Morgans are of a -definite reproducing type, and whether they trot in 3.30, 2.30, or 2.00 -minutes, they have their typical excellences to recommend them and to -give them a value, which no other horse type in America can approach, -because they are the best, most symmetrical, most elegant and most -docile harness horses in the world, with a stamina and a courage that -none but Thoroughbreds approach. - -So much importance has been attached to this matter of speed with track -records, that I felt obliged to dwell on it somewhat in my discussion of -the Morgans. It is really, however, much more interesting than -important. The important thing is to get a breed of horses ninety per -cent of which can go with reasonable speed, showing a clean, square trot -and graceful high action, and when at top speed be free of clicking or -forging or interfering, performing in this manner, moreover, without -boots or hobbles and without effort, and also without tiring even when -the road is long. And in the Morgans we have such a type. That there -should ever have been any danger that they might have perished through -neglect is a curious chapter in the history of this country. It does not -properly belong in this place, but to that other chapter which relates -to the chicanery, the delusions and absolute forgeries which are so -interwoven with the history of the Standard Bred trotter that good men -believe in them though they have been pointed out again and again with -elaborate detail and circumstance. - -[Illustration: - - Original lithograph published by Currier & Ives. - - ETHAN ALLEN AND RUNNING MATE _vs._ DEXTER - - Mile heats, best three in five heats, Fashion Course, L. I., June 21, - 1867. Ethan Allen and mate won in three straight heats. Time: 2.15, - 2.16, 2.19. -] - -The Morgans are being bred in many parts of the country, more of them -being in the Middle and far West, probably, than in Vermont and the rest -of New England. Their blood is closely blended with many of the families -of the Kentucky saddle-horses, and goes far in giving finish to that -remarkable type, which now furnishes mounts for the great army of -American park riders, while pretty nearly all the show winners in the -saddle classes come from two or three counties of the beautiful Blue -Grass State. The adaptability of the Morgan blood to other crosses is a -strong argument in favor of its Arab origin. That its prepotency has -continued so long is another argument in favor of the theory that there -was other Arab blood brought by the female lines. These speculations and -surmises we cannot prove, but as there is now a register we can know -about the latter generations, the good qualities of which will, no -doubt, show us that we were fortunate in saving this invaluable type -before it was too late and madness had done its final work of -extermination. - - - - - CHAPTER FIVE - MESSENGER AND THE EARLY TROTTERS - - -One of the most important events in the early horse history of this -country was the landing from England in 1788 of the Thoroughbred -stallion Messenger, a gray horse that had had some success on the turf -in the old world, but was scarcely what might be called great as a -race-horse. He was brought over here to be the sire of runners, and he -was, to an extent, as both his sons and daughters were good performers. -His greatest place in the Thoroughbred records is due to the fact that -he was the sire of Miller’s Damsel, the dam of American Eclipse, the -horse that upheld the honor of the North in the great contest when Sir -Henry represented the South. But before Messenger’s death it had been -recognized that when he was bred with the mares of the American basic -stock, the produce had a disposition and a capacity to trot faster than -was then at all usual. Naturally, therefore, he was used to further this -end as much as to sire runners, though there was nothing like a trotting -turf in those days, the contests being on the roads under saddle and for -considerable distances. - -Messenger’s sire was Mambrino, by Engineer; Engineer was by Sampson, and -Sampson by Blaze; Blaze by Flying Childers (pronounced by Major Upton in -his “Newmarket and Arabia,” “the best horse to be found in the stud -book”); and Flying Childers by the Darley Arabian. This is pretty good -breeding, as any one will say who is familiar with the early English -records as kept by the Messrs. Weatherby. But even Messenger’s title to -be a Thoroughbred has been bitterly disputed by the controversialists of -recent time, this controversy having been precipitated and intensified -when, in the effort to get faster trotters, it was proposed to put in -more Thoroughbred blood. The leader of the opposition to more -Thoroughbred blood was an able and ingenious writer who has never had -his equal in manufacturing pedigrees to suit his own theories, and at -the same time please the interests of those who hired him to bolster up -the merits of the stock they were breeding to sell. He maintained that -the dam of Sampson, the grandsire of Messenger, was a pacing mare, and -hence Messenger’s capacity to transmit the trot to his progeny. He -further affirmed that the trot and the pace were the same gait; but of -this I will speak later when I get to the Standard Bred Trotters. Now, -as a matter of fact, the Godolphin progenitor of Messenger through the -female line was a Barb, and Barbs are apt to pace, though if -Thoroughbreds pace I have yet to see one. - -So many fictions have grown up about Messenger that he seems more like a -hero of romance than a flea-bitten gray horse of not very fine finish, -and worth, according to the records of sales, in the neighborhood of -$4500. Indeed, the record of his landing is so obscure that I have not -been able to determine whether it was in New York or Philadelphia. But -he was in the stud for nineteen years and left many sons and daughters. -He was kept in various places—near Philadelphia, on Long Island, in -Orange County, New York, and in New Jersey. But in each neighborhood he -made an impression on the horses that came after him, an influence which -seems to have been both good and enduring. - -Trotting and pacing racing in America had been popular even before -Messenger’s coming, and long before his get and their get appeared on -the road. But the matches were neighborhood affairs and attracted only -local attention. There was absolutely no effort at organization and the -construction of trotting tracks until many years later. What racing -there was was in the hands and under the control of gentlemen; how much -interest they took in these trotting and pacing matches I do not know. -But not much I fancy, for caste in America was stronger and more -separating than it is now, when, if we put the “mighty rich” in a class -by themselves there is very little at all. It was not until between 1820 -and 1830 that horses were trotted on tracks, and then there was little, -if any, of this mile heat business to see really how fast a horse could -go for a short distance. What the people of that elder day seemed to be -most interested in was how far a horse could trot at a good rate of -speed. I will not tire my readers with a recital of the fictions of the -contests on the roads of Long Island and Harlem, but begin with the race -of Lady Kate under the saddle against time. Her task was to go fifteen -miles in an hour. This she did and easily. Nor does it seem much of a -task when we consider that a few years later Andrew Jackson was doing -mile after mile in much less than three minutes. This horse, by the way, -was so superior to the trotters of the time that his owner could make -few matches with him. His speed and endurance frightened the others off, -and there was little, if any, rivalry. We find it recorded, however, -that Paul Pry, in 1833, beat time in an effort to go sixteen miles to -the hour, and Hiram Woodruff, then a boy, expressed the opinion that -this horse could then have gone twenty miles in the hour. This same old -driver tells of a horse which he thought was one of the most superior he -ever knew, Top Gallant, by Messenger. This fellow, in his twenty-second -year, went four four-mile heats in time very fast for that day. A little -later appeared Dutchman, who, in a race of three-mile heats against -Rattler, went the distance in 7.45½, 7.50, 8.02 and 8.24, Dutchman won -the first and fourth heat, Rattler won the second heat, while the third -was a dead heat. Here we see the first heat was trotted at the rate of -2.35, which was surely very fast going, considering the distance, the -vehicles used and the shoeing. But such journeys are now considered too -far. - -Lady Suffolk, an inbred Messenger, was spoken of for a while as the -Queen of Trotters, and she was a remarkably good one both in breeding -and in performance. She was sired by Engineer II, by Engineer, a son of -imported Messenger; her dam was by Don Quixote, son of Messenger. So it -will be seen that she was closely inbred to Messenger and had as much of -the Thoroughbred blood as any trotting horse of remarkable performance. -She was a gray, and was foaled in 1833 on Long Island. She began -trotting when she was five years old, and had a remarkably successful -career. She trotted 138 races, winning eighty-eight times and receiving -forfeit three times. When she was twelve years old, at Beacon Course, -Hoboken, she trotted the second heat of a five-heat race in 2.29½, which -was the first time 2.30 had been passed, and was, of course, the record. -In 1849 she made a saddle record of 2.26. She was bred to Black Hawk in -Vermont, but the colt was prematurely born, and she left no descendants. -Although this record was reduced in 1849 to 2.28 by Pelham, a converted -pacer, another second was knocked off in 1853 by Highland Maid, also a -converted pacer, there was nothing in the way of trotters to take the -great place of Lady Suffolk until Flora Temple, the queen of them all, -came along about 1850, and proceeded to beat all that attempted to rival -her for speed and courage. - -When I was a boy, Flora Temple was considered almost as great as -Lexington. In Kentucky at that time, her wonderful performances, her -speed and her courage were considered all the more remarkable from the -fact that no one knew how she was bred, and inferred that she had no -breeding that was good. This was not a fair inference. Her appearance, -her gameness, her fighting qualities, together with her nervousness, all -indicated that she was a high-bred animal. To say what that breeding was -is another matter. So a pedigree was fixed up for her. On the plate -published by Currier and Ives when she was at the very zenith of her -fame, her pedigree was set down as follows: “Sired by one-eyed Kentucky -Hunter, by Kentucky Hunter; dam Madam Temple by a spotted Arabian -horse.” I have no doubt that this pedigree is as arrant nonsense as was -ever put in print, and was simply made up to put on the advertisements -of the races in which she was entered. I doubt, even, whether there was -any serious effort to trace her pedigree when she was a filly, for it -was not until she was five years old that she attracted the attention of -a horseman and he bought her for $175, and sold her quickly for $350. -Previous to that she had been used in a livery stable, though I recall a -tradition that she had been used in a milk cart. - -Colonel Battell, who spares no pains when he goes after a pedigree, -investigated that of Flora Temple, and says it is as follows: “Foaled -May, 1845; bred by Samuel Welch, Sangerfield, New York; got by Loomis’s -Bogus, son of Lame Bogus, by Ellis’s Bogus, son of imported Tom Bogus; -dam Madam Temple, about 850 pounds, bay, foaled 1840, bred by Elijah -Peck, Waterville, New York, sold when four months old to William -Johnson, of whom she was purchased, 1843, by Samuel Welch, got by a -spotted stallion (owned by Horace Terry, who brought him from Long -Island or Dutchess County, New York) said to be by a full-blooded -Arabian stallion kept on Long Island; second dam described by John I. -Peck, son of Elijah Peck, as bay with black points, bob tail, low set -and heavy, very smart and would weigh from 1050 to 1175 pounds, foaled -about 1834, purchased by Mr. Peck of a Mr. Randall, Paris, New York. -Sold when weaning with her dam to Archie Hughes, Sangerfield, who sold -her for $13 to Nathan Tracy of Hamilton, New York, who kept her two and -one-half years, and sold to William H. Condon, Smyrna, New York, who -sold to Kelley & Richardson, livery-stable keepers, Richardson, New -York. Mr. Richardson took her with a drove of cattle to Washington -Hollow, New York, and sold her for $175 to Jno. Vielee, who took her to -New York and sold her to George E. Perrin, for $550, who sold her -September, 1850, to G. A. Vogel, for $600. A correspondent of the -_Spirit of the Times_, writing from Waterville, Oneida County, New York, -February, 1860, says: “Madam Temple, the dam of Flora, was foaled the -property of Elijah Peck, Waterville, Oneida County, New York, in the -spring of 1840: her dam was a small but fleet bay mare. Madam Temple was -sired by a spotted Arabian stallion brought from Dutchess County, and -owned by Horace Terry. Mr. Peck disposed of Madam Temple when four -months old for a mere trifle to William Johnson of the same place.... -Terry’s spotted Arabian was a remarkably strong, restless, fast-trotting -horse, said to have been sired by a full-blooded Arabian stallion on -Long Island. He was a great favorite in this section, and his stock for -general use possesses probably more excellent qualities than that of any -other horse known in this vicinity. They were uniformly strong, with -rare speed and bottom. The general high reputation in which his stock -was held may be judged from the fact that George W. Crowningshield, of -Boston, owned a pacing gray mare of his get, so fast and enduring that -he sold her for $1500. That was considered very high in those days. -Madam Temple has always been regarded as a remarkable roadster. Mr. -Hughes sold her in 1846 to G. B. Cleveland, Waterville, who soon parted -with her to N. W. Moss of the same place, but now of Osage, Iowa. By him -she was kept as a horse of all work for several years, from whom she was -purchased by James M. Tower in the spring of 1854, and he subsequently -sold to H. L. Barker, of Clinton, Oneida County, New York, in January, -1855, who now owns her. Flora was her first colt. Her second a horse -colt, was foaled in the spring of 1855, and was bought by J. W. Taylor, -of East Bloomfield, for R. A. Alexander, of Woodford County, for $500. -This colt was sired by H. L. Barker’s Edwin Forrest (a Kentucky colt), -now owned by S. Downing, Lexington, Kentucky.” - -So we can take our choice of pedigrees. If Flora Temple had been born a -few years later the Hambletonian advocates would surely have claimed -her. It has always been a wonder to me that they did not, after all, -assert that she was of collateral blood. When her new owner brought this -most remarkable mare to New York, he had not the most remote idea that -he held one of the wonders of the world. He believed that she was a -pretty good pony, and could strike a good clip on the road. She was only -14.2 hands high and had a mere stump of a tail. Besides, she was -nervous, and before she “found herself” had a rather choppy action. When -she had learned the trick, however, her action was smooth and -clock-like, and she glided along with almost unapproachable grace. -Moreover, when she broke she lost scarcely nothing, as she did not have -to be pulled back almost to a standstill, but caught her trotting stride -from what was very like a run. - -There are other books in which the record of Flora Temple can be found -in all of its proud and brilliant details. She beat everything of her -day, beginning with the Waite Pony on the Bloomingdale road in 1850, -until Ethan Allen, Princess, George M. Patchen and all the good ones had -to take her dust. She was not used under the saddle, but always to sulky -or wagon. Hiram Woodruff, her first real trainer, says she was a great -weight puller and was not in the least bothered by a 350 pound wagon, -but went along with it as merrily as though she were in a racing sulky. -Her first defeat was in 1853 by Black Douglas, a son of Henry Clay; but -a few months later she had her revenge and beat the Clay stallion with -apparent ease. In 1856 she took the trotting record away from Highland -Maid by covering a mile in 2.24½. The record remained with her for -eleven years; she reduced it in 1859 to 2.19¾, and so she was the first -to trot better than 2.20, as Lady Suffolk was the first to go below -2.30. In 1859 the little bay stump-tail mare was at the very zenith of -her fame, though Hiram Woodruff was of opinion that the next year she -might have surpassed this. The next year the Civil War broke out and -she, not being in good form, was retired to the breeding farm of -Aristides Welch, near Philadelphia. - -During the two or three last years of her public life, Flora Temple had -nothing to beat, so she was sent all over the country “hippodroming” -with Princess and George M. Patchen, variously. On the farm she dropped -a few colts. Two were by sons of Hambletonian, and one by imported -Leamington. They have not done much to perpetuate her prowess. My own -idea is that in selecting mates for her the great cardinal principle of -breeding: “like begets like,” was utterly disregarded. The blood of a -Hambletonian was probably too cold to mate with hers, though we do not -know what hers was, and Leamington’s conformation was too great a -contrast. Though she has left no descendants that do her particular -honor, she has left by her performances imperishable fame as the -greatest trotter of her day, and her day lasted for more than a dozen -years. - -There was a lull in trotting during the Civil War, just as there was in -racing, but after the war the trotting tracks became even more popular -than the running courses—not the most fashionable, but the most popular. -Fashion has never forsaken the running horse, and probably never will; -but in the main, the trotting races have been patronized and managed by -men of a slightly different social status. To be sure, there are notable -exceptions, exceptions so notable, indeed, that they ought to be -sufficient to lift the ban from the trotting world; but they have never -been able to do it. And even during the ten years after the Civil War, -when trotting was immensely popular, it was considered slightly a -reproach to be interested in the sport. It was during this period that -Dexter took the trotting primacy away from Flora Temple, and the tribe -of Hambletonian came into such prominence that the legislators who -framed trotting-match rules, established a register and made laws fixing -a standard entitling a stallion or a mare to a place in these sacred -books. And so the “Standard Bred Trotter” came into being, and his has -been a long day—his advocates and admirers say a great day. - - - - - CHAPTER SIX - RYSDYK’S HAMBLETONIAN AND THE STANDARD BRED TROTTERS - - -After Dexter, in 1867, took away from Flora Temple the trotting record -by doing a mile in 2.17¼, his reputed sire, Rysdyk’s Hambletonian was -held in such high esteem by those trying to breed fast trotters, that -they considered any horse not by him or of his breed to be not in the -least worth while in any attempt to improve these light harness horses. -So it is quite impossible to treat of the Standard Bred Trotters without -also treating of Rysdyk’s Hambletonian. There are many who do not, and -never have, agreed with the Hambletonian admirers, and as I am one who -once believed in the fictions as to his breeding and other excellences, -I propose to be perfectly fair by giving both sides of the story of a -horse that cuts a most considerable figure in American horse annals. -Now, here is one side of the Hambletonian story, and I take the liberty -of quoting from Mr. Hamilton Busbey, a noted writer on trotting horses, -and the editor of a paper devoted to trotting horse interests. He says: - -“Lewis G. Morris bred a mare by imported Sour Crout to Messenger, and -the produce in 1806 was a bay colt who developed into a horse of 16 -hands, and is known to history as Mambrino. He was never trained in -harness, but was a natural trotter. Betsey Baker, the fastest mare of -her day was sired by him. Amazonia, a snappy chestnut mare of 15.3 -hands, showing quality, but of untraced blood, and who could trot to -2.50 was bred to Mambrino, and whose outcome was Abdallah, whose -register number is 1. He was bred by John Tredwell, of Saulsbury Place, -Long Island, was foaled in 1823, and developed into a bay horse of 15.3. -As a four-year old, he trotted a mile in 3.10, but was not kind in -harness, and was principally used under saddle. He made seasons on Long -Island, in New Jersey, and in Orange County, and spent 1840 in the Blue -Grass Region of Kentucky. In 1830 he passed to Isaac Snediker, and after -many changes of fortune died of starvation and neglect on a Long Island -Beach, and was buried in the sand.... - -[Illustration: RYSDYK’S HAMBLETONIAN] - -“The Charles Kent mare was a bay of 15.3 hands, foaled in 1834, with -powerful stifles, and as a four-year old trotted a mile under saddle in -2.41. She was by Bellfounder, a Norfolk trotter of 15 hands, imported -from England to Boston in 1822, by James Bort. Imported Bellfounder was -foaled in 1815, and the blood of his sire, Bellfounder, is at the -foundation of the hackney breed. One Eye, a determined mare by Bishop’s -Hambletonian (son of Messenger), out of Silvertail, a hardy brown mare -by Messenger, was the dam of the Charles Kent mare, who found a happy -nick in Abdallah. - -“The fruit of this union was a bay colt, foaled May 5, 1849, at Sugar -Loaf, near Chester, Orange County, New York. This colt, when five weeks -old, was purchased from the breeder, Jonas Seely, by a plain farmer with -a lean pocket-book. The price named for mare and colt was $125, and the -farmer, William M. Rysdyk, sat on the top rail of a fence and pondered -for some time the vital question. The outlay would embarrass him if the -mare or colt should die. He finally said yes, and the mother and son -were taken to Chester. The bay colt, with star and hind ankles white, -grew into a powerful horse 15.2, and was named Hambletonian. His head -was large and expressive, his neck rather short, his shoulders and -quarters massive and his legs broad and flat. His triple line to -thoroughbred Messenger, over the substance imparting cross of -Bellfounder, gave us the greatest progenitor of harness speed the world -has seen.” - -I once believed all this just as sincerely as I am sure Mr. Busbey -believes it, and, some ten years ago, I wrote this fiction about -Hambletonian: - -“Messenger begat Mambrino, and Mambrino begat Abdallah, and Abdallah -begat Hambletonian. Now, the race may be said to have fairly begun, for -there is scarcely a trotting horse in America which has not in its blood -one, two, or three strains of this Hambletonian blood, for Hambletonian -was the great-sire of trotters. He was a Messenger on both sides, -great-grandson in the male line, and grandson and great-grandson in the -female line, from which also came a new English cross, for his dam was -by the imported hackney Bellfounder.[5] In him the Messenger blood was -strong, and, himself a trotter of much speed, though never trained, he -had the capacity of transmitting the trotting gait in a greater degree -than any horse in history.” - -Footnote 5: - - No human being in the world knows anything whatever about the breeding - of the Charles Kent mare, Hambletonian’s dam. - -There are a good many misstatements in that paragraph; but when I wrote -it I was deceived by the false pedigrees which have been manufactured -and recorded in the trotting-horse registers and stud-books. The truth -is, that Hambletonian was a bull-like horse that was trained by Hiram -Woodruff, but could never develop a speed equal to a mile in three -minutes—3.18, to be exact, being the best mile he ever did. As to his -pedigree: Mambrino, the grandsire, was by Messenger; but he was -worthless and also vicious. He could neither run nor trot. He was bred -by Louis Morris, of Westchester County, New York, and sold to Major -William Jones of Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. As he was worthless -and a serious disappointment, Major Jones virtually gave him away, and -he was used as a traveling stallion at a small fee. John Treadwell, a -Quaker farmer near Jamaica, Long Island, had two Conestoga[6] or -Pennsylvania Dutch draft-mares. Out of one of these mares, by Mambrino, -was born Abdallah. This horse was so bad-tempered that he could never be -broken to harness, but was ridden under the saddle. He had no speed -either as a runner or trotter, not being able to do a mile in four -minutes at any gait. He had a mule-like head and ears, a badly ewed -neck, and a rattail. But he was a Messenger, despite the Conestoga -crossing, and he was sold to Kentuckians for $4500. In less than six -months the Kentuckians repented of their bargain, and sold him back to -New Yorkers for $500—Messrs. Simmons & Smith, Bull’s Head dealers, -buying him as a speculation. No purchaser could the speculators find at -any price, and the stallion was virtually given away to stop expenses of -keeping. About this time Charles Kent wanted a new horse for his butcher -wagon, and traded, through Alexander Campbell, of Bull’s Head, his worn -out mare to Edmund Seeley, a farmer in Orange County, New York, for a -steer for butchering. The butcher’s mare had, originally, been sold to -him by Campbell, who had obtained her in a drove of western horses, -paying $40 for her. Her pedigree was quite unknown. This mare is known -in American horse history as the Charles Kent mare, and is said to be by -imported Bellfounder. She was in foal to Abdallah when Seeley got her, -and the colt and mare became the property of Bill Rysdyk, a hired man on -Seeley’s farm. Rysdyk looked around for a name for his colt—a name which -should indicate the Messenger blood in him. There had been in the early -years of the century a famous son of Messenger named after Alexander -Hamilton. This horse finally became known as Bishop’s Hamiltonian. In -his effort to borrow the name, Rysdyk, being weak in his orthography, -called his horse Rysdyk’s Hambletonian. And so he lives in history—false -in his pedigree as in his name. The public of that day believed this -horse to be a son of Bishop’s Hamiltonian, and for the sake of the -Messenger blood he was served to the best mares in Orange County, and -Orange County was rich in the Arab and Barb blood of the daughters and -granddaughters of that great and unbeatable trotting horse, Andrew -Jackson. No stallion ever had a better chance, and it was almost -impossible that there should not have been good horses among his get. -And there were. But the bad blood of his ancestry, sire and grandsire -being worthless degenerates, together with the utterly unmixable -Conestoga blood in his grandam, have been continually cropping out in -his progeny—for faults more readily reappear than perfections—until now, -when it must be acknowledged that the boasted horse type of which he is -said to be the founder is no type at all. - -Footnote 6: - - I had a friend who was with the Confederate Cavalry when Lee invaded - Pennsylvania to meet defeat at Gettysburg. He told me that the sleek, - large Conestoga horses that were abundant in the section traversed - were too tempting to be neglected, so many of the cavalry men - abandoned their lean and battle scarred mounts and replaced them with - the Conestogas. Before they reached the Potomac on their retreat - southward, these cold blooded draft horses were completely used up and - the soldiers swore at themselves for their folly in making the - exchanges. The Conestogas are good draft horses and serviceable on - farms where no quick work is required, but they are totally lacking in - speed and the courage and stamina which speed requires. A more - impossible cross than that between a Conestoga and a Thoroughbred - could hardly be imagined. - -When the pedigree manipulators were manufacturing this line of descent -for Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, Alexander Campbell, of Bull’s Head, was -offered a thousand dollars to certify to the stated pedigree of the -Charles Kent mare. Campbell declined, and ordered the Hambletonian -emissaries out of his office. Here is another rather amusing evidence of -the careful way in which the pedigree of Hambletonian was bolstered up. -There was no such horse as Bishop’s Hambletonian. The horse alluded to -was Alexander Hamilton, or Bishop’s Hamiltonian. Nobody ever thought of -calling a Hamiltonian a Hambletonian until old Bill Rysdyk did it, -simply because he was not gifted in the art of spelling. But this did -not bother the record makers. They simply misspelled the name of the -elder horse. Surely old Bill Rysdyk laid a spell on the gentlemen of the -press, and he kept it to the end as his horse, shaped like a cart horse, -rather than one filled with high blood, was a great money-maker in the -stud. His earnings by the record were $184,725. - -When there was a great many men interested, and most sincerely, too, in -the breeding of trotters, it was thought to be a good thing to -inaugurate a systematic method of breeding and establish a standard -which should regulate the records that were to be kept of trotters. By -general consent the suggestion of the _Turf, Field and Farm_, Mr. -Busbey’s paper, a horse that could go a mile in 2.30 was considered -worthy to get a place in the register. This would have excluded all the -trotters previous to the time of Lady Suffolk. But the matter was -discussed, and Wallace’s “American Trotting Register” was accepted as -the official record of pedigrees, thus putting the business in the hands -of the most ingenious partizan that has ever been interested in the -horse business in this country. These were the rules that were adopted: - - “In order to define what constitutes a trotting-bred horse, and to - establish a _Breed_ of trotters on a more intelligent basis, the - following rules are adopted to control admission to the records of - pedigrees. When an animal meets with the requirements of admission - and is duly registered, it shall be accepted as a standard - trotting-bred animal. - - “_First_—Any stallion that has, himself, a record of two minutes - and thirty seconds (2.30) or better; provided any of his get has a - record of 2.40 or better; or provided his sire or his dam, his - grandsire or his grandam, is already a standard animal. - - “_Second_—Any mare or gelding that has a record of 2.30 or better. - - “_Third_—Any horse that is the sire of two animals with a record - of 2.30 or better. - - “_Fourth_—Any horse that is the sire of one animal with a record - of 2.30 or better; provided, he has either of the following - additional qualifications:— - - “1. A record himself of 2.40 or better. - - “2. Is the sire of two other animals with a record of 2.40 or - better. - - “3. Has a sire or dam, grandsire or grandam, that is already a - standard animal. - - “_Fifth_—Any mare that has produced an animal with a record of - 2.30 or better. - - “_Sixth_—The progeny of a standard horse when out of a standard - mare. - - “_Seventh_—The progeny of a standard horse out of a mare by a - standard horse. - - “_Eighth_—The progeny of a standard horse when out of a mare whose - dam is a standard mare. - - “_Ninth_—Any mare that has a record of 2.40 or better; and whose - sire or dam, grandsire or grandam, is a standard animal. - - “_Tenth_—A record to wagon of 2.35 or better shall be regarded as - equal to a 2.30 record.” - -Before much had been accomplished under these rules, Wallace, who was as -militant as he was ingenious, got into a dispute with the Kentucky -breeders over methods of breeding, the value of thoroughbred blood, the -genuineness of his published pedigrees and about anything else that came -along. So the Kentuckians started the “Breeders’ Trotting Stud Book,” -the standard for it being a little modified. In a year or so, Wallace, -seeing that the war was going against him, sold out his register and -retired from the field. Then new rules were adopted, as follows: - - - “THE TROTTING STANDARD - - “When an animal meets these requirements and is duly registered, - it shall be accepted as a standard-bred trotter:— - - “1. The progeny of a registered standard trotting horse and a - registered standard trotting mare. - - “2. A stallion sired by a registered standard trotting horse, - provided his dam and grandam were sired by registered standard - trotting horses, and he himself has a trotting record of 2.30 and - is the sire of three trotters with records of 2.30, from different - mares. - - “3. A mare whose sire is a registered standard trotting horse, and - whose dam and grandam were sired by registered standard trotting - horses, provided she herself has a trotting record of 2.30, or is - the dam of one trotter with a record of 2.30. - - “4. A mare sired by a registered standard trotting horse, provided - she is the dam of two trotters with records of 2.30. - - “5. A mare sired by a registered standard trotting horse, provided - her first, second, and third dams are each sired by a registered - standard trotting horse. - - - “THE PACING STANDARD - - “When an animal meets these requirements and is duly registered, - it shall be accepted as a standard-bred pacer:— - - “1. The progeny of a registered standard pacing horse and a - registered standard pacing mare. - - “2. A stallion sired by a registered standard pacing horse, - provided his dam and grandam were sired by registered standard - pacing horses, and he himself has a pacing record of 2.25, and is - the sire of three pacers with records of 2.25, from different - mares. - - “3. A mare whose sire is a registered standard pacing horse, and - whose dam and grandam were sired by registered standard pacing - horses, provided she herself has a pacing record of 2.25, or is - the dam of one pacer with a record of 2.25. - - “4. A mare sired by a registered standard pacing horse, provided - she is the dam of two pacers with records of 2.25. - - “5. A mare sired by a registered standard pacing horse, provided - her first, second, and third dams are each sired by a registered - pacing horse. - - “6. The progeny of a registered standard trotting horse out of a - registered standard pacing mare, or of a registered standard - trotting mare.” - -And these are the rules that obtain to-day in keeping a register of -which the rat-tailed semi-Conestoga Abdallah is No. 1. - -It will be seen by the rules certain features of the great breeding -principle: “Like begets like” are followed, and there is no doubt that -some intelligent breeders have tried most sincerely to embrace in the -mating of stallions and mares all of the principles; but, as a rule, the -speed test alone was considered instead of similarity of blood, -similarity of conformation (for nature abhors great contrasts), and also -performance. The importance given to the time tests and the public -records and the disregard of pure and similar blood has detracted, in my -opinion, most seriously from the success of the experiments and the -effort to create a type of fast trotting horses. Why, the Standard Bred -Trotter is not a type at all. They come in all sizes and shapes, they -have no fixed gait, and not more than three per cent of them can trot -fast enough to be considered even a good roadster. The visitors to the -Speedway in New York have opportunities to see the best and fastest -trotters in the world. There are certainly some fine animals shown -there, a few that are splendid. But they are of all sorts in -conformation and method of going. It cannot be a reproducing type under -such circumstances. When a hundred colts and fillies are bred we want -many more than three of that number to be able to accomplish the purpose -of their creation. At least half of the progeny of the Standard Bred -Trotters should be trotters themselves and more than half of the -remainder should be good general utility horses. That is the case with -the Morgans and the Denmarks, the two true American types, for these -types have substance and character, besides a systematic method of -breeding is pursued where lineage and conformation rather than -performance count. And even with the Standard Bred Trotters that go -fast—the three per cent of them—quite half of them are pacers rather -than trotters. Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy said in a letter to the _Turf, -Field and Farm_, February 15, 1901, that the greater proportion of fast -Standard Bred Trotters are not trotters at all, but pacers. There has -been no one to dispute this statement, which was not one merely of -opinion, but of compilation. - -The trotting men, however, avoid this by saying that trotting and pacing -are the same gait, because many horses both trot and pace and because a -pacer can be converted into a trotter. This theory is beyond my -intelligence. I know that the natural gaits of a natural horse are walk, -trot, and gallop. Many that do these gaits, as in the case of the -Denmarks, can do several others besides—the rack and the running walk, -for instance. Yet no one will say that these gaits are all the same. It -is too preposterous to discuss. Besides, the pace is not a fit gait for -a gentleman’s roadster. It may be well enough for butchers, barkeepers -and gamblers, but a gentleman should have a gentleman’s horse. - -It has not been a pleasure to say these things of what some call the -great light harness horse of America; but when breeders, through false -principles, go a wrong road it ought not to be considered an unkindness -to call their attention to the fact. A few years ago in a magazine -article I told the truth about Hambletonian’s breeding, and received -many indignant letters of protest. One kind gentleman up in -Massachusetts, asked me to visit him, saying he should like to have the -pleasure of kicking me across the state. I requested him to have a -survey made so that I might know how far I would have to be propelled by -the toe of his boot, as I did not care to put him to an undue amount of -trouble. He has not replied, so, I presume the survey is not yet -completed. But breeders in Kentucky, in Vermont, and in Illinois wrote -in complimentary terms, saying that they had paid dearly for their -belief in false pedigrees and false principles of breeding. I am -thoroughly persuaded that these false notions have cost the breeders of -America millions and millions of dollars, for a Standard Bred Trotter -that does not go fast is a pretty poor specimen of a horse and worth -very little, while the amounts spent in trying to develop speed which -does not exist are colossal. - -But the records have unquestionably been lowered until the horse that -can trot a mile in two minutes is one of the wonders of the world. Look -at the record of progression. - - Boston Blue, black gelding 1818 3.00 - Bull Calf, bay gelding 1830 2.47¾ - Edwin Forrest, black gelding 1838 2.36½ - Dutchman, bay gelding 1839 2.32 - Lady Suffolk, gray mare 1845 2.29½ - Pelham (converted pacer), bay gelding 1849 2.28 - Highland Maid (converted pacer), bay mare 1853 2.27 - Flora Temple, bay mare 1856 2.24½ - Flora Temple, bay mare 1859 2.19¾ - Dexter, brown gelding 1867 2.17¼ - Goldsmith Maid, bay mare 1871 2.17 - Goldsmith Maid, bay mare 1874 2.14 - Rarus, bay gelding 1878 2.13¼ - St. Julien, bay gelding 1879 2.12¾ - Maud S., chestnut mare 1880 2.10¾ - Maud S., chestnut mare 1881 2.10¼ - Jay-eye-See, black gelding 1884 2.10 - Maud S., chestnut mare 1884 2.09¼ - Maud S., chestnut mare 1885 2.08¾ - Sunol, bay mare 1891 2.08¼ - Nancy Hanks, brown mare 1892 2.04 - Alix, bay mare 1894 2.03¾ - The Abbot, bay gelding 1900 2.03¼ - Cresceus, chestnut horse 1901 2.02¼ - Lou Dillon, chestnut mare 1903 1.58½ - -[Illustration: - - LOU DILLON (STANDARD-BRED TROTTER) - - Owned by J. G. K. Billings. First horse to trot a mile in less than - two minutes -] - -This table shows that three minutes was reduced in forty-one years to -two minutes and twenty seconds—that is in that time forty seconds were -lopped off the record. It took forty-four years to take off the next -twenty seconds. In the meantime the bicycle, ball-bearing sulky had been -invented, and the last half of this twenty seconds were cut off when -this weightless and frictionless vehicle was used. The Standard Bred -Trotter had also been created. My idea is that the Dutchman, Henry Clay, -and Lady Suffolk could either of them gone a mile in from ten to fifteen -seconds faster than they did under modern conditions of training, -driving, shoeing and harnessing and hitched to the modern vehicle. These -experiments have all been very interesting, but I believe the same -results might have been achieved at a very much less cost and -loss—indeed, with a profit. - -Exceeding high prices for trotting-horses have been very injurious to -the horse-breeding industry. Whenever a trotting-horse brings twenty, -forty or a hundred thousand dollars it sets the breeders, even the small -ones wild with a desire to breed a colt that will bring such a price. -Mr. Bonner began this with his purchase of Dexter, and followed it up by -buying many others at very high figures, including Maud S. and Sunol. He -doubtless found this an excellent advertisement for himself and his -paper, but it was a bad thing for the horses of the country. The -purchase of Axtell at $105,000 and Arion at $125,000 was even more -demoralizing. No trotting-horse was ever worth that much and none -probably ever will be. However, it is an excellent thing for very rich -men to breed horses. They can afford to make experiments, and if their -experiments are successful the men of moderate means can imitate them -and succeed also. But this trotting horse breeding business is a rich -man’s divertisement just as yachting is. The men who breed for profit -should confine themselves to types which are reproducing, to types which -come true more frequently than they prove false. - -I firmly believe that if these trotters are ever made a consistently -reproducing type, it will be by constant infusions of a mixture of -trotting blood—Morgan or Clay—with that of the Thoroughbred. The first -cross will probably not produce it, but if the mares of such unions be -bred back to stallions of the blood mentioned, the result ought to be -more satisfactory in the way of making a type, even though the -experiments may not result in phenomenal speed; but there is no reason -why there should not be a satisfactory percentage of phenomenal speed as -well. - - - - - CHAPTER SEVEN - THE CLAY AND CLAY-ARABIAN - - -Henry Clay was one of the greatest horses that ever lived in this -country. He was very fast, very strong and as game as it was possible -for a horse to be. He founded a distinguished family, and from that -family Mr. Randolph Huntington, of Fleetwood Farm, Oyster Bay, Long -Island, by crossing Clay mares with Arab and Barb stallions, has created -a type of as splendid horses as ever touched the earth. And it is a -great pity that the United States Government has not long ago taken over -all of Mr. Huntington’s horses, so as to perpetuate this new and useful -type into a great national horse. On the sire’s side Henry Clay was a -closely inbred Messenger. He was by Andrew Jackson, the greatest -trotting horse of his day, and absolutely unbeaten during all his long -career. Andrew Jackson was by Young Bashaw, and his dam was by Why Not, -by imported Messenger, the grandam also being by imported Messenger. -Young Bashaw was by the imported Arabian Grand Bashaw, the dam being -Pearl by First Consul (Arab bred) out of Fancy by imported Messenger out -of a daughter of Rockingham. Henry Clay’s dam was the famous mare, Lady -Surrey. She was bred in the neighbourhood of Quebec, Ontario, and was -brought with twelve other horses into New York. With her mate, “Croppy,” -she was sold to one of the Wisner family in Goshen, New York. The class -to which Lady Surrey belonged was then called Kanucks, though some -called them “Pile Drivers,” because of their high-knee action. Records -of breeding were not kept in Quebec, but all the external evidence -points to an Oriental origin of the horses that were taken there from -France. But the strong admixture of Arab and Barb blood in Henry Clay is -evident from the recorded part of his pedigree and disregarding the -blood of his dam. - -[Illustration: - - CLAY-KISMET (CLAY-ARABIAN) - - Bred by Randolph Huntington -] - -Henry Clay was foaled in 1837, and lived until 1867. He was bred by Mr. -George M. Patchen, of New Jersey, and afterwards passed into the hands -of Gen. William Wadsworth, of Geneseo, New York. Probably, if he had -remained the property of Patchen, he would have had a better chance as a -sire, for there were times during the Wadsworth ownership, when this -horse suffered alternately from neglect and abuse. When General -Wadsworth wanted to buy the colt, he asked Mr. Patchen to put a price on -him. Mr. Patchen, not anxious to sell, finally put on a price which he -thought prohibitive. “We will give the horse all the water he can -drink,” he said to General Wadsworth, “and then weigh him, and you may -give me one dollar a pound for him.” General Wadsworth promptly -accepted, and the horse weighing 1050 pounds, that fixed the price, -which was paid immediately, and the horse was sent at once to Livingston -County, New York. - -Once when General Wadsworth had a match at mile heats, best three in -five, he drove his horse ninety-eight miles the day before the race, -rather than pay forfeit, and then won the race, one heat being trotted -in 2.35. This was in 1847. Consider the clumsy shoes, the heavy sulkies, -and other impedimenta of that time, in comparison with the wire-like -plates, ball-bearing, pneumatic-tired sulkies, and cobweb-like harness -of to-day, and decide whether even the most phenomenal of our trotters -is better than that. - -Another performance shows the stoutness of heart of this great horse. -General Wadsworth needed a doctor for his sister. Henry Clay was -harnessed to a two-seated wagon, did the journey from Geneseo to -Rochester, thirty-eight miles, and then back again, the whole -seventy-six miles being covered in less than five hours. A horse that -could do that was worthy to found a family. He did this through his son, -Black Douglas, his grandson, Cassius M. Clay, and his grandson, George -M. Patchen. His female descendants are conspicuous in the trotting-horse -pedigrees, the most conspicuous among them being Green Mountain Maid, -the dam of Electioneer, and conceded by the Standard Bred Trotter -element to be the greatest dam in American horse history. She was got by -Harry Clay,[7] a great grandson of the founder of the family. - -Footnote 7: - - It has been said that the Star mare, the dam of Dexter, was served - both by Rysdyk’s Hambletonian and Harry Clay the spring before - Dexter’s birth, and that it is more likely that Harry Clay was the - sire of Dexter because of Dexter’s resemblance to the Clays rather - than the Hambletonians, and also because of his stoutness of heart. As - Dexter was a gelding and incapable of leaving progeny this question is - more interesting than important. I have no opinion in the matter, but - as I am convinced of the general inaccuracy of the records of the day, - I am not at all prepared to believe that Dexter’s pedigree as put in - the books is accurate. About the time he became famous the - Hambletonian party was numerous and powerful and by no means - scrupulous in claiming everything in sight. - - The dam of the trotting stallion George Wilkes was also said to be by - Henry Clay. The Hambletonian advocates—George Wilkes was sired by - Hambletonian—were so bitter in their opposition to the Clay blood, - that they refused to accept this and preferred that the breeding of - George Wilkes’ dam should be set down as unknown. I have read a good - deal that has been written on the subject and can only say that the - statements pro and con are equally unconvincing and only illustrate - over again the utter untrustworthiness of the early records, together - with the partizan discourtesy of the disputants. - -Mr. Huntington has long believed that the Clay was the best trotting -blood in America, and when this blood was spoken of contemptuously by -Mr. Robert Bonner and called “Sawdust” Mr. Huntington’s indignation knew -no bounds. However, the blood could never become unpopular after the -record of the Green Mountain Maid in producing trotters. All of her -colts could trot—she had sixteen—and trot fast. But Mr. Huntington’s -opportunity to utilize this Clay blood came when General Grant received -a present of two stallions from the Sultan of Turkey. When General Grant -took his famous trip around the world, the Sultan entertained him at -Constantinople. Among the things that particularly interested the -General there were the Sultan’s stables. The Sultan hearing of this, -selected two of the best stallions in his collection and gave them to -the General. The stallions were Leopard, an Arab, and Linden Tree, a -Barb. Mr. Huntington at once set about getting General Grant’s consent -to use these horses for breeding. He got the consent and set about -securing what he considered proper mares. It seems a pity that General -Grant had not turned these horses entirely over to Mr. Huntington. He -was not himself a breeder, and after he reached middle life was only -interested in driving horses. So these stallions were really white -elephants on his hands. But Mr. Huntington might have made a more -extensive use of them than he did. His theory was that these horses -should be bred to virgin Clay mares. And he secured several of them. As -a breeder Mr. Huntington is one of those who hold to the theory that a -mare once pregnant to a horse is liable, if not likely, in later foals -to “throw back”, as it is somewhat technically expressed, and show in -these later foals the characteristics of the sire of the first -pregnancy. This is a matter of dispute among breeders. The theory has -been proved, so far as dogs are concerned, in my own experience. I had a -fox terrier bitch. She was accidentally served by a spaniel. When she -was next bred it was to a proper fox terrier and there was no chance of -error. The ensuing litter of puppies was a mongrel lot, showing spaniel -traces, and all of them had to be destroyed. Then, as to horses. Mr. -Bruce said that Dr. Warfield, the breeder of Lexington, had had -thoroughbred mares served by Jacks for the producing of mules, and later -had got winning colts from the same mares by Thoroughbred stallions. It -is an interesting matter with breeders and by no means settled. But Mr. -Huntington did not want to take any chances in making this new venture, -so he sought and obtained virgin mares, that the progeny might not be -tainted with other than the blood of the sires. - -Mr. Huntington also holds to the theory that when breeding with -homogeneous blood that the degree of consanguinity between sire and dam -may be very much closer than is the usual practice. In other words, he -is an advocate of inbreeding so long as the experiments be not between -horses of heterogeneous and unmixable blood. Under the latter -circumstances he thoroughly agrees with the rest of the world that the -mongrelization of the product is increased. Indeed, it can be increased -in no way more surely, for the prevailing characteristics of an animal -type are increased by inbreeding and when the animals are mongrels to -begin with, that which is bad in them becomes more and more exaggerated -in the offspring. Mr. Huntington has been a breeder and a writer on -breeding for more than half a century. In a controversy he is, what may -be called, without any offense to him, I am sure, decidedly militant. It -has, therefore, been the case that not unfrequently his discussions as -to the breeding of horses have been fast and furious. If I disagreed -with him in his conclusions I should refrain from saying this—indeed, I -should not remark his personal characteristics at all. But I feel that -the misrepresentations to which he has been subjected should be spoken -of, for they have been cruel and continuous, and have done great -injustice to one of the most sincere, most honest and most capable horse -breeders who has ever lived and worked in this country. Moreover, he has -had more than a due share of misfortune in one way and another. - -When he had got well along with his experiments with the Clay mares and -the Grant stallions, and proved to his own satisfaction and that, also, -of many of the friends who were observing his operations, it was -considered desirable to enlarge the plant. There were few sales, for the -obviously wise course was to keep the collection together for -observation and until the type sought after should be fixed and -reproducing. So more capital was taken in, and a man considered one of -the chief financial lawyers of New York, organized a company and became -its treasurer. In a year or so this lawyer was apprehended in some of -the most far reaching financial rascalities ever perpetrated in the -metropolis. He ruined estates in his charge, and corporations with which -he was connected. Mr. Huntington’s horse-breeding company among the -others. Here was a blow. The collection had to be dispersed just as it -had arrived at success. Though at that time Mr. Huntington was an old -man, he did not give up. He bought what of the collection he could, and -started in again. His second attempt proves that he is entirely right, -as he produces with an absolute certainty two classes of as admirable -horses as I have ever seen. The first, and the one that ought to be most -useful, is represented in the illustration in this book of Clay-Kismet, -and the other by Nimrod. Clay-Kismet is 16½ hands high, and is as -perfectly adapted for a carriage horse as any I have seen—as well -adapted even as the Golddust, of which I spoke in the Morgan chapter. -His symmetry, finish and high breeding adapt him particularly for this, -while the cleanness of his action gives a final perfection that cannot -fail to excite admiration in those who know and love horses. He is by an -Arab stallion 15 hands in stature, out of a closely inbred Clay mare, -the union resulting in a horse larger than either sire or dam. It is a -singular thing that even the purely bred Arabs, mated by Mr. Huntington -and bred on his place, increase very much in size and action. For -instance, Khaled, when I last saw him was 15.3½ hands, which is -something like a hand taller than either Naomi, his dam, or Nimr, his -sire. Here was an interesting instance of inbreeding, as Naomi was the -grandam of Nimr, the sire of Khaled. Whether this increase in size was -due to inbreeding or to transplantation to a different climate than the -desert, with different and better food, I am not prepared to say. But it -is a striking change for the better. The other horse I alluded to is -Nimrod, now, I am sorry to say, in the Philippines; he is more of a pony -or cob type—something, indeed, like the earlier generations of Morgans, -this type is most admirable in light harness, or to use in the stud in -the creation of polo ponies. This horse was sired by Abdul Hamid II, son -of General Grant’s Leopard out of Mary Sheppard, an inbred Clay mare. - -These Clay-Arabians are as remarkable for their intelligence and -docility as are the Morgans. Their action is as clean and elegant and -their bottom cannot be surpassed. If this double accomplishment of a -single private owner be suffered to be wasted it will be a pity indeed, -as well as a national reproach. - -[Illustration: - - NIMROD (CLAY-ARABIAN) - - Bred by Randolph Huntington -] - - - - - CHAPTER EIGHT - THE DENMARK, OR KENTUCKY SADDLE-HORSE - - -The assessed value of horses tabulated by States would make it appear -that Kentucky horse-flesh was not more precious than in other parts of -the Union. And yet Kentucky horses have a fame that is not approached by -those of any other state. This is due to the fact that in a small -section of the state, none but horses of high breeding are reared. A few -counties give to the whole state a reputation which, I am afraid, the -whole state does not deserve. But in the famous Blue Grass region the -noblest horses of several types and kinds have been bred for more than a -hundred years. It is distinctively the breeding place in America of the -English Thoroughbred, and comparatively few men who have gone into the -reproduction of these interesting and fleet animals have refrained -sooner or later from buying or renting farms in Central Kentucky to -carry on their operations. So, also, with the trotters. Indeed, it has -been maintained that in this lime stone region, where blue grass is -indigenous and where it was found in abundance in the park-like woods by -the early explorers that the very bones of horses that had grazed upon -it from infancy were harder, stouter and less sponge-like than those -from anywhere else. This much for the virtue of the lime stone nurtured -merits of the blue grass. - -But the people have had much to do with the excellence of Kentucky -horses. They seem to have been by nature interested in the breed of -horses from the beginning of their settlement there. One of the first -records of the Colonial era is that of a Kentuckian who was killed by an -Indian while training a race-horse on a frontier race-course. And among -the seven first statutes enacted by the Colony when in preparation to -become a state of the Union, was one to regulate the range and improve -the breed of horses. They were horse lovers in Kentucky in the beginning -as they are to-day. And to-day there is no crime that is looked upon -with more contempt than to misrepresent the breeding of a horse. In -Kentucky a gentleman may kill another gentleman if his cause be just, -and suffer no reproach save that of himself; but if he palter with the -pedigree of a horse he trifles with his caste, and is ranked with the -sneak thieves and the pickpockets who take their victims unaware, and -achieve at once a petty and cowardly advantage. This love of the horse -and knowledge of him has gone on from generation to generation until it -has become a part, and no inconsiderable part of the heritage of every -Kentuckian who considers himself well born. - -Some twenty years ago a Kentucky horse-breeder was in Boston, visiting a -gentleman with whom he had business. The Bostonian, with the -characteristic hospitality of those Dr. Holmes catalogued as of the -“Brahmin caste,” showed the Kentuckian about. He pointed out to him the -equestrian statue of Washington at the head of Commonwealth Avenue. -“There is the Washington statue,” remarked the Bostonian. “And what was -the breeding of the horse?” the Kentuckian inquired. The horse to him -was almost everything. And, later in the day, when dinner was over at -the hospitable Bostonian’s home, and the ladies and children were -retiring, the Kentuckian leaned over to his host and said, with -enthusiasm: “By Gad, Colonel, you have outbred yourself.” That was a -heartfelt tribute expressed in the natural way in which a Kentuckian -should speak. No wonder that they have fine horses when they give so -much thought to this subject of breeding. - -[Illustration: A GROUP OF DENMARK MARES AT PASTURE IN KENTUCKY] - -But for all this Kentucky has produced only one distinctive reproducing -type. Her trotters—if type they be—belong as much elsewhere as to -Kentucky; her runners are purely English. Her Denmarks, however, belong -to Kentucky. They have been bred there for more than sixty years, and as -a distinctive American type, they are second only in this country to the -Morgans of Vermont. It is a singular fact and not unworthy of note that -only two states have produced distinct American reproducing types, -Vermont and Kentucky, and those were the first two states admitted to -the Union after the original thirteen got ready to embrace other -sisters. - -It is most curious how a type happens. The Morgans, as has been shown in -a previous chapter, came from a horse whose pedigree was not even -considered, and to this day is known only by conjecture and not at all -by established fact. He was considered a good horse in his day, but it -was not until his sons begat colts of exceptional merit that it was -thought worth while to inquire into his origin, and that of his -antecedents. With Denmark it was, in a degree, different. Denmark was a -Thoroughbred, though some who are over-critical, quarrel with the -pedigree of his dam. Let that be as it may. In 1839, when he was foaled, -begat by Imported Hedgeford out of Betsey Harrison, he was about as good -a Thoroughbred as the generality of those we had in America. Moreover, -he was a successful contestant on the turf and a good horse at four-mile -heats. These disputes as to the purity of the blood of our early horses -are rather academic than practical. In all of the early race-horses, not -purely English, there were infusions of the American basic blood; and -for that matter this was the case also in England, where the -Thoroughbred at that time was only newly evolved with the aid of -Oriental blood from the native strains. Here, however, is his pedigree -of Denmark traced back for several generations: - - PEDIGREE OF DENMARK - - ┌── Highflyer - ┌── Sir Peter - │ └── Papillon - ┌── Haphazard - │ │ ┌── Eclipse - │ └── Miss Hervey - │ └── Clio - ┌── Fihlo-da-puta - │ │ ┌── Pot-8-os - │ │ ┌── Waxy - │ │ │ └── Maria - │ └── Mrs. Barnet - │ │ ┌── Woodpecker - │ └── Daughter - │ └── Heikel - Imp. Hedgeford - │ ┌── King Fergus - │ ┌── Benningbrough - │ │ └── Daughter - │ ┌── Orville - │ │ │ ┌── Highflyer - │ │ └── Evelina - │ │ └── Termagant - └── Miss Craigie - │ ┌── Dungannon - │ ┌── Lurcher - │ │ └── Vertumus - └── Marchioness - │ ┌── Phenomenon - └── Miss Cogden - └── Daughter - - ┌── Imp. Fearnaught - ┌── Symmes' Wildair - │ └── Jolly Roger Mare - ┌── Director - │ │ ┌── Harris' Eclipse - │ └── Eclipse Mare - │ └── Daughter - ┌── Aratus - │ │ ┌── Sir Peter Teazle - │ │ ┌── Imp. Sir Harry - │ │ │ └── Matron - │ └── Betsey Haxall - │ │ ┌── Imp. Saltram - │ └── Saltram Mare (Timoleun's dam) - │ └── Daughter - Betsey Harrison - │ ┌── Florizel - │ ┌── Imp. Diomed - │ │ └── Sister to Juno - │ ┌── Potomac - │ │ │ ┌── Pegasus - │ │ └── Fairy - │ │ └── Nancy McCullock - └── Jenny Cockracy - │ ┌── Eclipse - │ ┌── Imp. Saltram - │ │ └── Virago - └── Saltram Mare (Timoleun's dam) - │ ┌── Symmes' Wildair - └── Daughter - └── Daughter - -That is pretty good breeding, even though the ancestors of Potomac might -not pass muster with those who look very closely back through the -sixteen generations. It may be that this so-called “cold-streak” in -Denmark, through his maternal great grandsire, was just what was needed -when he was mated with the Kentucky mares whose produce has given him -enduring fame. - -In England the Thoroughbred is thought to be the ideal saddle-horse. I -confess that I have had the Thoroughbred fever pretty badly. But that -was a long time ago; and maybe that fever was contemporaneous with -Anglo-mania; indeed, the former may have been due to the latter. -Personal preferences, however, have properly little weight in a judicial -inquiry. My whole effort in this book has been to be entirely fair. -Personally, I care for a very few gaits in a saddle-horse. I am quite -content with the walk, the trot and the gallop. The Thoroughbred does -all of these with, to say the least, a reasonable satisfaction. But it -is unquestionably true that a well-formed, well-trained, well-bred -Denmark will go all three of these gaits with better style and more -finish than any Thoroughbred. Besides, he can readily be taught the -amble or pace, the running-walk, or fox-trot, and the rack or single -foot. That some do not care for these gaits is not in the least a -reproach upon the capacity of the horse that can do them at the bidding -of the rider. Moreover, this multiplicity of gaits does not in the least -detract from the complete finish of each and all. This fact has become -so apparent that there is a kind of hostility between New York and South -and Western horse-show standards as to what a saddle-horse shall be -like. A thoroughly gaited horse, trained in all the paces, would look -absurd in the eyes of those who like such horses if he were shorn of his -tail. It is considered by many who care only for the three gaits that a -saddle-horse must have a docked tail. A few years ago a man with a -thoroughly gaited horse could show him, long tail and all, in the -Southern and Western circuit, and then bring him to New York and -Philadelphia where he would tie up the horse’s tail and only exhibit the -walk, trot and gallop. Now, this still may be permissible; but, if not -absolutely denied, it is sternly frowned upon. So really the question -has become the highly absurd one of tail or no tail. It is about as -absurd as to deny the place to an applicant for a position where -knowledge of French was required because he also knew Italian and -Spanish. The breeders and trainers of Denmarks are too practical, -however, to shed tears over such foolishness. They breed their horses -the same as before, but they train this one for the East and that one -for the West and South. The quality tells wherever they go, and a horse -in any section that takes a blue ribbon away from a Denmark is more than -lucky, he is almost unique. - -For several years past, however, at the Horse Show in New York, a -gentleman from England has come over to judge the saddle classes. In -England he is, no doubt, as good a judge of such classes as may be had, -for there the Thoroughbred is the one type, except the cob, that is -considered as filling the requirements for the saddle. Before the advent -of this gentleman, a great master in training, exhibiting and judging -saddle-horses, had acted for a good many years. He had, by his awards, -established a standard that made it almost impossible for other horses -to compete with the Denmarks. He appeared to think—I have never spoken -with him on the subject—that symmetry, good manners, good mouth, style -of action both in front and behind, sure-footedness, docility, and -intelligence were the requisites to be aimed at. Now, these are all -characteristics of the Denmark. Not all are characteristics of the -Thoroughbred. For instance, in the slow gaits a Thoroughbred, -particularly one that has ever been in training, is not sure-footed; he -travels too close to the ground. Again, he is not docile, as he becomes -very easily excited, and when his blood is up, wants to gallop at full -speed. His mouth, owing to this easily aroused excitement, more -frequently than not, gets all wrong, and he responds more to force than -to that sympathy which makes a good saddle-horse, and his rider seem to -be one. His style of action is inferior to that of the Denmark both in -front and behind and, as a general thing, he lacks the symmetry of -substance which is really the most remarkable thing about a Denmark. It -is surely a pity that there should be in our show rings this confusion -as to standards. The Thoroughbred type as a saddle-horse standard does -not obtain away from New York. In Philadelphia, in Boston, in Chicago -and all over the South and West, the Denmark is still the saddle-horse -par excellence, as he deserves to be. A friend of mine, in upholding the -New York authorities for getting an English judge for American -saddle-horses, says that the substitution was wise, because the Kentucky -horses hammer themselves all to pieces on the hard roads in the parks of -the East. If the park roads in the East are harder than the Kentucky -turnpikes, I have yet to see them. His idea seemed to be that every -Kentucky horse was sure to rack. But that is not so at all. He racks -when he is taught, and he is taught so easily that he acquires the gait -by what might be called second nature; but the Denmark can be turned out -whenever desired to go only the three gaits—walk, trot, and canter—and -he does these with a finish that the Thoroughbred cannot approach. - -[Illustration: - - MONTGOMERY CHIEF, JR. (CLOSELY INBRED DENMARK BY MONTGOMERY CHIEF) - - Bred by Allie Jones, owned by Philippine Government -] - -But these other easily acquired Kentucky gaits are not to be despised. -The running-walk is not hard upon the horse, and it is the easiest of -all on the rider. When men on business, or soldiers on a march both have -to go great distances in the saddle, the running-walk is about as great -an excellence as a horse can be endowed with. It came into being in this -country when most journeys were made on horseback. In those days, when -about to take the long road from Lexington to Washington and -Philadelphia, a man would have been considered lacking in intelligence -who expressed contempt for either the amble or the fox-trot. And when -Morgan’s men, during the Civil War, were making those wonderful -raids—now here, now there, and the next day out of sight—they were -generally mounted on these Kentucky-bred horses—not Thoroughbreds, but -Denmarks and others of the saddle-class type, the one type that -particularly belongs to Kentucky, and one of the very few types that we -can call American. - -Long before Denmark came to Kentucky—fifty years and more—there had been -good saddle-horses there. There was an urgent need for them, and men of -enterprise usually get what they need. They had been brought from -Virginia by the early settlers, they had come from Canada and from -Vermont. They were excellent horses for the purposes of the time, but -they lacked the fine finish that came to them from Denmark and other -Thoroughbred crosses that were made about his time. It was not -appreciated to the full what an excellent cross Denmark made on those -old time mares until after his death, and the appearance of his sons as -sires—particularly Gaines’s Denmark. From this latter horse the best -saddle-horses that Kentucky has produced have descended and, in many -instances, they breed back to him two, three and four times. To my mind, -here is the strongest proof that the Denmark is a fixed reproducing -type. Inbreeding is fatal among mongrels of any sort; but where the type -is fixed it may be done with most excellent results and strictly, too, -according to the rule of “like begetting like.” - -Here is another peculiarity of the Denmark. His excellence as a driving -horse is only exceeded by his virtues under the saddle. I am well aware -that men of fortune, who can keep as many horses in their stables as -they choose, rather scoff at the “combination horse.” All right for -them. All of us, however, are not so fortunately situated. When a man -whose means only enable him to keep a few horses—or even one horse—and -he wants both to ride and drive, the “combination horse” is the only -animal that will enable him to go how and when he chooses. The Denmarks -make splendid combination horses. They trot in harness with quite -reasonable speed and very good action, and the road is seldom too long -for them. My personal experience has not shown me that this change from -saddle to harness worked any great harm. I once had a Denmark that won -first prizes at the same show in the rings for saddle-horses, for -combination horses and for roadsters; all these winnings in two days. It -seems only reasonable that horses with the activity, the adaptability, -and the intelligence to acquire the various gaits that are within a -Denmark’s range would not necessarily be injured by driving in harness. -At any rate, a man who has only a small stable can get more kinds of fun -out of a Denmark than out of any other type of horse. - -This type of horse is bred in five or six counties grouped about -Lexington. There are several large breeders, but pretty nearly every -farmer has a saddle mare or two that are regularly bred. But the supply -is not up to the demand. The dealers and trainers have their eyes open -all the time for promising individuals to train for the show rings, and -supply to wealthy customers in various parts of the country. They get -first choice because they are willing, when they come across a -particularly fine specimen, to take it even as a yearling. As these -animals are usually not salable until four years old, it will be seen -that the disposal of the yearling is an attractive thing for the breeder -and risky for the dealer. But there are still a good many of them needed -for use at home, as the young Blue Grass Kentuckian must have his -saddler so that he can range the country-side at will. Most men, -unacquainted with the easy gaits of a Kentucky saddle-horse, as used in -his native counties, would think it rather strange to go courting on -horseback, and arrive at one’s destination hot and mussed up. But these -easily gaited horses do not muss one up any more than a hansom cab does. -This easiness of gait reminds me of another use for which they are -invaluable. The planters in the South, as a general thing, go about -their places on horseback, also visiting the village and their neighbors -in the same way. In that generally warm climate a Thoroughbred or -trotting horse would get the rider so warm that a change of clothes -would be necessary; but these Southern gentlemen do not find such a -need. Indeed, I have been told that one accustomed to the saddle and the -climate can attend to business and social duties, plus two or three mint -juleps, without any great inconvenience. - -When I was asked last year by the Civil Government of the Philippines to -select some mares and stallions for transportation there for breeding -and the improvement of the ponies in the Islands, I bought as many -Denmark mares as the conditions of my commission permitted. As my time -was limited I had to scour several counties very thoroughly. The -gentlemen I first consulted were rather discouraging, but I got in a few -weeks as fine a lot as ever left Kentucky, and the picture that is in -this book shows a group of them at pasture just before they were started -on their long journey to the other side of the world, where they -arrived, I am glad to say, with a loss of only two per cent. It was more -difficult to find Denmark stallions. The scarcity of these is due to the -efforts of the dealers and trainers to get males for their customers. So -many of the most promising are sold as yearlings and gelded. The -greatest stallions of the day are, I should judge, Montgomery Chief, -belonging to the Ball Brothers, Highland Denmark, belonging to the Gay -Brothers, and Forest Denmark, belonging to Colonel Woodford. These are -all closely-inbred Denmarks, and are most successful as sires, their -progeny winning blue ribbons wherever shown. - -These horses have found their way into Tennessee, Illinois, and -Missouri, where the stock is most highly esteemed; but they flourish -most in Kentucky. I have heard army officers say that in the hard riding -days, when the Indian was still a frontier menace, that a troop of -cavalry mounted on horses from Kentucky would find their horses in -first-class condition when other troops on horses say from Iowa, -Missouri, or Illinois would be completely worn out and unable to -continue. These horses are singularly free from blemishes. I noticed -this particularly when making the Philippine purchases just alluded to. -Here every horse had to be absolutely sound, or, as they say in -Kentucky, “without a pimple.” The small percentage of rejection for -unsoundness really surprised me. This was testimony to the careful -selection in breeding that is practised there. One other word as to this -experience. When a breeder was asked whether his offering were broken or -trained, he either looked bewildered or treated the question as a joke. -This was because all of them are perfectly broken and, as a mere matter -of course, both to saddle and harness. - -The prevailing size of the Denmarks, I should say, is 15.2, the weight -1050 pounds. In color they are usually bays or chestnuts, though there -are browns, blacks and grays. I never saw a dun; but I have seen a few -roans. The usual practice is to handle them at two years old, train them -gently at three, and give them a complete education at four. - -The American Saddle Horse Breeders’ Association keeps and publishes a -register affirming that the following sires are the founders of the -type: - - Denmark (Thoroughbred), by Imp. Hedgeford. - John Dillard, by Indian Chief (Canadian). - Tom Hal (Imported from Canada). - Cabell’s Lexington, by Gist’s Black Hawk (Morgan). - Coleman’s Eureka (Thoroughbred and Morgan). - Van Meter’s Waxy (Thoroughbred). - Stump the Dealer (Thoroughbred). - Peter’s Halcorn. - Davy Crockett. - Pat Cleburne, by Benton’s Gray Diomed. - -This wide inclusion is hospitable and probably just, for the blood of -all these horses commingling with the old stock has made the Kentucky -saddle-horses what they are, but among them all the Denmarks are -pre-eminent. That they should be a reproducing type is, no doubt, due to -the Oriental blood in the Thoroughbreds and the fresh infusions that -came with the Jefferson Barbs, Keene Richards’s Arabs and from other -more recent sources. - -[Illustration: - - HIGHLAND EAGLE (A CLOSELY INBRED DENMARK BY HIGHLAND DENMARK) - - Owned by Thomas K. Ryan -] - - - - - CHAPTER NINE - THE GOVERNMENT AS A BREEDER - - -The United States as a government has never until now conducted any -horse-breeding experiments. Army officers have frequently tried to -induce the War Department to start a breeding establishment so that -remounts of a proper kind could be supplied to the cavalry. But the idea -has never appealed to Congress, and in this particular direction nothing -has been done. Dr. D. E. Salmon, the accomplished chief of the Bureau of -Animal Industry of the Agricultural Department, has inserted what may be -the “entering-wedge” for at the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station -a few mares and stallions have been assembled, and an effort will be -made to breed a type of carriage horses, a type badly needed. Of this -experiment Dr. Salmon says: - -“In the countries of the world where horse breeding has been encouraged -by government assistance the foundation has been native stock, and the -key to successful work has been selection according to a certain type. -Furthermore, with all due respect to Godolphin Arabian, the Darley -Arabian and their contemporaries, the great factor in developing the -Thoroughbred horse was the method of the English breeder, and more -credit is due to native English stock and to environment than has -generally been acknowledged. The Thoroughbred has been the great -leavening power in developing English breeds of light horses; the -trotter may bear the same relation to the horse stock of America. - -“The trotter is found throughout the country wherever horses are raised, -and any improvement in this breed affects in time the entire horse -industry. The light harness classes can be supplied from this source, -and there is no more effective way to provide a supply of suitable -cavalry horses for the United States army than by showing how the native -horse may be improved. - -“That the trotter has faults no one will deny, and that the speed idea -has been responsible for many of these faults and has caused many a man -to become bankrupt are equally certain. If a horse can trot 2.10 or -better it is reasonably certain that he will make money for his owner, -and it matters not how homely or unsound he may be; but if the horse has -bad looks and unsoundness, and also lacks speed, he will be unprofitable -on the track, and can not be sold at a profitable price on the market, -while, if used in the stud, his undesirable qualities are perpetuated. -On the other hand, if the horse has a moderate speed, but is sound, -handsome and stylish, with a shapely head and neck, a straight, strong -back, straight croup, muscular quarters and stifles, well-set legs, -possesses good all-round true action and has abundant endurance, he is -almost certainly a profitable investment. This is the kind of light -horse which the market wants and will pay for. If of the roadster type, -he sells well as a driver; if more on the heavy harness order, as a -carriage horse. - -“The occurrence of trotting bred horses of the finest conformation is by -no means uncommon; it is so frequent, indeed, that these animals supply -not only the demand for roadsters, but the principal part of the fine -city trade in carriage horses, and are conspicuous winners at the horse -shows. The demand for such horses has been so keen that dealers have -resorted to the pernicious practice of buying mature stallions, many of -them valuable breeders, and castrating them to be sold later as carriage -horses. The famous Lord Brilliant, three times winner of the -Waldorf-Astoria gig cup at Madison Square Garden, is a notable instance -of this practice; Lonzie, a noted Chicago show horse, is another, and -the horse purchased for the department experiments (Carmon) narrowly -escaped the same fate. This practice can not be too strongly condemned. -There is reason to believe that if these stallions were used as the -nucleus of a breed the type would in time become fixed and their blood -be saved to the country. On the other hand, if steps are not taken to -mould the blood of these horses into one breed, and preserve the blood -lines which produce them, an irreparable loss to the industry will -result. The first step should be to select foundation stock strictly -according to type; the next to study the lines of breeding which produce -these horses. To a certain extent they are accidents of breeding, but -there is little doubt that certain families show a greater tendency in -this direction than others. For example, the descendants of Alexander’s -Abdallah, Harrison Chief, the Morgans and the Clay family have been more -or less notable in this respect. Further, certain sires are known to -produce handsome and marketable horses with regularity. - -“In view of these facts, the department decided to undertake the -development of a breed of carriage horses on an American foundation as -an interesting and important problem for solution. If successful it will -show that we can develop our own breeding stock of horses in this -country; it will make light horse breeding less a lottery than it is at -present, and will at the same time provide breeding animals which can be -used profitably on the lighter horses of the country. - -“After a thorough search the department has purchased as foundation -stock eighteen mares and one stallion. In addition, it can command the -services of additional stallions if desired. The instructions of the -purchasing board allowed considerable latitude, but it was required to -select strictly according to type. Hereditary unsoundness was regarded -as a disqualification. Pedigree was not considered, so far as -registration was concerned, but the board required evidence to be -submitted showing that the animals purchased were from parents and -ancestors of like type, thus insuring blood lines that would breed -reasonably true. Speed, while not ignored, was not made an essential. -Life, spirit, and energy, with moderate speed, were considered, and, -while conformation was not sacrificed to speed, speed with conformation -and good action was regarded as an advantage. - -“The type for mares was one standing about 15.3 hands, weighing 1100 to -1150 pounds, bay, brown or chestnut in color, with stylish head and -neck, full made body, deep ribs, straight back, strong loin, straight, -full croup, muscular forearms, quarters and lower thighs; good all-round -was insisted upon. Any tendency to pace or mix gaits was regarded as -grounds for disqualification. In some cases mares of more than 15.3 -hands were purchased and in others they were less than this. All, -however, conformed closely to type. Some of the mares are in foal; the -rest will be bred this spring. - -“The ancestors of six mares purchased in Wyoming have been bred for five -or six generations in that state, the band having been started by means -of an importation of horses from the Central West which was largely -Morgan stock. On this stock Thoroughbred and Standard sires have been -used, and the herd has been developed more to produce a horse suitable -for carriage purposes than one which had speed characteristics. Some of -the six have been exhibited at the New York Horse Show, and the owner of -the ranch maintains a stable near New York City, where he sends his -surplus from year to year to be finished for the fine city trade. - -“The search for a stallion to head the stud was the most difficult of -all. An almost unlimited number of trotting horses suitable to get good -carriage horses were recommended to the department, but on investigation -it would be found that they were deficient in some respect and could not -be considered. A horse was finally selected which was among the first -suggested—Carmon 32907, American Trotting Horse Register, 16 hands, -weighing 1200 pounds in fair condition, bay with black points and no -white markings, bred by Norman J. Coleman, of St. Louis. - -“The points of Carmon’s conformation which deserve special mention are -his head and neck and hind quarters. His forehead is broad and full, -with a straight nose and face; full, expressive eyes and well-carried -ears. The neck is clean, muscular, and well arched. In the hind quarters -special attention should be directed to the straight, broad croup and -the muscular quarters and lower thighs. The horse has an abundance of -bone and substance, but ample quality at the same time. His action is -excellent. - -“A study of Carmon’s pedigree shows that it is not a particularly -fashionable one from the standpoint of the man who is breeding solely -for speed. This is a pedigree from which one might expect a horse of -excellent conformation. Robert McGregor, for example, was a horse with -especially well-developed hind quarters and this characteristic is seen -in his sons and grandsons, as shown by Cresceus and Carmon. Abdallah XV -was a horse with a particularly attractive head and neck. The frequency -with which the Abdallah cross appears in Carmon’s pedigree and the -presence of Morgan, Mambrino Chief and Clay blood readily explains where -this horse gets his handsome head and neck and his full quarters and -stifles. These families have produced some of our handsomest horses. -Their blood makes up nineteen-sixty-fourths of Carmon’s pedigree. - -“The small percentage of pacing blood is worthy of particular notice. -Further, the prominent trotting sires in it have produced more trotters -than pacers, and Robert McGregor, Abdallah XV, and Ethan Allen are -noteworthy for the small number of pacers sired by them or produced by -their sons and daughters. This is so small that they may be regarded -strictly as sires of trotters. Abdallah XV and Ethan Allen sired no -pacers, and of the immediate get of Robert McGregor less than ten per -cent are pacers.”[8] - -Footnote 8: - - U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY - LOCAL OFFICE - - _John Gilmer Speed_, FORT COLLINS, COLO., _June 12, 1905_. - _New York, N. Y._ - - DEAR SIR:—Your favor of May 24 has been referred to me for reply. Will - say that we now have 19 brood mares and a stallion in our breeding - stud here and as you probably have learned, our object is to establish - a type of American carriage horses eventually. We will found a stud - book for this type of horses in America and we hope to so foster and - develop this type of horses in America as to make them par excellence - as a heavy harness horse. The mares that we have secured range in - weight from 1050 to upwards of 1280 pounds. They are from 15.2 to 16.1 - hands in height and are without exception high headed with superb - action, of fine quality and while not noted for speed, can trot a mile - in approximately three minutes and do it in a wonderfully easy and - graceful manner, showing great style and finish. They are all bred - from the American trotter foundation, and as far as possible of Morgan - blood. We were careful to secure nothing but straight _trotting_ bred - stock, as we wish to eradicate the pacing characteristic from our - horses. As you are aware, the Government and the Colorado Agricultural - College are co-operating in this work. The Government is furnishing - part of the funds and the College has taken charge of and is directing - the work. - - Trusting that this information is satisfactory, I am, - - Yours very truly, - W. L. CARLYLE, - _Expert in charge_. - -I need not explain to readers of this book that I do not entirely agree -with Dr. Salmon in his views of the American trotting horse. But in the -main I do agree with him in the selection of his mares. The stallion -used to be known in the horse-show rings as Lawson’s Glorious Thunder -Cloud. He never struck me as anything at all out of the common and I am -astonished at his selection. He was a good wheeler in a four-in-hand, -but that was all. In single harness he never won in any ordinary class -at any important show. He seemed to me to lack quality and to be lacking -in many of the things for which Dr. Salmon gives him praise. I trust, -however, he will prove a better sire than he was a show horse, for the -need for carriage horses is great; then it would be a great pity for -this first official experiment to turn out badly. It will be watched -with peculiar interest. But I wish Dr. Salmon had selected as his -stallion a horse that was in blood and conformation similar to -Clay-Kismet. - - - - - CHAPTER TEN - FOREIGN HORSES OF VARIOUS KINDS - - -For draught purposes there have been a great many foreign horses brought -here, and they have served an excellent purpose. I suspect indeed that -if we had a record of the Percherons, Clydesdales, and Shire horse that -have been brought into America for the purpose of breeding heavy horses -for trucking, that the number would exceed the Thoroughbreds that have -been imported for the improvement of that special type. We had no heavy -horses of our own, and as there was a constant demand for draught horses -it was inevitable that breeders should go for stock where that stock had -been brought to the highest perfection. To us it seemed that the French -horses, the Percherons,[9] were best adapted for our use. And though -many have been brought here, it is not likely that the generality of -Americans know the pure bred Percherons. But all of us are familiar with -Rosa Bonheur’s “Horse Fair.” The models of the horses in this stirring -and beautiful picture were Percherons, and nearly all of them stallions. -The French, and other Latins besides, have a fondness for using -stallions in ordinary work, and any day in Paris a visitor may see a -long string of Percheron stallions drawing a heavy load as placidly as -geldings would do it. There is no reason why stallions should not be -used more generally in this country. The prejudice against their use as -saddle- and harness-horses no doubt arose when the business of a greater -part of the country was transacted by travelers who needed to hitch -their horses where other horses were also tethered. But in work where a -groom or driver is always in charge of a horse the stallion may be used -with much advantage to himself and satisfaction to his owner. - -Footnote 9: - - Mr. Walters of Baltimore, began importing Percherons to America in - 1866 and kept it up for twenty years. He translated the work of M. du - Hays on the Percheron and illustrated it with photographs of horses - and mares of his own importation. It is one of the handsomest horse - books ever published. - -The basic blood of these Percherons is Arab and Barb mixed with the -blood of those heavy Norman horses that were used by the heavily-armed -knights in the time when the lance, sword, and crossbow took the place -in war now monopolized entirely by rifles, balls and powder or other -explosives. After securing the type the French have been so zealously -aware of its value that they keep agents in Arabia always looking out -for animals suitable to start a new and parallel supply of this basic -blood. These same agents are also on the lookout for horses to be used -in the breeding of army horses. Few of the Percherons that are brought -over here are used in actual work, but are kept on the breeding farms in -Ohio, Illinois, and other places for the production of “graded draught -horses,” horses not quite so heavy as the Percheron, but heavier than -any draught horses we previously had of our own breeding. The Percheron -stallions are mated with heavy American mares and with “graded” mares, -and the produce sent to the great cities where the animals fetch highly -satisfactory prices. Great care has to be exercised in making the cross -between a Percheron and an American that the contrast shall not be too -great between the members of the union. When it is too great the -consequences are disastrous, and result in a misshapen beast with -unrelated characteristics of each parent. This shows that the blood of -the union has not blended harmoniously. But the men who are in the -business of producing “graded draught horses” appear to know that -business well as the horses sold are handsome, strong, and active, and -well adapted for the work for which they were created. This is a -business pretty sure to decrease rather rapidly. These graded horses are -not the ideal farm horse, although on a large farm where there is a deal -of hauling, they serve a very useful purpose. But in plowing or in other -work over soft ground they are too heavy. The city is the place for -these horses. And year by year the heavy hauling will more and more be -done by auto-cars. The auto-car for trucking is at present probably the -most satisfactory achievement of the designers of horseless vehicles. -When it is satisfactorily demonstrated that this mode of transferring -freight, building material, and so on, is the cheapest way, then draught -horses will be less and less in demand, and the French will lose one of -their most profitable markets for her large, heavy, and symmetrical -horses. Still that may be a many years off, and if I were Dr. Hartman or -Messrs. Dunham I should not just yet sacrifice my Percherons to any save -the highest bidder. - -Before the era of the draught horse from France, those from England had -a certain amount of popularity. That has long since passed away, and the -Shires and Clydesdales in the United States are not proportionally so -numerous as formerly. But they keep their popularity in Canada, where -probably the farmers, being chiefly Britons, understand them better. -That they should have been supplanted by the Percheron in the United -States is no doubt due to the fact that the Oriental blood in the French -horse makes that blood more assimilative with other strains. The French -coach horse is brought over here to an extent for experimental use, and -the Cleveland Bays formerly were brought quite frequently. Both, no -doubt, have had temporary influences on the American stock in the -localities where these horses were in the stud, but I know of no type -that has been influenced by them to any great extent. - -The Orlof trotting horse of Russia is one of the most interesting horses -in Europe, and was created by Count Alexis Orlof-Tchestmensky, who began -his work during the reign of Peter III, in the last half of the -eighteenth century. As there has been an effort to make this type -popular in America, it may be interesting to record how Count Orlof went -about his work to secure a reproducing type of animals that resemble -each other as much as the puppies in a litter of fox terriers. In 1775 -he imported from Arabia a stallion named Smetanka, and bred this horse -to a Danish mare. The produce was Polkan who sired in 1784 Barrs out of -a Dutch mare. Barrs is looked upon as the founder of the Orlof type. -Barrs sired Lubeznoy out of a mare that was sired by an Arab out of a -Mecklenberg mare; Barrs also sired Dobroy out of a Thoroughbred English -mare; also Lebed out of a mare by Felkerzamchek out of a Mecklenberg -mare, Felkerzamchek being by Smetanka out of a Thoroughbred English -mare. Now all the Orlofs must descend from Smetanka and Barrs through -the three stallions named. This mixture was crossed and recrossed until -it became homogeneous, and so the Russian noble had created a type. - -In 1772 he had in his stud the following horses: - - Arab 12 stallions and 10 mares - Persian 3 stallions and 2 mares - English 20 stallions and 32 mares - Dutch 1 stallions and 8 mares - Mecklenberg 1 stallions and 5 mares - Danish 1 stallions and 3 mares - Miscellaneous 9 stallions and 17 mares - -He developed his type before his death in 1810, and his widow kept up -the same method of breeding until 1845, when she sold the horses to the -Russian government. These horses have been of vast service in Russia, -where even in the eighteenth century the steppes were filled with wild, -scrubby but hardy little horses to such an extent that even the poorest -peasant could own one or two. The Orlofs have done much to improve these -steppe ponies and it is upon them that the Russian cavalry largely -depends for remounts. - -The fastest of these trotters can go a 2.20 clip, but I have heard that -a rate like this can be maintained only a short while. They are not so -symmetrical as our Morgans or Clay-Arabians, but they have immensely -more substance than the Standard Bred Trotters. I do not see how they -can find any very useful place in this country. We could from our own -stock quickly develop a better looking coach horse, and I believe we -will do it, but never until we keep in mind that type is nine-tenths of -any horse breeding battle that is ever won. - -The English Hackneys at one period promised to be popular in this -country. This popularity was stimulated by fashion, and the English -breeders did not fail to take advantage of the fad that possessed some -Americans of wealth. The Hackney comes from the Dutch horses by way of -the Norfolk trotter. He is a horse of substance and easily acquires a -high step with much knee action. In the show ring he is exhibited after -the English fashion and makes a very lively picture. But his step is not -light. He pounds the ground as though he wished the earth to tremble, -and the Chinese feel his tread on the other side of the world. He has no -very fitting place here, no more than the Orlof, either in his purity or -as a cross with our own horses. We can easily do without him, and -accomplish the creation of heavy harness and coach horse without the -assistance of this English type. Originally in England the Hackney was a -knock-a-bout horse, good under the saddle and in harness; but he has -been bred up to large size and very heavy weight. Some of the American -breeders of hackney ten or fifteen years ago when they went to England -for stock to breed from paid such prices that the English laughed with -delight, for they never dreamed of such a market at home. The fad is -fastly dying out, and it is likely that in a few years there will not be -opportunity even in the show rings for their exhibition. As they are -deficient in courage and staying qualities, this will not be a bad -result of lack of popularity. - - - - - CHAPTER ELEVEN - THE BREEDING OF MULES - - -On the first day of January, 1905, we had in the United States 2,888,710 -mules with a taxable value of $251,840,378. This shows how extensive an -industry mule-breeding is, and also what an important place the mule -occupies in the economy of the country. The mule is an ideal farm -animal. They would find it hard to get along without him on the -plantations in the South. The negro is the poorest horseman in the -world. As a groom he is careless and neglectful. A horse must be -attended to or he will get ill and die. The mule seems, if not to thrive -on neglect, at least not seriously to deteriorate. On many of the -Southern plantations mules never know either currycomb or brush during -all their long lives. And they live to a great age. I have never seen -any statement based on carefully ascertained statistics at to the -comparative length life of the horse and mule, but I am persuaded, from -my own observation that on an average a mule lives twenty-five per cent -longer. And there is pretty nearly as much work in an old mule as in a -young one. They can also be put to hard work sooner than a horse. So the -working life of a mule is lengthened at both ends. Moreover, they can -subsist on what would be starvation for a horse. - -If mules were bred at all in America in the Colonial era it was to a -very limited extent. But after the Revolution they were bred a little, -and George Washington was the man who encouraged this new industry. In -1786, before his election to the Presidency, Washington accepted from -the King of Spain the present of a large Spanish Jack. He called the -jack Royal Gift, and thus advertised his services in a Philadelphia -paper: - - “Royal Gift—A Jack Ass of the first race in the Kingdom of Spain - will cover mares and jennies (she asses) at Mount Vernon the - ensuing spring. The first for ten, the latter for fifteen pounds - the season. Royal Gift is four years old, is between 14½ and 15 - hands high, and will grow, it is said, until he is twenty or - twenty-five years of age. He is very bony and stout made, of a - dark colour with light belly and legs. The advantages, which are - many, to be derived from the propagation of asses from this animal - (the first of the kind that was ever in North America), and the - usefulness of mules bred from a Jack of his size, either for the - road or team, are well known to those who are acquainted with this - mongrel race. For the information of those who are not, it may be - enough to add, that their great strength, longevity, hardiness, - and cheap support, give them a preference of horses that is - scarcely to be imagined. As the Jack is young, and the General has - many mares of his own to put to him, a limited number only will be - received from others, and these entered in the order they are - offered. Letters directed to the subscriber, by Post or otherwise, - under cover to the General, will be entered on the day they are - received, till the number is completed, of which the writers shall - be informed to prevent trouble or expense to them. - - “JOHN FAIRFAX, Overseer. - “February 23, 1786.” - -Washington believed in mules and in the inventory of live stock in his -will made in 1799, mention is made of two covering jacks, three young -ones, ten she asses, forty-two working mules, and fifteen younger ones. -It was a much later period, however, before mules were extensively bred -in the United States. With the exception of Royal Gift, it is likely -that the jacks brought from Europe were rather inferior. But in 1832, -Henry Clay imported two pure-blood Catalan asses, a jack and a jenny. -They were landed in Maryland, and there the jenny had a foal. This foal -was called Warrior. This jack was fifteen hands high, and he became a -great ass progenitor in Kentucky. The jennies there at that time were -not well bred, but mongrels, mostly a light shade of blue, with gray, -buff and grizzly hair, nearly as stiff as hog bristles, generally with a -colored stripe across the shoulders and down the back, ewe-necked, flat -in the rib, low carriage, and heavy headed, entirely destitute of any -good quality except hardihood and ability to get a living where any -other animal, save a goat, would have starved to death. With such -jennies began the first effort to improve the race in Kentucky, and they -flocked to Warrior in droves. He seemed to cross advantageously with -them, just as the Cashmere goat crosses on the common hairy goat. His -progeny seemed rapidly to lose the leading traits of their dams, and to -inherit in a remarkable degree the color and outward characteristics of -their sire. Four years later Dr. Davis imported in South Carolina -another Catalan jack. He was 16 hands high and of great weight. This -jack, Mammoth, was mated to the young Warrior jennies then just -maturing, thus making the second cross of pure blood, and upon these two -crosses rest to-day the breeding of the race of jacks known throughout -the United States as the Kentucky Jack. These Kentucky jacks are still -popular, and last year the British Government bought a number of them to -take to India. - -Mr. J. L. Jones, of Columbia, Tennessee, is a recognized authority on -mule breeding, and I prefer to give my readers his counsel in a matter -with which he is better acquainted than I am. - -He says: - -“There are two kinds or classes of the mule, viz., one the produce of -the male ass or jack and the mare; and the other, the offspring of the -stallion and female ass. The cross between the jack and the mare is -properly called the mule, while the other, the produce of the stallion -and female ass, is designated a hinny. The mule is the more valuable -animal of the two, having more size, finish, bone, and, in fact, all the -requisites which make that animal so much prized as a useful -burden-bearing animal. The hinny is small in size, and is wanting in the -qualities requisite to a great draught animal. This hybrid is supposed -not to breed, as no instance is known to us in which a stallion mule has -been prolific, although he seems to be physically perfect, and shows -great fondness for the female, and serves readily. There are instances -on record where the female has produced a foal, but these are rare. - -“The mule partakes of the several characteristics of both its parents, -having the head, ear, foot, and bone of the jack, while in height and -body it follows the mare. It has the voice of neither, but is between -the two, and more nearly resembles the jack. It possesses the patience, -endurance, and sure-footedness of the jack, and the vigor, strength, and -courage of the horse. It is easily kept, very hardy, and no path is too -precipitous or mountain trail too difficult for one of them with its -burden. The mule enjoys comparative immunity from disease, and lives to -a comparatively great age. The writer knows of a mule in Middle -Tennessee that, when young, was a beautiful dapple gray, but is now -thirty years old, and is as white as snow. This mule is so faithful and -true, and has broken so many young things to work by his side, that he -bears the name of ‘Counsellor.’ The last time he was seen by the writer -he was in a team attached to a reaper, drawing at a rate sufficient to -cut fifteen acres of grain per day. - -“Kentucky mules are showy, up-headed, fine-haired animals, their extra -qualities being attributable to the strong, Thoroughbred blood in the -greater part of their dams. The same may be said of Tennessee, where it -is thought the climactic influences produce a little better, smoother, -and finer hair, coupled with early maturity, which qualities are much -prized by an expert buyer. - -“The mules in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and some of the so-called -Northwestern states, have large bone, foot, body, and substance, and -possess great strength, but they are wanting in that high style, finish, -and fine hair that characterize the produce of some of the states -further south, and are longer in maturing. Mule-breeding in these states -is one of the most important branches of industry, and is supposed to -date back prior to 1787. - -“There is no kind of labor to which a horse can be put for which a mule -may not be made to answer, while there are many for which mules are more -peculiarly adapted than horses; and among the rest, that of mining, -where the mule is used, and many of them need no drivers. They can -endure more hardships than the horse, can live on less, and do more work -on the same feed than any other beast of burden we use in America. - -“A cotton-planter in the South would feel unwilling to raise his crop -with horses for motive power. The horse and the labor of the cotton belt -could not harmonize, while the negro is at home with the mule. - -“A mule may be worked until completely fagged, when a good feed and a -night’s rest will enable it to go; but it is not so with a horse. - -“The mule being better adapted for carrying burdens, for the plough, the -wagon, building of railroads, and, in fact, all classes of heavy labor, -let us see how it compares with the noble animal, the horse, in cost of -maintenance. - -“From repeated experiments that have come under my observation in the -past twenty-five years, I have found that three mules, 15 hands high, -that were constantly worked, consumed about as much forage as two -ordinary-sized horses worked in the same way, and while the mules were -fat the horses were only in good working order. Although a mule will -live and work on very low fare, he also responds as quickly as any -animal to good feed and kind treatment. True, it is charged that the -mule is vicious, stubborn, and slow, but an experience in handling many -mules on the farm has failed to sustain the charge, save in few -instances, and in these the propensities were brought about by bad -handling. They are truer pullers than the horse, and move more quickly -under the load. Their hearing and vision are better than the horse. The -writer has used them in all the different branches of farming, from the -plough to the carriage and buggy, and thinks they are less liable to -become frightened and start suddenly; and if they do start, they usually -stop before damage is done, while the horse seldom stops until -completely freed. The mule is more steady while at work than the horse, -and is not so liable to become exhausted, and often becomes so well -instructed as to need neither driver nor lines. - -“In the town in which the writer lives, a cotton merchant, who is also -in the grocery trade, owned a large sorrel mule, 16 hands high, that he -worked to a dray to haul goods and cotton to the depot, half a mile from -his business house. This mule often went the route alone, and was never -known to strike anything, and what was more remarkable, would back up at -the proper place with the load, there being one place to unload -groceries and another for cotton. - -“They are also good for light harness, many of them being very useful -buggy animals, traveling a day’s journey equal to some horses. The -writer obtained one from a firm of jack breeders in his vicinity, that -was bred by them, as an experiment, being out of a Thoroughbred mare by -a royally bred jack. She is 16 hands high, as courageous as most any -horse. In traveling a distance of thirty-two miles, this mule, with two -men and the baggage, made it, as the saying goes, ‘under a pull,’ in -four hours, and when arrived at the journey’s end seemed willing to go -on. - -“We do not wish to be understood as underrating the horse, for it is a -noble animal, well suited for man’s wants, but for burden-bearing and -drudgery is more than equaled by the patient, faithful, hardy mule. - -“There are two kinds of jacks—the mule-breeding and the ass-breeding -jack, the latter being used chiefly in breeding jacks for stock -purposes. It is only with the mule-breeding jack that we will deal. - -“A good mule-jack ought to be not less than 15 hands high, and have all -of the weight, head, ear, foot, bone, and length that can be obtained, -coupled with a broad chest, wide hips, and with all the style attainable -with these qualities. Smaller jacks are often fine breeders, and produce -some of our best mules, and when bred to the heavier, larger class of -mares show good results, but as ‘like produces like,’ the larger jacks -are preferable. - -“Black, with light points, is the favorite color for a jack, but many of -our gray, blue, and even white jacks have produced good mules. In fact, -some of the nicest, smoothest, red-sorrel mules have been the product of -these off-colored jacks; but the black jacks get the largest proportion -of good-colored colts from all colored mares. - -“The breed of the jack is also to be looked into. There are now so many -varieties of jacks in the United States, all of which have merits, that -it will be well to examine and see what jack has shown the best results. -We have the Catalonian, the Andalusian, the Maltese, the Majorca, the -Italian, and the Poitou—all of which are imported—and the native jack. -Of all the imported, the Catalonian is the finest type of animal, being -a good black, with white points, of fine style and action, and from 14½ -to 15 hands high, rarely 16 hands, with a clean bone. The Andalusian is -about the same type of jack as the Catalonian having, perhaps, a little -more weight and bone, but are all off-colors. The Maltese is smaller -than the Catalonian, rarely being over 14½ hands high, but is nice and -smooth. The Majorca is the largest of the imported jacks, the heaviest -in weight, bone, head, and ear, and frequently grows to 16 hands. These -are raised in the rich island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea. -While they excel in weight and size, they lack in style, finish and -action. The Italian is the smallest of all the imported jacks, being -usually from 13 to 14 hands high, but having good foot, bone, and -weight, and some of them make good breeders. The Poitou is the latest -importation of the jack, and is little known in the United States. He is -imported from France, and is reported to be the sire of some of the -finest mules in his native land. These jacks have long hair about the -neck, ears, and legs, and are, in some respects, to the jack race what -the Clydesdale is to other horses. He is heavy set, has good foot and -bone, fine head and ear, and of good size, being about 15 hands high. - -“The native jack, as a class, is heavier in body, having a larger bone -and foot than the imported, and shows in his entire make-up the result -of the limestone soil and the grasses common in this country. He is of -all colors, having descended from all the breeds of imported jacks. But -the breeders of this country, seeing the fancy of their customers for -the black jack with light points, have discarded all other colors in -selecting their jacks, and the consequence is that a large proportion of -the jacks in the stud now, for mares, are of this color. - -“The native jack, being acclimated, seems to give better satisfaction to -breeders of mules than any other kind. From observation and experience -it is believed that our native jacks, with good imported crosses behind -them, will sire the mules best suited to the wants of those who use them -in this country, and will supply the market with what is desired by the -dealers. The colts by this class of jacks are stronger in make-up, -having better body, with more length, larger head and ear, more foot and -bone, combined with style equal to the colts of the imported jacks. - -“While many fine mules are sired by imported jacks, this is not to be -understood as meaning that imported jacks do not get good foals, yet, -taken as a class, we think that the mule by the native jack is superior -to any other class. This conclusion is borne out by an experience and -observation of some years, and by many of the best breeders and dealers -in the United States. - -“As the mule partakes very largely in its body and shape of its mother, -it is necessary that care should be taken in selecting the dam. Many -suppose that when a mare becomes diseased and unfit for breeding to the -horse, then she is fit to breed to mules. This is a sad mistake, for a -good, growing, sound colt must have good, sound sire and dam. - -“The jack may be ever so good, yet the result will be a disappointment -unless the mare is good, sound, and properly built for breeding. First, -she should be sound and of good color; black, bay, brown, or chestnut is -preferred. Her good color is needed to help to give the foals proper -color, and this is a matter of no small importance. - -“This should not be understood as ignoring the other colors, for some of -the best mules ever seen were the produce of gray or light-colored -mares, as many dealers and breeders will attest. The mare should be well -bred; that is, she would give better results by having some good -crosses. By all means let her have a cross of Thoroughbred, say -one-quarter, supplemented with strong crosses of some of the larger -breeds, and the balance of the breeding may be made up of the better -class of the native stock. The mare should have good length, large, -well-rounded barrel, good head, long neck, good, broad, flat bone, broad -chest, wide between the hips, and good style. - -“Having selected the sire and the dam, the next thing is to produce the -colt. The sire, if well kept and in good condition, is ready for -business, but not so with the mare. The dam is to be in season; that is, -in heat. Before being bred, to prevent accidents, the mare should be -hobbled or pitted. Having taken this precaution, the jack may be brought -out, and both will be ready for service. Care should be taken not to -over-serve the jack, as he should not be allowed to serve over two mares -a day. - -“The mare, after being served, may be put to light work, or put upon -some quiet pasture by herself for several days until she passes out of -season, when she may be turned out with other stock to run until the -eighteenth day, when she should be taken up to be teased by a horse, to -ascertain if she be in season, and if so, she should be bred again. Some -breeders think the ninth, some the twelfth, and some the fifteenth day -after service is the proper day to tease, but observation has taught me -that the best results come from the eighteenth-day plan. After she -becomes impregnated she should have good treatment; light work will not -hurt her, but care should be taken not to over-exert. She should have -good, nutritious grass if she runs out and is not worked, but if worked -she should be well fed on good feed. The foal will be due in about 333 -days. As the time approaches for foaling, the mare should be put in a -quiet place, away from other stock, until the foal is dropped. She will -not need any extra attention, as a rule, but should be looked after to -see that everything goes right. - -“After the foal comes, it will not hurt the mare or colt for the dam to -do light work, provided she is well fed on good, nutritious food. Should -she not be worked and is on good grass, and fed lightly on grain, the -colt will grow finely, if the mare gives plenty of milk; if she does not -the foal should be taught to eat such feed as is most suitable. - -“The colt should be well cared for at all times, and particularly while -following its mother, for the owner may want to sell at weaning time, -which is four months old, and its inches then will fix the price. Good -mules, at weaning time, usually bring from $75 to $90, and sometimes as -high as $100. - -“Feeders, dealers, and buyers prefer the mare mule to the horse, and -they sell more readily. The females mature earlier, are plumper and -rounder of body, and fatten more readily than the male. - -“In weaning the colt, much is accomplished by proper treatment -preparatory to this trying event in the mule’s life. It should be taught -to eat while following its mother, so that when weaned it will at once -know how to subsist on that which is fed to it. The best way to wean is -to take several colts and place them in a close barn, with plenty of -good, soft feed, such as bran and oats mixed, plenty of sound, sweet -hay, and, in season, cutgrass, remembering at all times that nothing can -make up for want of pure water in the stable. Many may be weaned -together properly. After they have remained in the stable for several -days they may be turned on good, rich pasture. Do not forget to feed, as -this is a trying time. The change from a milk to a dry diet is severe on -the colt. They may all be huddled in a barn together, as they seldom -hurt each other. Good, rich clover pastures are fine for mules at this -age, but if they are to be extra fine, feed them a little grain all the -while. - -“There is little variety in the feed until the mules are two years old, -at which time they are very easily broken. If halter-broken as they grow -up, all there is to do in breaking one is to put on a harness, and place -the young animal beside a broken mule, and go to work. When it is -thoroughly used to the harness, the mule is already broken. Light work -in the spring, when the mule is two years old, will do no hurt, but, in -the opinion of many breeders and dealers, make it better, provided it is -carefully handled and fed. - -“How to fatten the mule is one of the most important parts of -mule-raising, for when the mule is offered to a buyer, he will at once -ask: ‘Is he fat?’ and fat goes far in effecting a sale. A rough, poor -mule could hardly be sold, while if it is fat, the buyer will take it -because it is fat. - -“The mule should be placed in the barn with plenty of room, and not much -light, about the 1st of November, before it is two years old, and fed -about twelve ears of (Indian) corn per day, and all the nice, well-cured -clover hay it will eat, and there kept until about the 1st of April. -Then, in the climate of Middle Tennessee, the clover is good, and the -mule may be turned out on it, and the corn increased to about twenty -ears or more per day. They will eat more grain, without fear of -‘firing;’ that is, heating so as to cause scratches, as the green clover -removes all danger from this source. During the time they run on the -clover they eat less hay, but this should always be kept by them. About -the 1st of May the clover blooms, and is large enough to cut, in the -latitude of Tennessee. The mules should be placed, then, in the barn, -with a nice smooth lot attached, and plenty of pure water. A manger -should be built in the lot, four feet wide by four feet high, and long -enough to accommodate the number of mules it is desired to feed. This -should be covered over by a shed high enough for the mule to stand -under, to prevent the clover from wilting. The clover should be cut -while the dew is on, as this preserves the aroma, and they like it -better. While this is going on in the lot, the troughs and racks in the -barns should be supplied with all the shelled corn (maize) the mules -will eat. ‘Why shell it?’ some one will ask. Because they eat more of -it, and relish it. A valuable addition at all times consists of either -short-cut sheaf oats, or shelled oats, and bran, if not too expensive. - -“From this time the mule should be pressed with all the richest of feed, -if it is desired to make it what is termed in mule parlance, ‘hog fat.’ -Ground barley, shelled oats, bran, and shelled corn, should be given, -not forgetting to salt regularly all the while, nor omitting the hay and -green corn blades. While all those are essential, oats and bran, -although at some places expensive, are regarded as the _ne plus ultra_ -for fattening a mule, and giving a fine suit of hair. Be sure to keep -the barn well bedded, for if the hair becomes soiled from rolling it -lowers the value, as the mule is much estimated for its fine coat. - -“The grain makes the flesh, and the green stuff keeps the system of the -mule cool, and balances the excess of carbonaceous elements in the grain -fed. - -“The manner of feeding, if properly carried out, with the proper -foundation to start with, will make mules, two years old past, weigh -from 1150 pounds to 1350 pounds by the 1st of September, at which time -the market opens. - -“A feeder of eighteen years’ experience claims that oats and bran will -put on more fine flesh in a given time, coupled with a smoother, -glossier coat of hair, than any other known feed. The experienced feeder -follows this method from weaning till two years old.” - -In war the mule is invaluable both as a pack animal and for army trains. -He can stand the hard usage of army life much better than horses. In our -great Civil War they were used very extensively. In his book General -Grant told of a certain army chaplain who always took an active part in -the battles. On one occasion the roads were blocked up with mule-drawn -trains, and it was most desirable for them to get out of the way. The -chaplain lent a hand to the teamsters. Now mule-drivers use language -more forceful and picturesque than pure or elegant. Well, the parson -“cussed and swore,” with the rest of them, and helped straighten out the -tangle. That evening the General thanked the chaplain, but said: “How do -you reconcile the language you used with your conscience?” “Oh,” -answered the chaplain, “do mules understand any other language?” - - - - - CHAPTER TWELVE - HOW TO BUY A HORSE - - -It is far from my purpose to give any advice on the purchasing of horses -to professionals or to amateurs who know the subject thoroughly. The -professional knows his business so well, or is apt to think that he -does, that my advice would be almost an impertinence, while the amateur -who thinks he knows is incapable of learning. It is, by the way, a most -astonishing thing how few men there are who are willing to confess -ignorance as to horses. A little experience makes them wondrous wise. I -once heard of a reader for a great publishing house who “turned down” a -treatise on the horse because “the writer did not know the subject -sufficiently well.” This reader, I learned on inquiry, had studied the -subject thoroughly, for one summer a friend lent him a polo pony which -was under his constant observation for nearly three months. This conceit -that we have in our knowledge of horses whets our appetite for gambling -on horse-races, and makes the opportunity of the bookmakers to undo us -much greater and surer. It also induces us to make unwise purchases and -then conclude that horses are delusions and snares while dealers are -rogues of deepest dye. Only a few days before this page was written, I -heard of a college professor who bought a pair of horses at a fancy -price and without an examination from a veterinary, only to find after -reaching his country place that one of the horses was blind. So, while I -am sure that advice is needed, I am not at all certain that it is in -demand. - -We all recall the doggerel rule: - - “One white leg, inspect him; - Two white legs, reject him; - Three white legs, sell him to your foes; - Four white legs, feed him to the crows!” - -That is advice to which no attention should be paid at all, unless the -markings be such that a person looking for a horse positively dislikes. -And that is about the only rule I advise a person not to consider in -buying a horse. Everything else should be looked over carefully, for -pretty nearly everything about a horse has more or less importance, -usually more than less. - -The first thing a prospective purchaser should determine is why he wants -a horse, and what he wants to do with him. Then he should decide whether -he means to buy the horse on his own judgment or on that of some one -else. If he means to be his own judge he should go alone; if he means to -have a friend select his horse he should let the friend go alone. But he -should never take his friend along with him to give advice and assist in -driving a bargain. This kind of thing is annoying to a dealer, and -tempts him to match his experienced and hard-worked wit with that of the -seldom-used judgment of the buyer. That the dealer will win in such a -contest goes without saying. I have taken for granted that the buyer -will go to a dealer for any advice of any kind is wasted upon one who -would buy a horse from a friend, unless he coveted his friend’s horse -and wanted that particular animal from personal knowledge of him. - -Horse dealers are frequently spoken of as unconscionable rogues. And -there is no doubt that many of them do lack the virtue of probity and -straight speaking. But a reputable dealer in horses with an established -business can be as fair as any other business man, and I have known many -such. Such an horse dealer has a reputation to maintain that is as -valuable to him as that of a banker is to him. If you will place -confidence in him he is not apt to betray it, for he values his customer -and knows that there will probably be other sales to make. - -But the dealers who advertise in the newspapers that they will sell from -_private stables_ horses worth $500 or $1000 for $100 or $200 are the -pirates of the trade. They give one excuse or another why such immense -bargains are offered, and they make many sales. They are really -“confidence-men,” and why the police authorities should permit them to -continue in their thieving operations is one of the mysterious -manifestations of city life that I could never understand. It was from -one of these rogues that the college professor I just mentioned bought -his prize pair. Never on any account look for or even at any of these -advertised bargains in a _private stable_. A good horse has a market -value and a dealer knows it thoroughly. When he offers to sell below -that value, you may depend upon it that he is trying to cheat you by -imposing upon your ignorance. Having determined what kind of a horse you -want, and what kind of work you purpose doing with a horse, go to a -dealer and tell him all about it just as you would to your lawyer or -doctor. He will show you horses and quote prices. If the prices are -higher than you care to pay tell him that also, and he will show you -others. He usually begins with the higher-priced horses, unless he -“sizes you up” as lean of pocket-book. But in a large establishment the -price you have fixed in your own mind is likely to be arrived at very -quickly. Then you must determine whether the horse shown to you is of -the quality you desire. But be not deceived by the hope that you can get -a very superior and well-trained horse for very much less than he is -worth. This can often be done with green horses. By green horses, I do -not mean unbroken horses, but horses that have not been educated and -developed. A skilful horseman, either rider or driver, will nearly -always prefer a green horse because of the pleasure in training him, and -also of the chance of securing a prize at a minimum of cost. But an -inexperienced horseman will probably never make anything out of a green -horse, so he had best not consider such. Having found a horse that seems -to meet requirements, the horse should be tried and the reputable dealer -will give the buyer every opportunity for such a trial. When the trial -is satisfactory, the buyer should have him examined by a veterinary, and -if sound the transaction should be closed. Warranties are not of much -good. They cannot be enforced except through suits at law; and a lawsuit -even when won would usually cost more than the loss on an unsatisfactory -horse, if the horse were sent to the auction block immediately. Then try -again. To buy one bad horse is no reason whatever for discouragement. -One of the Tattersalls said that to have one good horse in a lifetime is -as much as a man should expect. - -The splendid specimens that we see in the show rings inspire us with the -desire to have one or several of these, and as each show is followed by -a sale there is our easy opportunity. But I am persuaded that to one not -himself a horse-show exhibitor nothing is more unwise than to buy a -horse-show winner. These horses are most highly keyed up and trained by -most skilful hands. In the hands of one less skilful they rapidly -deteriorate and in the ordinary park and road work they lose a major -part of that style which originally inspired the purchase. This skill in -handling has made itself so manifest that even in the horse shows the -managers have been obliged to exclude the dealers from many of the -classes. There are professional horse-show exhibitors notwithstanding -this exclusion of the dealers, and their horses are probably more unsafe -to buy than those of the dealers themselves. No, the horse-show horse is -for the horse-show exhibitor. - -Another discouraging thing about one’s first horses is the illnesses -which they contract. As frequently as not this is due to the -inexperience of the new owner, or to the change of home and climate. -Dealers buying horses frequently have the animals inoculated against -cold and fever—shipper’s fever, it is called. This should always be done -as the result has been found to be most excellent. “You can get no use -out of a Kentucky horse for the first year,” I have heard New Yorkers -say. That may have been their experience; but when treated with the -proper serum before shipment they do not suffer to any extent with colds -and influenza. There is one disease, however, that I do not know how to -provide against—nostalgia. The generality of horses are not very -affectionate, for they are not very intelligent, being trained more by -fear than anything else and going on in their work through custom. But -they do love their homes, and that they should suffer from home-sickness -until the satisfaction with the new environment wipes out the longing is -inevitable. The homing instinct of a horse is very strong and also -interesting. Take a horse ten or even twenty miles in a direction never -traveled before, and then turn him towards home over a new route, and he -knows it instantly and shows that he knows it by a quickened gait and a -renewal of spirit. So these things should be taken into consideration -with a new horse, and due allowance made for them. - -A man who has an establishment and keeps many horses has one very -difficult problem. It is customary for the coachman to get commissions, -whether the coachman has been consulted in the purchase or not. The -dealers understand this, and add to the price of the horse what will -have to be paid to the coachman. I have had dealers ask me plainly -whether I kept a coachman to settle with. And once when I sold a horse -to a distinguished professional man in New York, he sent a check for $50 -more than the agreed price, asking that that sum be given to the -coachman as he did not want the horse lamed or put out of condition. -This is a stable tradition that we have borrowed from England, and is a -tyranny that should be suppressed not only by law but by custom. I sold -a horse recently to a gentleman at a price not at all above his value. -His negro coachman called at my house for his commission. I sent him -away in short order and at once wrote his master a note telling of the -visit and its object, and requesting him to pay his own servants. - -If a man have leisure for travel, the breeding farm is a good place to -purchase a horse. At most of these farms the horses are green, but at -some they are thoroughly trained before being offered for sale. But none -of these horses are accustomed to the fearsome sights and sounds of the -city. So I should advise none but skilful horsemen to go to the farms to -make purchases. - -But the wisest course that an amateur can pursue is to take a loss -quickly. Just as soon as you find that you do not want a horse, sell -him. If there be a purchaser ready at hand, well and good; if not there -is sure to be an auction block not far away. - - - - - CHAPTER THIRTEEN - THE STABLE AND ITS MANAGEMENT - - -Badly-constructed, badly-kept, and badly-managed stables are the -contributing causes to most of the illnesses that horses suffer from. As -nine stables out of ten in America are bad in all these three regards, I -am confirmed in the belief that horses are very hardy animals instead of -the delicate creatures that we sometimes think they are. That so many of -them should be equal to hard and continuous work considering the -conditions that surround them when they are at home is really quite -remarkable. Even on breeding farms, where it is the business of the -proprietors to rear fine animals for sale, the stables more frequently -than not are wretched barns not fit even for the lodgement of mules. -This is the case in Kentucky, even in the Blue Grass region. In many of -the stables there I have seen tons of manure, that were most valuable -for fertilization, left in the stables for no other reason that I could -fathom than that it seemed to be no one’s business to take it away. “Why -don’t you spread it on the pastures, or use it on the ploughed fields?” -I asked one gentleman. “Oh, the ground does not need it,” he replied. I -did not like to go any further for fear of seeming intrusive. Then again -I did not believe that a man who thought tilled ground even in the -limestone enriched land of the Blue Grass section would not be better -for stable manure would bother particularly about the advantages of -keeping stables clean. - -Stables should be light not dark. There is a notion as old as the hills -that a stable should be a dark and somber place. There are those who -still hold stoutly to this view. Why a stable should be dark and the -living room of a human being light, I cannot conceive. Light and air are -the great purifying agents. Germs of various kinds multiply mightily in -the dark, while many are killed by the light. The only reason that is -given for a dark stable is that constant light in a horse’s eyes is -likely to injure his organs of sight. I grant that cheerfully. Still -there is no reason why there should not be light without the light -shining directly into the eyes of the horses. It is as easy as possible -to place the windows above the heads of the horses, and even to shield -them with shutters that open upwards, shutters such as are so generally -used on seaside cottages. - -Ventilation is most important. This should always be provided for, -however, so that in securing it there will not also be draughts either -on the body or the legs of a horse. To accomplish this is not difficult -even in the stables of the dry-goods-box pattern. The one supreme -affection of a horse is for his home, and it is as little as an owner -can do to make that home comfortable. Cleanliness is an imperative -necessity. Without it the other things go for naught. There is no good -reason why a stable should not be as clean as any other part of a -gentleman’s establishment. And yet this is so seldom the case that a man -who has visited a stable often brings with him to his house odors that -are unmistakable and entirely objectionable to the sensitive olfactories -of the more delicate members of his household. This cleanliness can only -be secured by unremitting good housekeeping. The stable should not only -be cleaned very thoroughly once a week, but it should be kept clean the -other six days in the week. Any owner, no matter whether he be a good -horseman or not, can see to this. He may not know the nice points in -harnessing a horse or even the points of a horse, but his eyes and his -nose can tell him whether his stable is clean. The droppings should be -removed as soon as they are discovered, and they should not be piled up -in the stable or against one of the walls of the stable on the outside, -but removed to a distance, if in the country and treated for -fertilizers; in a city stable they should be removed daily. This latter -can be done without any expense to the owner, as there are manure -collectors only too glad to cart it away. - -Drainage is also most important, but it should always be surface -drainage. Pipes beneath the floor are always getting clogged up, and -hence becoming foul. Besides plumbing everywhere is expensive and -bothersome. There should be as little as possible of it in a stable. Of -course running water is most desirable if not necessary. But it should -be restricted to two hydrants, one for carriage washing and one for -drinking water. The surface drainage can be got rid of by having the -floor of the stable a little bit elevated above the surrounding ground. -Where the stable can be located so that there is declining ground on one -side other than the exit, there is natural drainage which is a great -advantage. The stalls also should have a very slight incline, so that -they will keep dry naturally. This stall inclination, however, should be -very slight, as it is desirable that a horse should have all his feet -pretty nearly on the same level. - -Box-stalls or not? This is a disputed matter. Some owners have only -box-stalls in their stables; some none at all. In my opinion both ideas -are wrong. Cutting up a stable into a series of boxes does not -facilitate drainage, ventilation, light, or cleanliness. Then again it -is doubtful whether a horse in a loose box-stall does not often acquire -habits of independence that are sometimes uncomfortable and dangerous. -In a stall a horse is tied, he is also more easily observed and -therefore always under control. Box-stalls, however, are excellent for a -horse that comes in very tired, or for one that is sick. So I should -advise that in every stable there be one or two box-stalls, but that as -a general thing the horses be kept in ordinary stalls. These stalls -should be 9 feet long and 5 feet wide. A wider stall makes it easier for -a horse to get cast. The ceiling of a stable should not be less than 12 -feet.[10] - -Footnote 10: - - A carpenter in my neighborhood once asked me to select a horse for him - from a drove that was on sale in the village. I picked out a large - fine fellow, and the carpenter bought him. The next day I saw him with - another horse. “Why, where is the roan?” I asked. “Oh, I had to take - him back, he was too big for the stable!” “Why the dickens did you not - make the stable bigger?” was my comment to the carpenter. - -Every stable should be kept cool in summer and warm in winter. But -artificial heat should never be used, as it is in some of the sumptuous -stables of the over-rich in the large cities. A horse does his work in -the open, and there is no sense in pampering him. In very cold weather -the stable should be kept as warm as is possible without stoves or -steam-pipes, and the horse made comfortable with good blankets and -plenty of straw for his bedding. In the summer when the thermometers are -trying to climb to a hundred in the shade, then the shutters should be -regulated so as to keep out the direct rays on the sunny side, and other -windows and doors be left open. - -Harness room and coach room depend almost entirely on the size of the -establishment that is kept. Both, however, should be light—then both can -be seen without difficulty by the owner when he makes inspections. These -inspections, by the way, should not be made at stated times, but at any -time. An owner who expects his horses to be kept in good condition and -turned out with proper harness to proper traps must take an interest in -his stable and be on good terms with his servants. There is no -suggestion of familiarity in this, but only the good understanding and -the good feeling that always exists between that master and man, when -the one gives and other gets good service. - -A well-groomed horse is so fine a thing that we have latterly applied -the term to fine men and beautiful women. The grooming of a horse is an -art, which is not practised on more than one or two per cent of the -horses at work in the United States. The others are _cleaned_ in a -happy-go-lucky fashion, which makes them neither clean nor beautiful. -This is not as it should be; a horse that is compelled to give service -to a man is entitled to good attention. An ungroomed or improperly -groomed horse has an offensive odor. This does not conduce to the -pleasure of a person using such a horse nor to the well being of the -horse himself. In grooming a horse the brush and cloth alone are needed. -A currycomb—once universally used—should never be put on a horse. It -serves a good purpose, however, in cleaning the brush. And that is its -only service. Where an owner knows or suspects that the currycomb is -used directly on the horse it is better to banish it entirely. When a -horse has been put away covered with sweat and the sweat allowed to dry, -it is very much easier to remove this salty deposit with a currycomb -than with a brush. But a horse should never be put away without being -thoroughly groomed except when he comes in so tired that the grooming -would further fatigue him. This is sometimes the case. When it is so the -horse should have quite loosely-wrapped bandages put on his legs, he -should be well blanketed, given a swallow of water and turned into a -box-stall knee deep in straw. Then when this horse is rested enough to -be groomed, the mud on his legs will have become caked and will come off -by using the hand and a wisp of straw, the polishing being finished with -the brush and cloth. The dried sweat should be removed in the same way. - -When a muddy horse comes into the stable it is a great temptation to -play the hose on his legs, and so wash the mud off. This should never be -done. The only places where water should be applied to a horse are the -feet and the other hairless portions. These should be washed with a -sponge. The washing of a horse’s feet before he is put away is most -important. “No foot, no horse” is the old English rule. And it is as -true as gospel. The feet should always be kept clean in the stable, and -at night they should be packed with sponge or felt. The foot of a horse -is an important part of him, and every owner should see that they are -well looked after. And in accomplishing this he will not find it an easy -job, for a horse has to have his shoes changed every three or four -weeks, and if the feet be not ruined by the farrier or the fads of his -groom or coachman then he is lucky. Every man that has anything to do -with horses sooner or later develops notions as to horseshoeing, the -blacksmith usually knowing much less than any one else but confident -that he knows it all. He should know it all, as to shoe horses is his -business. As a matter of fact, however, his practice, if he be permitted -to have his own sweet will, is to lame horses and ruin their feet. There -are a few good horse-shoers, however, and if an owner find one in his -neighborhood he is lucky. I shall not attempt, however, to write a -treatise on horseshoeing. There are books in abundance on the subject, -and any man who wishes to become an accomplished amateur on the subject -can find plenty to study and also an abundance of instruction. But there -are a few principles that dominate all else. The shoe should be neither -too large nor too small. A large shoe stretches the hoof too much, a -small shoe pinches the hoof and makes corns. Then do not permit the -blacksmith to pare the sole and frog of the foot or rasp or burn the -hoof to make it fit the shoe he has selected. The shoe should be made to -fit the hoof, and as few nails used as is consistent with security. As -the hoof is growing all the time, just as a man’s finger-nails grow, the -shoes need often to be changed so that they will not be too small and so -contract the hoof. The ideal horse is the barefoot horse, but this is -not possible when a horse is used on pavements or hard roads. Then the -shoe should not be too heavy. Heavy shoes merely make a horse’s work -very much harder. - -The feeding and watering of a horse are most important. The horse can -carry only a little food, as his stomach is small compared with his size -and his need of nourishment. But he can drink a good deal of water. He -should have both food and water equal to his needs. He should always be -fed three times a day, and he would not be the worse if he were treated -as the Germans treat themselves, with four meals a day. Moreover, a -horse’s food should be varied a little. Oats and hay three times a day -for three hundred and sixty-five days in the year may suffice, but it -seems to me very like a cruelty when it is so easy to vary the food with -barley, beans, pease, corn, turnips, and many other things easy to -obtain and not at all expensive. A little nibble of fresh grass -occasionally is also a grateful change, but not much of this should be -given when a horse is doing steady work. The allowance of oats in the -United States army is ten quarts a day. This with plenty of hay is a -good allowance and will keep a horse in good condition, but a hearty -eater can make way with twelve quarts a day and be all the better for -it. The hay should not be fed from a rack over the manger, but from the -ground. When carrots are fed they should be sliced; whole they might -choke a horse. When corn is fed it should be given on the cob. In this -way the horse improves his teeth and helps his gums, while he is obliged -to feed slowly. - -A horse should be watered before eating, and the last thing at night -before the stable is closed. And when the horse comes in tired he should -be given a mouthful of water, even before he is permitted to drink his -fill. I have seen stables where there was running water in a trough in -each stall. I do not recommend this, nor yet a common drinking-place for -all the horses in a stable. A bucket filled from a hydrant and held up -to the horse is the best way. A horse needs salt. The best way to give -it to him is to put a crystal of rock salt in his trough and let it -remain there. He will then take it when he pleases, and not too much at -a time. - -One man cannot properly look after an unlimited number of horses. If the -stableman does no driving he can look after four together with the -vehicles and harness. If he has to go out with the carriages he cannot -manage more than three. Without a proper, sober, and sensible stableman, -a gentleman can never have any satisfaction out of his horses. They are -hard to get, but there are such. If a man be an accomplished horseman he -can train his own servants, and be pretty sure of _nearly_ always being -well served. If he know nothing himself he will have to use his own -intelligence and learn. In case he will not do this he had better not -keep horses. Saddles should be dried in the sun when it is possible. -Stirrups and bits should be cleaned at once as it is much easier to -prevent rust than remove it. The same rule should apply to all harness -and to carriages. The best results will never be obtained unless the -grooms be given ample time to harness or saddle a horse. Sometimes, of -course, in cases of emergency this has to be done “on the jump,” but -generally speaking the groom should be given time to do his work with -calm carefulness. - - - - - CHAPTER FOURTEEN - RIDING AND DRIVING - - -All of us have heard of natural riders. It must be that when any one -with knowledge of the art of riding speaks in this way that he means to -say that the individuals alluded to had a great natural capacity to -acquire the art of riding, for riding is an art and does not come to any -one except through practice, instruction, and imitation. Some persons -can acquire a foreign tongue with what seems an easy facility—while -others of equal mentality—have the greatest difficulty and never succeed -in any eminent degree. Those to whom the acquirement of foreign tongues -is easy have a gift for languages, just as some others have a gift for -mathematics or for rhyming or for drawing. And so it is in Equitation. -To some riding comes easily, to others it is difficult, while some -others seem absolutely incapable of acquiring a good seat, good hands, -and that knowledge of horse nature which complete the equipment of every -expert in the art. I confess that I do not know much about riding -schools, nor indeed that I have seen much of them. When I was a boy in -Kentucky there were no riding schools there, and I am not at all sure -that there have ever been. And yet so competent a judge and careful an -observer as Mr. Edward L. Anderson has expressed the opinion that the -Kentuckians are the best riders in America. - -If this be so, and I agree with him, it must be that the Kentuckians in -educating their horses also educated themselves. This seems reasonable -enough, for the Kentucky saddle-horse is the best trained of any saddle -animals in America, though the circus tricks of what are called the -“high-school horse” are unknown. It used to be common there at the -county fairs to have rings for men, and for boys under fifteen, in which -they competed with one another as to skill in horsemanship. The -competitors put their horses through all the paces and were required by -the judges to change horses, so as to see what each rider could do on a -strange horse. These rings were most interesting, and the largest crowds -of visitors were usually attracted by these features. I never saw any -“circus tricks” but once. Then a German, who had served in the Civil -War, entered in the contest making his horse do the common high-school -feats, including that of going to his knees and lying down. This German -carried off the blue ribbon to the amazement of many, including myself. -The fact proved, however, that the Kentuckians, who happened to be -judges that day, were not inhospitable to foreign ideas, and recognized -that the best rider was the one who had the greatest control over his -horse and could get the most out of him. Now I believe that they were -right, though at the time I protested against such a judgment with all -my might. Since then in the army riding schools many of these arts are -properly included in the course of instruction. No good knowledge is -amiss in a horse, and the best rider is he who can make his horse do the -most kinds of things, even though some of them seem rather absurd and -useless. It goes rather against the grain for me to say this for I, like -most gentlemen riders in America, was brought up with the English notion -that to ride straight and fast and be in at the finish was both the -beginning and the end of horsemanship, while I looked upon anything else -as not only superfluous but rather unmanly. In this country at that -time, and to a very great extent now, we looked upon all the Continental -people of Europe as most unsportsmanlike and mere dandy frivolers in -horsemanship. This is the case in England to-day, universally the case. -There the hunting field and the polo grounds are the only places where -horsemanship is put to the test. In those fields the riding of -Englishmen and Irishmen is superb. No other people can compete with -them. That is natural enough, however, as they do more in the way of -hunting and polo than any others and pay more attention to the breeding -of horses suitable to these kinds of work. But the prejudice against the -Continentals in horsemanship is as insular as many other opinions that -are cherished there. It is also entirely undeserved. Among the French, -the Germans, the Austrians and Italians are splendid riders, men who can -go anywhere an Englishman can, and also perform feats an Englishman -never dreamed of. - -I recall very well when Buffalo Bill first took his “Broncho Busters” to -England that the press and the people, particularly the horsemen, -insisted that these vicious wild horses, that had been spoiled in the -breaking, were merely trick horses, trained to their antics and taught -to buck and plunge and turn somersaults. At length came the request that -some English riders be permitted to try the bronchos. The request was -hospitably entertained, and one afternoon several men appeared. They -insisted, however, that they be permitted to use English saddles and -bridles. This request was acceded to and the experiments were tried. I -never saw a more pitiful exhibition of helplessness. They tumbled off as -though they were inexperienced babies, and some were more or less hurt. -Indeed the experiments resulted in so many accidents that they were -given up as too dangerous. The English saddle and the English seat are -well adapted to the hunting field, but not at all suitable for the kind -of riding cow-punchers have to do and the kind of horses that they have -to use. This is proved by the fact that when an Englishman goes into -ranch life in this country, and many of them have done it, they soon -adopt the Mexican saddle and the cowboy seat. The many exhibitions given -by Cody in Europe have made the people over there believe that the Rough -Rider is the typical American horseman. It is unquestionably an American -style that is well adapted to the work and the purpose which created it. -And yet there are no schools at which a man can learn rough riding -except the ranches. There I am sure there is no systematic instruction; -but the beginner observes and imitates the experts, and by practice -acquires the art which enables him to “bust” a broncho. Some learn -quickly, some slowly, and some never at all. - -This is as it is in other kinds of riding whether in the park, over the -hurdles or in the hunting field. Instruction, imitation, and practice -are what make a rider—the man who rides the most being apt to be the -best. Even, however, when a man rides a great deal, unless he use -intelligence he will never become either expert or graceful. I have -known men who rode for many years without acquiring either grace or -skill in the saddle. This was either from inaptitude or from a careless -disregard of the principles of the art. I have known other men who had -strong seats, which enabled them to acquit themselves well in the -hunting field, but who never were graceful or seemed entirely at ease. -They simply lacked the grace that usually is part and parcel of good -horsemanship. It is generally supposed that at West Point Military -Academy there is maintained the best riding school in the country. This -is probably true. But I have seen comparatively few American army -officers who looked “smart” in the saddle. Their idea is, no doubt, to -be businesslike rather than finished. In this I believe they are quite -wrong for “slouchiness” is out of harmony with the military seat just as -it is in the park or the show ring. It finds its only appropriate place -among the rough riders of the plain. - - “I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, - His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm’d,— - Rise from the ground like feather’d Mercury, - And vaulted with such ease into his seat, - As if an angel dropp’d down from the clouds, - To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus; - And witch the world with noble horsemanship.” - -The Indian should probably be considered the real American type[11] of -rider. There were no horses here when the whites came, but the Indians -rather quickly caught and subjugated some of the wild horses that were -descended from the castaways of the Spanish explorers. They undoubtedly -taught themselves to ride in the first place, though many of them had -seen mounted white men. It is impossible to think that in the many -generations that they have been using horses, that they have not -improved in their horsemanship. At any rate they have a style of their -own, and as bareback riders they cut a great dash. But they are not good -horsemen. They are cruel to their horses, and are far from getting the -best results out of their mounts. The whites, as was proved year after -year in the frontier warfare, can outride them even when the whites -carry more weight and more impedimenta. - -Footnote 11: - - I hope it will never occur to a visitor to this country to think that - what is called the mounted traffic squad of the New York police - represent any American type of riders. With them it is - go-as-you-please and kind Heaven help us from falling off. Only a few - moments before making this note I saw a group of these police going - through the Fourth avenue. Some were ambling, some single-footing, - some in a hand gallop and some trotting. One noble horse, fit for a - general’s charger, was going two or three gaits at once and the rider - keeping his seat with the help of the reins. - -The best horseman usually gets his instruction and acquires most of his -skill in his early youth. But there is no use in putting a boy on a -horse until he has intelligence enough to learn what he is told to do -and strength sufficient to keep his seat and manage his horse. The pony -for very young children is merely a plaything. No child ever learned -much from a pony or by means of a pony. The horse is what a man rides, -and it is upon a horse that a child should be taught. A large horse -would not be suitable for a boy of ten or eleven, the earliest age that -a boy can learn much that is valuable of the art. But the small horse, -something like a polo pony for instance, may be and should be very much -of a horse—all horse, indeed. Where there is a good riding school—that -is the place to send a lad for his first instruction. There are some -grooms, however, who make excellent instructors, even though as a -general thing grooms look like the dickens in the saddle. They know -horses, however, and know how to ride them, even though they do not -acquire the finish and excellence that is to be expected of gentlemen. -But as critics of the riding of others they are often unexcelled. Have -some kind of a master, unless he be an ignoramus, for a lad in the -beginning, and by no means let him go at the game by the light of -nature. Uninstructed he is sure to acquire habits that it will be harder -for him to overcome than it would have been for him to be correct from -the beginning. And he should be given a reason for everything he is told -to do. That it is necessary to be reasonable in riding makes me -sometimes think that it would be just as well not to put a boy on a -horse until he was fifteen or sixteen. The objection to this delay is -that a lad will be kept out of four or five years of fun in the very -playtime of his life. - -A beginner should use only a snaffle-bit with one rein. The awkwardness -of a beginner and his disposition to help keep his seat with the aid of -the reins is frequently a severe hardship on a horse and pretty sure to -ruin a horse’s mouth. Besides both snaffle and curb are in the beginning -confusing, and too much of a handful for a tyro in a novel position. Of -course a correct seat in the saddle is impossible at first, but an -effort at it should be made from the start. When the beginner is placed -in the saddle he should sit up straight and let his legs hang down -straight. Then the stirrups should be adjusted so that when the ball of -the foot is upon the iron, the leg still being straight, the heel will -be about three inches below the stirrup. Then the rider should be -required to so bend his knees that his toe and heel will be on a level -without moving back into the saddle so that his buttocks will be against -the cantle. This bending of the knees will bring them in a position so -that they can clutch the horse and secure his seat. Great emphasis -should be laid upon the fact that the toes should not be turned out. The -feet should be parallel with the horse. When they are so the knees come -in contact with the saddle and the seat is secured. When a rider turns -out his toes he must depend upon the calf of the leg to form his clutch. -This not only is awkward, but it prevents the thighs from doing their -part of the work. - -Being thus mounted the beginner should only walk his horse at first. -Indeed I should not recommend anything faster than a walk in the first -lesson. The object of that first lesson is to familiarize a novice to a -novel position, and enable him to know something of the sensation of -being astride a horse. If he go faster at first he is sure to bump -around and tug on the reins, the latter being about the greatest sin -against horsemanship. After this he can go in a very slow trot, and -still later in a hand gallop. Having acquired the capacity to keep his -seat in these gaits with his feet parallel to the horse and his knees -well in and without tugging on the reins to keep his balance, he has -reached the point when he may be instructed to ride with both reins, -snaffle, and curb. There are some riders who never use other than the -snaffle, indeed it was quite a fad in the neighborhood of New York a few -years ago. But I do not believe that the very best results can be -obtained without the curb. The curb enables a rider to keep his horse -better in hand, and a horse not in hand under the saddle is apt to do -several disagreeable things—sprawl or be slouchy in his gaits, for -instance, or worse than all tumble down. - -To hold the snaffle and curb reins in the left hand properly so that -either one or both may be used at pleasure is most important. The reins -of the curb bit should be divided by the little finger, the reins of the -snaffle by the long finger, the loose ends of both pairs being carried -through the hand and held by the thumb against the forefinger. The right -hand should be kept on the loose ends of the reins behind the left, and -when reins are needed to be shortened the right hand should pull them or -either of them through the bridle hand; but when the right hand is -needed in assistance of the bridle hand, the right should be placed in -front of the left. The knuckles of the bridle rein should be kept up. -This all seems simple enough, and it is so simple when learned that an -experienced rider never gives it a thought; but new riders some times -find it hard to learn, indeed some never learn it. - -The beginner should not use a spur. Most people think a spur is an -instrument of punishment. It should seldom be so used. It is merely a -tool to assist the rider in conveying his wishes to the horse. But to an -obstinate, pig-headed horse it is a reminder that the rider has -something in reserve. The horse, by the way, is not the intellectual -animal that some think, and “horse sense” ought not to be much of a -compliment to a man. Seven horses out of ten will become bullies, and -get the upper hand if they be suffered so to do. There is one sense, -however, that even a bullying horse always preserves—he knows the touch -of the master hand and stops his “monkey shines” in very short order. -But there are other horses—crazy horses and fool horses. The crazy horse -can be subdued by the Rarey or other similar method, but for the fool -horse there is no hope. He learns nothing, remembers nothing—the glue -factory for him is the only proper place. - -And how late in life can a man take up horseback riding? That is hard to -say. There are men and men—some at forty are to all intents and purposes -sixty, while others at sixty appear not over forty. So long as a man -retains a reasonable amount of suppleness and agility he is not too old -to take up horseback riding and get great pleasure and benefit out of -it, while if he began as a youth and has kept it up there is no reason -why he should give it up so long as he can sit a horse and the exercise -is not too exhausting. Remember what Lord Palmerston said: “The best -thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse.” And it is so; -there is no exercise that so aids digestion, none which more completely -takes the cobwebs out of the brain. A man who takes up horseback riding -in middle life need not expect to become as accomplished say as his son -who began at twelve; but if he will give his mind to it he will be apt -to do very well and will surely get from it both pleasure and profit. I -know a lady who did not take up horseback riding until she was a mother. -I have seen her in the hunting field since she became a grandmother -sailing along as gaily as a bird, and even taking a tumble with the -serene amiability of a youth in small clothes. But she has found the -fabled spring. - -That every rider will sooner or later have a fall is inevitable. -Therefore when the first one comes there should be no discouragement, -even to a man of middle age. Many falls are prevented when a horse -stumbles by gathering the horse, and assisting him to regain his -footing. But often, in jumping particularly, the fall cannot be -prevented. When the rider feels it coming the best way is to take the -feet from the stirrups, tuck in the chin, and fall as much like a ball -as possible, holding the reins, however, until the feet are surely clear -of the stirrups. I was recently knocked off my horse on a steep hillside -path by coming in contact with the limb of a tree. I rolled down the -hillside for fifty feet, but suffered no inconvenience though I weigh -175 pounds and carry an undue amount of that weight at the middle. Had I -landed on my head, the consequences would probably have been serious. - -Every rider should learn how to make a horse change his lead in the -gallop, that is, change the leading foot from right to left and back -again. Horses naturally go with the right foot in front or the left foot -in front, as the case may be, just as children are more dextrous with -the right hand or the left. When the change is desired, the horse should -be well in hand, and when from right to left is required the right heel -should be applied when the leading foot is on the ground, and the hind -legs are leaving it; immediately thereafter as the right fore foot is -rising the left rein should make a slight play and the change in lead -will be effected without a false step or disturbance in pace. Every -rider should practise making figure eights, each circle being from -twenty to thirty feet in diameter, and asking his horse to change the -lead when going from one circle to the other. In some show rings the -judges require that the riders do this, and those who accomplish it -easily and gracefully help their score very considerably. - -The American jockeys have developed a new method of race riding, a kind -of acrobatic horsemanship, which when the English first saw it they -called the “monkey-on-the-stick” style. The jockeys use very short -stirrups and seem to throw the weight even forward of the withers so as -to relieve the hind legs, where the propelling power is, from as much -weight as possible. It seems effective and has been almost universally -adopted by all save steeplechase riders, who still use a stirrup long -enough for both knees and legs to embrace the horse—or as Mr. Anderson -says, they still ride like men. - -A good rider is apt to be also a tolerable driver. The contrary of this, -however, is not in the least the case. There are many good drivers who -were never mounted in their lives. Probably also there are many more -good drivers in this country than good riders. It is with us a more -universal method of employing the horse. Notwithstanding this, good -driving is by no means universal. Indeed I doubt whether it is common. -It seems the easiest thing in the world to sit in a wagon and pull on -the right rein or the left and go wheresoever one chooses. Because it -seems so easy all kinds and conditions of people essay to drive no -matter how little experience they may have. I have sometimes been nearly -scared out of my wits in driving with a man or woman whose every act -displayed ignorance of even first principles. Probably no more grievous -insult could be paid to a man than to betray lack of confidence in his -capacity to drive, and latterly when I have been asked to go with a man, -even to the golf links two miles away, when I knew he did not know how -to handle the reins or manage a horse I have blandly declined. Death -comes to all of us, but there seems to be lack of wisdom in seeking it -in such an ignoble fashion. - -The men who train trotting horses in America are the most wonderful -drivers the world has ever seen. They seem to get more speed out of a -horse at less expense than any others. I have often thought that the -lowering of trotting records in America had been assisted in a great -degree by the increasing skill of American drivers. How many seconds -this skill may be responsible for I have no idea—maybe one second, maybe -five or ten. But their patience in developing the horse and their skill -in driving is responsible for a good deal. I have often watched the -trotters on the Speedway in New York, and many a time I have seen -contests which I was sure would have been reversed had the drivers been -changed. No doubt some men have an aptness for driving, just as others -have an aptness for riding; but driving is also an art which can be -acquired only by instruction, imitation, and practice together with a -knowledge of and consideration for horses. There are so many things that -a man must know to make him a good driver that it would take a book by -itself in which to set down the rules. I shall not make such an essay, -but content myself with a few fundamental principles. - -The first that I shall mention may seem trifling but is really of much -importance. It matters not so much what kind of coat a driver may wear, -but he must have a hat that fits so well that it will not be blown off -even in a gale. Many awkward happenings have resulted from a driver’s -efforts to secure his hat at a moment when all his attention was needed -by his horse or horses. He should also have proper gloves. They should -be loose enough to enable him free use of his fingers, and indeed of all -of his hands, but not so loose that they will slip off while he is -driving. A size larger than his dress gloves would, I should say, be -about the right thing. They should also be heavy enough to prevent the -reins from hurting his hands. Dogskin is probably the best material. - -Then he should, even in a runabout, be, at least, above his horse. This -is regulated by a driver’s cushion with a slant, the back being about -three inches above the front. His feet should not be sprawled out -against the dashboard, nor yet tucked awkwardly underneath him. Indeed -with a driver’s cushion either attitude would be uncomfortable if not -impossible. What he should seek for is a position in which he is at ease -in all his movements for a driver has to drive all the time, at every -moment from the starting out until he sets foot on the ground and turns -over his horse to the groom. It is carelessness in driving that causes -nearly all the accidents, for it is the unexpected that is always -happening. - -One should always drive with the left hand, using the right to hold the -whip and give assistance to the left when it is required to shorten the -rein. A good mouth is just as excellent in a driving horse as in a -saddle-horse. The mouth should be like velvet, and at all times -responsive to the telegraphic signal from the hands of the driver. To -drive with a slack rein makes a horse slouchy even when a check is used. -To pull on a horse hardens his mouth and lessens the control of the -driver. Nothing is more unpleasant than a pulling horse. It is as -fatiguing in harness as in the saddle. And a puller is the easiest thing -to accomplish. When it has been accomplished the driver does as much -work as the horse. To smack a horse with the reins instead of using the -whip may be well enough for old Dobbin on the farm, but it is a silly -habit which hurts the horse, without being effective for the purpose -intended, while it proves the driver to have no knowledge of the -business. Jerking on the reins, or rather giving a pull and then letting -them loose to make a horse quicken his gait is unworthy even of a -peddler or a city huckster. - -Keep your eye on your horse. That is the most important thing in -driving. The driver is in command, and it is the horse’s part to obey. -This may seem an unnecessary thing when jogging along on a long clear -road. But we should not jog along. A brisk pace is the proper pace to -drive at, and if the road be very long a rest can be taken and no time -be lost, while if the journey be only seven or eight miles the brisk -pace reduces the time, and the horse is sooner in the stable and at -rest. Poking along at a jog will in time ruin any horse. It will spoil -his style, detract from his speed, and take away his spirit. When a -horse is taken along briskly, it is absolutely necessary to keep him -always well in hand—not a pulling on the bit, but a feeling of the bit -so that the horse will know every instant of the time that he is being -driven by one who is master. - -A driver should keep in communion with his horse. A horse has a keen -sense of hearing and a good memory for a voice. The master should have -his horse well acquainted with his voice. But he should not do too much -talking or chirruping when other horses are about. That is a discourtesy -to other drivers whose horses may be fretted and made restless when it -is meant that they should stand still. The disregard of this is not only -annoying but has been the cause of many accidents at crowded railway -stations, where many traps are waiting for the home-comers. - -As to the method of holding the reins Mr. Price Collier, a most -accomplished horseman and charming writer on driving says: “The reins -should be held with the near rein between the thumb and first finger, -the off-rein between the third and fourth fingers. Hold your hand so -that your knuckles, turned towards your horse, and the buttons on your -waistcoat, will make two parallel lines up and down with the hand three -or four inches from the body. The reins should be clasped, or held by -the two lower, or fourth and fifth fingers; the second finger should -point straight across and upward enough to keep the near rein over the -knuckle of that finger and the thumb pointing in the same direction, but -not so much upward. The reins are held not by squeezing them on their -flat surfaces, but by pressure on their _edges_. The edges, in a word, -being held between the two last fingers and the root of the thumb. This -arrangement makes a flexible joint of the wrist, for the reins and for -the bit to play upon. This suppleness of wrist, just enough and not too -much, is what is called ‘hands.’ It means that your wrist gives just -enough play to the horse’s mouth to enable him to feel your influence, -without being either confused or hampered by it. As this is the key to -perfection in all driving, everybody claims to possess it; only the -elect few have it.” - -In leaving the stable or starting out from any other place, you should -go quietly. Nothing is more vulgar than to rush off with the idea of -“cutting a dash.” It does not give the horse a fair show, and driver and -horse are not yet in good adjustment. And in stopping also it is vulgar -to rush to the stopping place and throw the horse on his haunches by a -quick pull. Neither of these things is done by good drivers, but is the -practice of either the ignorant or vulgar who wish to attract attention -to themselves at places where there are likely to be spectators. - -I have often heard it said that two horses were easier to drive than -one. I always marked down the person who made such a remark as not being -thoroughly in earnest, or not knowing the subject he was discussing. I -do not know how much harder it is to drive two horses than one. That is -I cannot express the difference mathematically. But there is a good -deal. Any reasonably strong man can prevent one horse from getting away -with him. Few can prevent a thoroughly frightened team if they once get -off. The thing is not to let them get off. Not to permit this requires -that he shall control two animals, for when one of a pair gets -frightened he quickly communicates his fear to his mate. When the panic -is serious then serious trouble is likely to ensue. With a runaway horse -or a runaway pair the circumstances of the moment must control. If the -road is clear and the driver can keep the horse straight all may go -well; but horses nearly always choose to get frightened when the -conditions are nearly the opposite of this. Then the circumstances of -the moment must guide the driver. If he keeps his head cool and can -prevent collisions, he will probably come out safely. But the best of -them have been run away with. This comes sooner or later to every man -who uses horses constantly. Eternal vigilance will prevent most all of -the accidents that might happen; but human nature is fallible and horses -are very uncertain. Carelessness in the driver, however, is responsible -for ninety and nine of every hundred driving accidents that happen. The -flying automobile, in recent years, has been responsible for a great -many. I must say, however, that I never met but once with anything but -the greatest consideration from automobilists that I have encountered -when driving. The discourteous one proved to be a dentist, and the -mission of dentists in the world is, I believe, to give people pain. - -Every driver should know when his horses are properly harnessed and -hitched to the vehicle. And he should never fail to look over the whole -“turn out” in every detail to see that all is secure and each part in -proper adjustment to every other part. The horse show authorities have -formulated rules as to what is proper for one vehicle and another. The -experts are veritable martinets and attach as much importance to a strap -here and a buckle there as the unlucky King of Prussia, who did battle -with Napoleon, attached to one row or two rows of buttons on a soldier’s -coat. Intelligence, however, can find its way without much regard to -these fine points. But it is never safe to trust to grooms and stablemen -even though they may really know more about it than the driver himself. -The driver is the master, and he should make the inspection even though -it be only a formal one—he should assume a virtue though he has it not. -Inspections of the work of stablemen do not go amiss unless the unlucky -master should take to finding mares’ nests. Two or three such -discoveries will hurt discipline amazingly. - -There is now a good deal of four-in-hand driving in America. It is only -now pleasure driving, and quite different from that of the coaching days -of our grandfathers’ time. This is an art which a man may be able to -pick up himself. But the safest and quickest course is to take -instruction from a professional or from a friend, if so amiable a friend -can be found. It is, of course, more difficult to drive four than two -horses. But this can be learned by any cool-headed man who has the good -fortune to be a horseman to start out with. Not having that gift he -would do well to let it alone. Some of the most accomplished -four-in-hand drivers about New York are women, which shows that it is -not main strength that is effective, but skill and practice. Practice -and intelligence combined will overcome most all of the difficulties. By -practice I do not mean an hour a day for a couple of weeks, but six -hours a day for two or three years; and by intelligence I mean the -instructed knowledge which enables a driver to know the reason for each -thing that is done. - - - - - CHAPTER FIFTEEN - TRAINING VS. BREAKING - - -As has been frequently remarked before in this volume, the horse is not -a very intelligent animal. Nor has he any of that natural affection and -fidelity that is so remarkable in the dog. This being the case—and it is -so no matter what the sentimentalists who know nothing about the subject -may say—the training of a young horse is a thing requiring much patient -intelligence on the part of the person who undertakes the job. But this -patience is rewarded if the young horse have qualities that are worthy -of development. I fancy that seven horses out of ten in the United -States are broken before their training begins. This means, in my -opinion, that a large percentage of a horse’s value is deliberately -thrown away in the very beginning of his career of usefulness. A horse -_broken_ is a horse half _spoiled_. The “Broncho Buster” is the typical -horse breaker. Those who have not been on the frontier have seen the -Broncho Buster’s methods in the Wild West circuses. A young horse or a -wild horse is saddled and bridled. A Rough Rider mounts and stays on the -back of the young thing until the animal is conquered and subdued -through fear and fatigue. This brutal method of treating young horses -used to be universal in America. That so much of it should still be done -is not complimentary to the intelligence and kindliness of American -horse owners. It is about on a par with the treatment that weak-minded -persons received a century or so ago. They were beaten and maltreated -and kept in order by cruelty and harshness—ruled, indeed, by the fear of -those who should have treated them with the most patient kindness. When -the spirit is taken out of a horse by his early handling, we can never -hope to develop his small intelligence very far, or to guide his -instincts in the right direction. While a horse’s intelligence is of a -low order, he has a fine memory. His fear being aroused in the -beginning, he remains afraid, and is controlled by his fear alone—his -fear of being hurt. This always seemed to me a cowardly way of acting, -for the horse is one of the most timid of all animals. To beat a horse -is about as noble as to beat a child. - -The breeders of good horses are pretty generally giving up the rough -methods of breaking. Their horses are too valuable to be trifled with in -this way. There are some horses that are naturally vicious. With them -the gentle method will not accomplish the desired result. They have to -be conquered in another way. When this is the case, I much prefer the -Rarey method. Rarey so fashioned a harness that he could cast a horse -the moment that a horse disobeyed. After a horse has been thrown a few -times he usually comes to the conclusion that obedience is the safer -plan. There is nothing cruel in the Rarey method and with bad horses it -is much to be preferred to the brutal breaking style. The horse is not -hurt, he is merely surprised at the result of his own waywardness. - -The Arabs handle their horses from the time they are foaled, so that -they are from the beginning accustomed to men, women and children and -all the other things common to a human habitation. That is the way all -young horses should be treated. To be sure this involves a good deal of -work and many think that it does not pay, so they turn their colts out -and let them get two or three years old before anything is done with -them. This is as wise as to let a boy run wild and uninstructed until a -year or so before he is bidden to go forth and earn his own living. When -a colt is accustomed to persons and not afraid of being touched or led, -only patience and intelligence is required to complete his education -without any fight or contest whatever. - -Before the colt is a year old it should be accustomed to the cavesson -while running in a paddock, and when a year old it should be practised -on the lunge, a rein of fifteen feet long attached to the nose-piece of -the cavesson. This is a head-collar with a metal nose-band, upon the -front and each side of which are rings. To the front ring the leather -lunge is fastened and from the side rings straps will be buckled to a -surcingle or girth at such lengths as will prevent the colt from -extending the face much beyond the perpendicular. The colt should then -be led about, stopping and starting, time and time again until it has -some comprehension of the word of command. The feet should be lifted so -that the colt realizes that the trainer has no intention to do him harm. -After good terms have been established the colt should be practised on -the lunge, the trainer standing in the center of a circle, and letting -the colt walk first and then trot slowly around the circumference of the -circle—first to the right, then to the left. These short lessons should -be given every day. Soon a colt enjoys the exercise, evidently thinking -it play. If it be a driving horse that is being trained, harness should -soon be added so that the colt will not be afraid of it, and also a -light bridle with a snaffle-bit or, better still, a leather bit. If it -be a saddle-horse that is being trained, the lunging and bitting should -continue until the colt is passed two years old before he is saddled or -mounted. - -Suppose we take the saddle-horse first. Two-year-old colts are often -trained by light weight riders. At three their serious education is -continued, and at four they are given their accomplishments. The colt, -after being practised on the lunge, should be taught somewhat the -meaning and the purpose of the bit before he is mounted. Patience and -gentleness to the end that fear may be banished will enable a trainer to -get a colt into such an acquiescent condition that when the rider -finally gets into the saddle the colt accepts the innovation with -nothing exceeding a mild surprise. The saddle should be used in the -lunge exercise several times before a man mounts. Some recommend that a -weight, such as a bag of meal, be tied into the saddle towards the end -of the lunge exercises so that the colt will get used to weight on the -back. This is not a bad idea. Before the rider mounts the first time, -the stirrups should be pulled down and pressure be put upon them so that -the colt may feel the weight of the saddle. When the foot of the rider -is first put into the stirrup he should raise himself very gently, the -left hand being in the mane of the colt. After bearing all his weight a -few seconds in the stirrup he should return to the ground without taking -his seat in the saddle. This he should repeat several times, the number -of times depending upon how the colt acts. At any rate, this -half-mounting should be continued until the colt is no longer disturbed -by it. Then the rider may take his seat in the saddle. This should be -done as quietly as possible. He should sit in the saddle a few minutes -and then dismount. The mounting and dismounting should continue until -the colt is accustomed to it. This will not be long if everything be -done easily, slowly and gently. An awkward man has no business in trying -to train a saddle-horse. A flop into the saddle would, naturally, -frighten a colt and defeat the purpose in view. When the colt has become -used to a rider in the saddle the rider should close his legs against -the sides of the colt, draw a slight tension on the reins, and induce -the colt to go forward in a walk. There should be nothing but the walk -in the first few lessons. In them, however, the colt should be taught -the meaning of the bit so that he could be guided in whatever direction -the rider wishes. In nine times out of ten a colt that has been treated -as I have described will be quiet and do what is asked of him without -any excitement. If the colt does get excited then the whole work will -have to be done over and over, with more patience and more gentleness, -until the colt acquiesces. It is most important that all these first -steps be taken quite slowly, otherwise the colt will get hot and -excited, and then may come a fight which is the thing most to be -avoided. I can see a rough rider turning up a scornful nose at these -admonitions. Very well! Be scornful as much as you choose, I am not -writing about the training of a broncho, but of a horse fit for a -gentleman to ride. - -After the mounted colt goes quietly in the walk, then he should be -trotted gently, and if the rider is a light weight, cantered, too. But -as a two-year-old work should be very light—play, indeed. At three years -old the colt may be confirmed in his gaits, but not worked a great deal -harder than at two. At four years old the colt is ready for the -finishing touches and the beginning of his life work. But he is not -nearly up to the hard work of which he should be capable between six and -sixteen. - -Trainers of colts for driving hitch them up when they are yearlings, and -drive them a little to a low cart built with long shafts and running out -behind. Before being hitched up, however, he is harnessed and driven -around with a pair of long reins, being guided by the driver to one way -and another, and being stopped and started at the word of command. When -the colt is harnessed to the cart a strong kicking strap should be used. -A few lessons a week driven in such a cart will work wonders so that -when the colt is two years old there will be no difficulty in driving -him in an ordinary road cart. In driving a colt the same precautions -should be used as in training a colt for the saddle—it should not be -frightened or treated roughly. - -It is probably more important to accustom a young driving horse than a -riding horse to the sights and sounds that are likely to be encountered -on the road. Here, too, patience and gentle firmness are amply rewarded. -Whenever I see a driver thrashing a young horse to compel him to go by -an automobile or a trolley car or some other strange and fearsome thing, -I have a desire to get the whip and apply it to the driver. Such -treatment of a horse is not only cruel, but it is utterly foolish. The -horse is frightened at what he sees. He is afraid that in some way it -will hurt him. And why should he not be? These devil wagons are -frightful enough in appearance to scare a less timid animal than a -horse. There is only one course to pursue. Teach the horse that the -automobile or other frightful machine will not hurt him. Do this, not -with the whip, not with shouts and execrations, but by leading the horse -up to the offending machine until he realizes that it is not some -monster of destruction. Patience and sense will prevent almost any horse -from acquiring bad and dangerous habits of shying and bolting. Curing a -horse of established habits is quite another and a different thing. It -is like reforming the dissolute or regenerating the depraved. The horse, -however, is not blameworthy. These bad habits are always the result of -foolishness on the part of some man. The sensible course is not to -permit a horse to acquire bad habits. This is a thousand times easier -than curing them. Patient firmness and gentle insistence will prevent -bad habits in all save those that are fools. A fool horse is too -worthless to bother about. - - - - - CHAPTER SIXTEEN - CONFORMATION AND ACTION - - -In the horse shows an exhibitor, except in the Thoroughbred classes, is -not required to furnish the pedigrees of his horses. The judges, -therefore, decide entirely on conformation and action. These two things -are what make or unmake the excellence of the individual animal. A -well-formed horse is apt to have good action. Sometimes this is not so, -just as sometimes a woman may have beauty of form and feature and lack -animation, vivacity, and that infinite variety and sympathy which -recently we have accustomed ourselves to call temperament. Good -conformation in a horse, however, is the advantage which conduces to -good action. When action and conformation supplement, adjust, and -confirm each the other, we have what may be called an approach to the -ideal horse. I have never seen the ideal horse; but pretty close to it. -I have owned a few that were very satisfactory, but never one that was -entirely so. Still I have hope. I suspect that when one realizes his -ideal in anything, life loses some of its zest. The pursuit, the -seeking, the longing for the unattained—these are the things that make -life so interesting, so absorbing. If I had the horse I have long had in -my mind I should be glad, no doubt. But I might be sorry, too. There is -one saving fact, however. We change our ideals as we get more experience -and further knowledge. I have changed my opinions often about horses, -since I first became interested in them. While writing the last chapter -of this book I confess that I have changed some of my opinions during -the two or three months that I have been engaged in the composition. I -have learned some things that I did not know before; I have parted with -some prejudices which I ought never to have entertained. So it was -inevitable that I should modify my views. If, therefore, I should ever -obtain my ideal in horse-flesh I might awaken a few weeks later to find -that I really wanted something just a little different. I seek the -ideal, therefore, without fear of achieving it and meanwhile I have lots -of fun with horses that are not more than half what they ought to be. - -The oldest writer on horses was Xenophon. He says: “The neck should not -be thrown out from the chest like a boar’s, but like a cock’s, should -rise straight up to the poll, and be slim at the bend, while the head, -though bony, should have but a small jaw. The neck would then protect -the rider, and the eye see what lies before the feet.” - -Xenophon is the oldest writer on the subject. Mr. Price Collier is the -latest and in many regards the best, because he not only knows how to -write, but knows what he is writing about. Here is what he says about -the proportions of a well-formed horse: - -“One cannot go to buy a horse with a tape-measure, but certain -proportions are well enough to keep in mind. The length of the head of a -well-proportioned horse is almost equal to the distance; (1) from the -top of the withers to the point of the shoulder; (2) from the lowest -point of the back to the abdomen; (3) from the point of the stifle to -the point of the hock; (4) from the point of the hock to the lower level -of the hoof; (5) from the shoulder blades to the point of the haunch. -Two and a half times the length of the head gives: (1) the height of the -withers and the height of the croup above the ground, and (2) very -nearly the length from the point of the shoulder to the extreme of the -buttock.” - -The tape-measure test is all very well, but if a man does not have an -eye for a horse he will never be able to select a good one by -mathematics. And an eye for a horse is a singular endowment. I have -known men of proved intellectuality quite incapable of learning about -horses. Also I have known men who, in the ordinary affairs of life were -very fools but who knew good horses by a kind of instinct. The man with -an eye for a horse takes the whole animal in at a glance; his minute -examination, in nine cases out of ten only confirms his instant -judgment. When I am buying a horse I do not need to hesitate very long. -I have inspected and bought as many as twenty in a day, giving not more -than fifteen or twenty minutes to each horse. Yet these purchases in the -main have been satisfactory. No one of them, however, was my ideal. - -In a general way, all horses should have certain points. Therefore -general rules apply in all the types, from the Pony to the Percheron. -Every horse should have (1) a bony head and small ears; (2) medium-sized -eyes, neither protruding nor sunken, and without an excess of white in -the pupil; (3) the forehead should be broad; (4) the face should be -straight and neither concave nor convex; (5) the neck should be small -and lean, its length regulated by the size of the head and the weight of -the shoulders, the head being so joined to the neck that the neck seems -to control the head instead of the reverse; (6) the shoulders should be -oblique or sloping; (7) the back should be short; (8) the ribs should be -well rounded, definitely separated and full of length; (9) the legs -should be flat and lean, with knees wide from side to side and flat in -front, the upper bone of the leg being long and muscular in proportion -to the lower or the common bone; (10) the feet should be moderately -large; (11) the pasterns should be long rather than short, but, better -still, neither long nor short; (12) the hair should be short and fine. - -I might have added another point, making thirteen in all, but for luck I -stop at the dozen, feeling sure that if any of my readers gets a horse -with the good points noted he will have a treasure beyond the lot of -most men and maybe far beyond his deserts. - -A well-formed horse ought to have good action. This does not always -follow. But good conformation without good action is a kind of -disappointing fraud. The best action is that which is natural to the -horse. We expect this in families and in types. But training can modify -the action of a horse, indeed, change it entirely as when a pacer is -converted into a trotter. With pacers, however, I am not concerned as I -presume that this book is written for gentlemen. - -There can be no good action which is not straight. In the walk, the trot -and the gallop a horse must move his feet and legs in parallel lines. -The horse that does that naturally can be taught the other things that -may not come to him by nature—high stepping, for instance. When a horse -moves always without paddling or any other lateral motion, he is a very -fit subject for cultivation. He can be taught to go daintily and -gracefully as our grandmothers walked through the _minuet de la couer_. -Throwing the feet far out in front or lunging, as it is called, is a -very ugly trick and can be remedied in the shoeing, I am told. I believe -this to be true, but I have never tried it. A horse with this -inclination always seemed to me badly bred—Hambletonian, for -instance—and I have not recently bothered with such. Paddling also can -often be corrected by shoeing. General rules cannot be laid down as to -these things. Each horse has his individuality. He must be so studied. -When an owner brings general knowledge and acute intelligence to this -study he can determine in a little while what is best to be done in each -case. In the great majority of cases the best plan is to sell the horse -that seems unpromising, but as no horse is ever entirely satisfactory -some of them must be retained and educated by training, a training -dominated by gentleness, courage, firmness and patience—but most of all -patience. - - - THE END - - - - - INDEX - - - ABDUL AZEEZ, SULTAN OF TURKEY, 31 - - ABD-EL-KADER, 18, 23 - - ABDALLAH, 116, 128 - - ABRAHAM, 18, 19 - - ABDALLAH, XV, 175 - - ABDUL HAMID II, 146 - - ACTION AND CONFORMATION, 272 - - AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, 111 - - ALASKER TURK, 25 - - ALEXANDER, ROBERT A., 54, 55 - - ALIX, 132 - - ALEXANDER’S ABDALLAH, 171 - - AMAZONIA, 116 - - AMERICAN STUD BOOK, 41 - - ANDREW JACKSON, 86, 104, 136 - - ANCIENT SCULPTURES, 6, 7 - - ANDERSON, EDWARD L., 6, 235, 250 - - ANDALUSIAN (JACK), 198 - - ARMENIA, 6, 20 - - ARAB AND BARB, vi, vii, 14, 15 - - ARISTIDES, 70 - - ARION, 134 - - ASIA, 6 - - AUTOMOBILES AND ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS, iv - - AXTELL, 134 - - - BARBARY, 13, 14 - - BARRS, 183, 184 - - BASSETT, HARRY, 66, 67 - - BATTELL, COL. JOSEPH, 80, 85, 107 - - BERBER BARBS, 13 - - BELLFOUNDER, (IMPORTED), 117, 119 - - BELLE MEAD FARM, 70 - - BEND OR, 70 - - BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 10 - - BELMONT, AUGUST, 55 - - BEACON COURSE (HOBOKEN), 105 - - BETSEY HARRISON, 152, 153 - - BEN BRUSH, 74 - - BLACK HAWK, 88, 90, 106 - - BLUE GRASS, 148, 221 - - BLUNT, WILFRID, 33 - - BLACK DOUGLAS, 112, 139 - - BONHEUR, ROSA, 179 - - BOSTON BLUE, 131 - - BOSTON, 56 - - BONNER, ROBERT, 133 - - BONNIE SCOTLAND, 69 - - BOX-STALLS, 224 - - BOGUS (LOOMIS’S) SON OF LAME BOGUS BY ELLIS’S BOGUS, SON OF IMP. TOM - BOGUS, 107 - - BOURBON BELLE, 71 - - BRITISH HORSE, 8 - - BREEDING ON FARMS, iv - - BRONCHO BUSTERS, 238, 263 - - BRAMBLE, 69 - - BRUTUS MORGAN, 85 - - BREAKING AND TRAINING, 262 - - BRUCE, MR., 142 - - BREEDING TO A TYPE, v - - BUFFALO BILL, 238 - - BULRUSH MORGAN, 86, 92, 93 - - BULLE ROCK, 40 - - BULL CALF, 131 - - BUYING A HORSE, 210 - - BYERLY TURK, 25, 40, 80 - - - CARMON, 170, 174, 175 - - CANADA, 9 - - CASSIUS M. CLAY, 139 - - CAVESSON, 265 - - CALASH, 10 - - CATALAN, JACK, 190, 198 - - CARLYLE, W. L., 176 - - CABELL’S LEXINGTON, 166 - - CHANGING THE LEAD, 249 - - CHARLES KENT MARE, 117, 119, 121 - - CIVIL WAR, viii, 208, 236 - - CIRCUS TRICKS, 236 - - CLAY-KISMET, 145, 177 - - CLAY-ARABIAN, v, 13 - - CLEVELAND BAY, 8, 182 - - CLYDESDALE, v, 178, 182 - - CLAY, HENRY, 190 - - CONTINUITY IN BREEDING, vii - - CORTEZ, 8 - - COLUMBUS, 8 - - CONEY ISLAND JOCKEY CLUB, 70 - - COLONIAL ERA IN NEW ENGLAND, 10 - - COLLIER, MR. PRICE, 256, 274 - - COMMISSIONS TO COACHMEN AND GROOMS, 218 - - CONFORMATION AND ACTION, 272 - - CONTINENTAL RIDERS, 237 - - CONESTOGA, 120 - - COLEMAN’S EUREKA, 166 - - CRUSADERS, 24 - - CRESCEUS, 132, 175 - - CUTTING A DASH, 258 - - CUB MARE, 41 - - - DARLEY ARABIAN, 16, 25, 27, 36, 40, 80, 101, 168 - - DANIEL LAMBERT, 90 - - DAVY CROCKETT, 166 - - DAUMAS, GENERAL, 18, 22 - - DEXTER, 94, 132, 139, 140 - - DEALERS, 216, 217 - - DE LANCEY, COL., 41, 80 - - DENMARK, v, 13, 27, 69, 129, 130, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, - 161, 163, 166 - - DE LESSEPS, COUNT FERDINAND, 21, 22 - - DIOMED, 12, 42, 43, 44 - - DOMINO, 72, 73 - - DOBBINS, 73 - - DOBLE, BUDD, 94 - - DORSEY, L. L., 92 - - DOMESTICATION OF HORSE, 5 - - DRACO, 93 - - DRIVING, 251 - - DUKE OF MAGENTA, 70 - - DUKE OF MONTROSE, 70 - - DUTCHMAN, 104, 105, 132, 133 - - - ECLIPSE (AMERICAN), 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 100 - - ECLIPSE, 29 - - EDWIN FORREST, 132 - - EGYPT, 6 - - ELDERLY RIDERS, 247 - - ELECTIONEER, 139 - - EMPEROR OF NORFOLK, 71 - - ENGLISH RIDERS, 237, 238, 239 - - EOCENE HORSE, 3 - - EOLUS, 70 - - EQUITATION, 234 - - ETHAN ALLAN, 89, 93, 94, 95, 111, 175 - - EVOLUTION OF HORSE, 4 - - - FALKLAND ISLAND HORSES, 5 - - FALLS AND TUMBLES, 248 - - FARM HORSES, iv - - FAIRFAX, JOHN, 189 - - FASHION, 56 - - FAIR RACHEL, 41 - - FALSETTO, 70 - - FIRENZI, 71 - - FEARNAUGHT, 93 - - FEEDING AND WATERING, 231, 232 - - FELLOWCRAFT, 64 - - FIRST INSTRUCTION IN RIDING, 242 - - FOREST DENMARK, 164 - - FOUR-IN-HAND, 261 - - FOXALL, 70 - - FLYING CHILDERS, 27, 28, 43 - - FLORA TEMPLE, 94, 106, 110, 111, 114, 115, 132 - - FLEMISH HORSES, 8 - - FLANDERS, 9 - - - GEORGE WILKES, 140 - - GEORGE M. PATCHEN, 111, 112, 139 - - GORDON HORSE (MORGAN), 85 - - GOLDSMITH MAID, 132 - - GODOLPHIN BARB, 16, 25, 29, 36, 80, 102, 168 - - GOVERNMENTAL BREEDING FARMS, vii, 167 - - GIFFORD MORGAN, 91 - - GOLDDUST, 32, 91, 92 - - GLIDELIA, 69 - - GLORIOUS THUNDER CLOUD (LAWSON’S), 177 - - GRAY EAGLE, 51, 52 - - GRAND BASHAW, 136 - - GRENADA, 70 - - GRINSTEAD, 70 - - GROOMING, 226 - - GREEN MOUNTAIN MAID, 139 - - GRANT, GENERAL, 32, 141, 209 - - - HAMILTONIAN (BISHOP’S), 122, 123 - - HAGGIN, JAMES B., 55, 72 - - HAMILTON BUSBEY, 116, 118, 124 - - HAMBURG, 71, 73 - - HANOVER, 71 - - HARRISON CHIEF, 171 - - HARRY CLAY, 139, 140 - - HARNESS ROOMS, 226 - - HATS AND GLOVES, 253 - - HACKNEY, v, 185, 186 - - HAMBLETONIAN, 77, 79, 92, 96, 112, 113, 114, 115, 118, 120, 123, 139 - - HEDGEFORD (IMP.), 152, 153 - - HENRY CLAY, 86, 112, 133, 136, 137, 171, 175 - - HINDOO, 71 - - HIGHLAND DENMARK, 164 - - HIMYAR, 70 - - HIGHLAND MAID, 106, 132 - - HORSEBACK RIDING IN NORTH, viii - - HORSEBACK RIDING IN SOUTH, ix - - HOLDING THE REINS (RIDING), 246 - - HOLDING THE REINS (DRIVING), 254, 256 - - HONEST ALLEN, 90 - - HOLMES, DR. O. W., 150 - - HUNTINGTON, RANDOLPH, 13, 30, 32, 86, 136, 140, 141, 143, 144, 145 - - HYRACOTHERIUM, 3 - - - IDEAL HORSES, 272, 273, 274 - - INDIAN RIDERS, 241 - - ISHMAEL, 18 - - ITALIAN (JACK), 198 - - - JAPANESE CAVALRY, ix - - JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT, 31 - - JOHN DILLARD, 166 - - JONES, MR. J. L., 191 - - JOCKEY-SEAT, 250 - - JOGGING, 255 - - - KATE, 4 - - KEENE, JAMES R., 55, 65, 70, 72 - - KHALED, 146 - - KENTUCKY, 44, 52, 148, 149, 150, 151, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 235, 236 - - KENTUCKY’S EARLY STALLIONS, 53, 54 - - KENTUCKY HUNTER AND ONE-EYED KENTUCKY HUNTER, 107 - - KINGFISHER, 70 - - - LATH, 41 - - LADY SURREY, 86, 137 - - LADY SUFFOLK (HER BREEDING AND PERFORMANCE), 105, 106, 124, 132, 133 - - LEOPARD, 32, 141, 146 - - LECOMPTE, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 - - LEXINGTON, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 142 - - LEEDE’S ARABIAN, 25 - - LINDEN TREE, 141 - - LIKE BEGETS LIKE, vi, 39, 128 - - LINSLEY, D. C., 79, 82, 85 - - LONGFELLOW, 67 - - LORILLARD, P., 65 - - LORD CLINTON, 90 - - LOU DILLON, 132 - - LORD BRILLIANT, 170 - - LUCRETIA BORGIA, 51 - - LUKE BLACKBURN, 69 - - - MASSACHUSETTS, 9 - - MACE, DAN, 95 - - MAMBRINO, 101, 116, 118, 119 - - MAMBRINO CHIEF, 175 - - MAGHREB, 23 - - MADAM TEMPLE, 107, 109, 110 - - MARY SHEPPARD, 146 - - MARKHAM’S ARABIAN, 25, 28 - - MAJORCA (JACK), 198 - - MALTESE (JACK), 198 - - MAMMOTH (JACK), 191 - - MAUD S., 132 - - MESSENGER, 12, 31, 42, 44, 77, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 120, 136 - - MEXICO, 9 - - MILLER’S DAMSEL, 44, 100 - - MISS WOODFORD, 71 - - MONGRELS, vi - - MORGAN, v, 13, 27, 31, 69, 75, 76, 79, 129, 146, 151, 171, 173, 175, - 185 - - MOORISH INVASION OF SPAIN, 23 - - MORRIS, LEWIS G., 116, 119 - - MORRILL, 93 - - MORGAN, JUSTIN, 41, 79, 82, 85, 87, 88, 92 - - MORGAN EAGLE, 91 - - MONARCHIST, 70 - - MOUNTING A COLT, 267 - - MONTGOMERY CHIEF, 164 - - MULE COLTS (TREATMENT AND FEEDING), 204, 205 - - MULES (FATTENING FOR MARKET), 206 - - MUSTANGS, 31 - - MULES, VALUE OF, 187 - - - NANCY HANKS, 132 - - NARRAGANSETT PACER, 10 - - NEOHIPPARION, 4 - - NEJD, 13, 14 - - NEJDEE, ARABS, 13 - - NIMROD, 146 - - NORFOLK TROTTER, 185 - - NOSTALGIA (HOME-SICKNESS), 217 - - NO FOOT NO HORSE, 228 - - NORMANS, 8 - - - ORLOF, v, 13, 16, 183, 184, 186 - - OSBORN, PROFESSOR, 9 - - - PAT CLEBURNE, 166 - - PAUL PRY, 104 - - PATCHEN, MR. GEO. M., 137 - - PATRICK GIL, 58, 59 - - PARTHENON FRIEZE, 7 - - PELHAM, 106, 132 - - PEARL BY FIRST CONSUL, 137 - - PETER’S HALCORN, 166 - - PERCHERON, v, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182 - - PHAETON, 65 - - PHILIPPINES, 146, 163 - - PLUMBING IN STABLES, 223 - - POLKAN, 183 - - POLICE RIDERS (N. Y. TRAFFIC SQUAD), 241 - - POSITION OF FEET IN RIDING, 244 - - POITOU (JACK), 198 - - POTOMAC, 153, 154 - - PRINCESS, 111, 112 - - PRIORESS, 65 - - PURDY, 47, 48, 50 - - - QUINCY, JOSIAH, 45 - - - RARUS, 132 - - RANDOLPH, JOHN, 47, 48, 49 - - RANDOLPH HORSE, 85 - - RATTLER, 105 - - REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 11, 42 - - REVENGE, 85, 86 - - RICHARD OWEN, 3 - - RICHARDS, A. KEENE, 32, 33, 166 - - ROMANS, 8 - - ROYAL GIFT, 188 - - ROBERT MCGREGOR, 175, 176 - - ROCKINGHAM, 137 - - ROXANA, 29 - - ROUGH RIDERS, 239 - - RUSSIAN CAVALRY, ix - - RUNNING AWAY, 258, 259 - - RYSDYK, WM. M., 117, 121, 123 - - - SANTO DOMINGO, 8 - - SAMPSON, 101 - - SALVATOR, 71, 72 - - SALES, FROM PRIVATE STABLES, 213, 214 - - SALMON, DR. D. E., 167, 176, 177 - - SENSATION, 70 - - SPRINGBOK, 70 - - SPENDTHRIFT, 70 - - SHEBA, QUEEN OF, 19 - - SHERMAN MORGAN, 85, 87 - - SHOW RING HORSES, 216 - - SHOEING, 229, 230 - - SILAS DEANE, 10 - - SIR ARCHY, 43, 44, 57 - - SIR HENRY, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 100 - - SMETANKA, 183, 184 - - SOLOMON, 18, 19 - - SOUTH CAROLINA JOCKEY CLUB, 41 - - SPANISH HORSES, 8 - - SPEEDWAY (N. Y.), 128 - - SPURS, 246 - - SPIRIT OF THE TIMES, 109 - - STOCKTON, COMMODORE, 56 - - STUMP THE DEALER, 166 - - STANDARD BRED TROTTER, v, 114, 115, 124, 126, 139 - - STABLE CONSTRUCTION, 220 - - STABLE DRAINAGE, 220 - - STABLE VENTILATION, 220 - - STUD BOOK, ENGLISH, 25 - - ST. JULIEN, 132 - - SUNOL, 132 - - - TADOUSAC, 9 - - TEN BROECK, RICHARD, 57, 58, 63, 64, 65 - - TEN BROECK, 65, 67 - - TENNY, 72 - - TEYSUL, KING OF NEJD, 31 - - THORA, 71 - - THE BARD, 71 - - THE ABBOT, 132 - - THOROUGHBRED, v, 13, 27, 40 - - TOM OCHILTREE, 70 - - TOM HAL, 166 - - TOP GALLANT, 104 - - TROUBADOUR, 71 - - TRAINING AND BREAKING, 262 - - TROTTING HORSE DRIVERS, 252 - - TRACY, GEN. BENJ. F., 129 - - TREATMENT OF A TIRED HORSE, 227 - - TREDWELL, JOHN, 116, 120 - - TURF, FIELD AND FARM, 124, 129 - - - UNCAS, 70 - - UPTON, MAJOR ROGER D., 30 - - - VALUE OF HORSES AND MULES IN U. S., 111 - - VAN METER’S WAXY, 166 - - VERMONT MORGAN, 91 - - VIRGIL - - VIRGINIA, 9, 40 - - - WARFIELD, DR. - - WAGNER, 51, 52 - - WALLACE, WM. H., 20, 94, 95, 124, 126 - - WARRANTIES, 215 - - WALTERS, MR., OF BALTIMORE, 178 - - WASHINGTON, GEORGE, 188, 189 - - WARRIOR (JACK), 190 - - WASHING AND USE OF WATER, 228 - - WADSWORTH, GEN. WM., 138, 139 - - WELLS, GENERAL, 58 - - WEATHERBY, MESSRS., 25, 101 - - WEST POINT RIDERS, 240 - - WEASEL MORGAN OR FENTON HORSE, 85 - - WILDAIR, 41 - - WINTHROP MORRILL, 93 - - WOODBURN, 54 - - WOODRUFF, HIRAM, 104, 111, 119 - - WOODBURY MORGAN, 85, 90 - - - XENOPHON, 274 - - - YOUNG BASHAW, 136, 137 - - YOUNG TRAVELER, OR HAWKINS HORSE, 85 - - - ZILCAADI, 31 - - THE McCLURE PRESS, NEW YORK - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Added CONTENTS. - 2. Changed ‘sooner of later’ to ‘sooner or later’ on p. 148. - 3. Silently corrected typographical errors. - 4. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Horse in America, by John Gilmer Speed - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HORSE IN AMERICA *** - -***** This file should be named 54716-0.txt or 54716-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/7/1/54716/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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