100 THE BEEEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



The Copperbottoms and Pilots made a reputation in 

 Kentucky at an early time; the Columbus family did 

 the same in New England, the St. Glairs in California, 

 the St. Lawrences in Michigan, the Blue Bulls in Indiana 

 and Ohio, the Hiatogas in Virginia, and the Hals in 

 Tennessee. While all these were in a general way known 

 as pacers, yet with most of them the gait was interchange- 

 able, and many of them could trot as fast as they could 

 pace, and very few of them sired a majority of pacers. 

 As might be expected, the fastest of their get were pacers, 

 and those made the reputation of the sire, while as a 

 matter of fact that sire would be getting mostly trotters. 

 For example, Blue Bull, a fast pacer himself and a getter 

 of some fast pacers, sired fifty-six trotters out of a total of 

 sixty of his in the list. So also with many of the others, 

 with the notable exception of the Hal family. This is the 

 leading family of pacers that is justly entitled to be called 

 a family of pacers, and the writer does not know of any 

 other like it, pacing in origin and breeding on at the pac- 

 ing gait. 



111. Present position of the pacer. What has been 

 written may enable the reader to understand the position 

 of the pacer in the earliest days. But to explain the posi- 

 tion in our own day is almost beyond the possibilities of 

 the most earnest student, so intertwined in breeding and 

 development are the trotting and pacing gaits. When 

 the standard for Standardbred horses was established, 

 pacers and trotters came in on almost equal footing. At 

 the races, too, trotters and pacers at that time mostly 

 competed on equal footing, many of the purses being open- 

 class for trotters or pacers. It was soon found that the 

 pacers were naturally faster than the trotters, for they 

 would win most of the races when both competed on 



