568 AMERICAN HORSES. 



champion high stepper of the National Horse Show since 

 that date has been the offspring of a trotting sire, except 

 in two instances, where the blood of the winners was 

 unknown. 



" Extraordinary prices for fashionable carriage horses 

 have caused the destruction of many valuable stock horses 

 that could ill be spared from the breeding ranks and the 

 retirement from the turf of some noted performers. One 

 of the fastest trotters ever converted into a high stepper 

 is Doctor Pitzer, a brown stallion, by Arsaces, son of 

 Alcyone, 2.27, that gained a record of 2.i2|^ in a race 

 at the Boston Grand Circuit meeting in 1899. Judge 

 William H. Moore paid $9,000 for this grand looking 

 horse, and he is now to be seen nearly every day in Central 

 Park, docked and a gelding, in heavy harness " (New 

 York Herald). 



Respecting the American method of making imitation 

 hackneys. Dr. A. G. Hopkins, d.v.s., writes to me as 

 follows : '' During a winter's stay in Chicago, where I 

 did post-graduate work with Dr. M. H. McKilhp, who is 

 the leading veterinarian in that city, I helped in several 

 of these operations. Standard-bred stallions, often with 

 marks of from 2.40 to 2.25 are procured and castrated. 

 Later on they are docked and their tails set up by nicking ; 

 and when they get great growth of foot and plenty of 

 iron, they can pull their knees up to their chins. The 

 Anglomaniac gets caught, for he knows nothing about 

 horses. The imitation hackney seldom bends his hocks 

 properly, and when he is pushed, he often spraddles, as 

 the trotter does in the sulky." 



Trotters.* — The first step towards the formation 

 of the American trotter was the importation, in 1788, of 

 Messenger, who was in the English thorough-bred Stud 



* I have compiled almost all the facts contained in the following remarks on American 

 trotters and pacers from the notes and press cuttings most kindly sent me by Mr. Francis 

 A. Foster, of Boston, who has had great experience among these animals. 



