CAVALRY HORSES. 165 



pastime there in the olden time, and more recently every farmer who could has 

 obtained the service of the blood horse from numerous training; stable? in that 

 part of the State. Dutchess county, New York, is another celebrated place for 

 fine stock, and was long the home of imported Messenger, traces of whose blood 

 may be seen everywhere in that locality. 



This increased use of good material is having a marked effect upon the trot- 

 ting horse everywhere, and unconsciously those who talk of "pure trotters," 

 and hold them in higher estimation than racers, are breeding them to be more 

 and more like the latter. The form of the trotter has undergone a Avonderful 

 change within the past fifteen or twenty years. The broad chest is no longer 

 a virtue, for the gait has become different, and the trotter, instead of putting 

 his hind feet down directly under his fore feet, lengthens the stride by throwing 

 them out on each side beyond the fore feet. Thus the deep, narrow, gray- 

 hound style of chest is now the thing to be sought, and the hind leg is longer 

 from the hip to hock, giving a greater power of reach. In a word, the trotter 

 is improving, and therefore growing to look and travel more like the racer. 



It is not impossible that if thorough-bred horses were educated and trained 

 to trot solrly, and bred in the best manner for preserving hereditary qualities, 

 a thorough-bred trotting stock could be produced. At present, however, there 

 is no such thing, and our most celebrated trotters are merely mongrel horses, 

 with a dash of good blood, which they may or may not transmit to their pos- 

 terity. 



As the English system of racing has resulted in the finest breed of horses, 

 we may properly consider that system the best. Here we run long distances 

 with light weights, and around a circular course, whereon the rider rests his 

 animal at several points, by Avhat is called "taking a pull." This occurs at the 

 short turns of the course. The English race, on the contrary, is a sliort dis- 

 tance, with heavy weights, and upon a straight course. The weight for three- 

 year old, in England, generally is one hundred and nineteen pounds, while here 

 it is but eighty-six pounds. Lately it has been increased, upon some cf the 

 courses, to ninety pounds, but that is by no means weight enough to properly 

 test the carrying powers of the horse. 



The English course also, in many instances, comprises undulations which 

 considerably vary the level of the ground, and the care required in managing 

 the racer so as to save him for an ascent, keep him from fretting, and bring him 

 to the home stretch in the very best condition for a final brush, makes English 

 jockeys unequalled. It was more the American rider than the American horse 

 that lost the Goodwood cup for Prioress, 



Another excellent racing institution peculiar to England is the "handicap." 

 This is an attempt to equalize the ability of the various horses by weighting. 

 The good horses are compelled to carry more than the standard weight for 

 their age, and the poorer ones carry less, according to the judgment of the 

 "handicapper," generally one of the first gentlemen of the land, frequently a 

 titled one, and always as far above any suspicion or reproval as the Chevalier 

 Bayard himself. In this race, notwithstanding all allowance which may be 

 made for " dark horses," those whose powers are kept private, with reference 

 to some especial handicap, both the handicapper and the public are often aston- 

 ished at the result. The last horse dreamed of as a winner is just as likely to 

 bear off the palm as the favorite. The necessity of a continuous and regular 

 system of test by racing, in^tead of relying upon anything so fallible as human 

 judgment, finds an apt illustration in this fact. 



Over and above all these urgent and strenuous arguments in favor of the 

 race may be added the pleasure it gives to every liberal and right minded 

 spectatoi". The sight of a number of beautiful and thorough-bred horties, thin 

 of skin and slight of build, but strong as if made of whalebone and f teel, going 

 at a tearing pace, flashing down the home stretch like living thunderbolts, and 



