CHAPTER VI 



ORIGIN OF AMERICAN TROTTING HORSES 



rriHE hold that trotting horses have over the inhabitants 

 J- of America is difficult for Europeans to understand. 

 Although the great founders of this race came from the Old 

 World, the populace there has rarely been enthusiastic about 

 the trotter, and his especial excellence is due to the genius 

 of the Americans themselves. It is, moreover, within the 

 last forty years or so that the great improvement in the 

 breed has taken place, for in the year 1872 only 96 horses 

 made a public record of a mile in '2.80 or better, though 

 live years afterwards, in 1877, 284 horses attained the same 

 distinction, and now many thousands of trotters and pacers 

 have reached the recognised standard of merit. 



In his interesting work, "American Roadsters and 

 Trotting Horses," Mr. H. T. Helm lays down as an 

 axiom in breeding trotting horses : " The sire should have 

 the trotting qualities desired in high degree, and they 

 should be derived from both inheritance and instruction. 

 The dam, if possessed of endurance and pluck, and enough 

 of what we call blood, may be lacking in the inherited 

 trotting quality, yet be capable of producing a trotter of 

 the highest excellence." He then proceeds to illustrate 

 his argument by citing the example of Lady Thorn, who 

 was by Mambrino Chief, a natural trotter, but who never 

 raced in public, while her dam was by Cano, a thorough- 

 bred race-horse, and her grandam by Sir William, also a 

 thoroughbred race-horse. Lady Thorn was bred in 1856. 

 Her greatness as a trotter was shown by the illustrious 

 competitors she beat, amongst others being the famous 

 Dexter (2.174), Mountain Boy, Goldsmith Maid (2.14), 



128 



