STUD BOOK. 



THE TROTTING HORSE. 



IN the preceding pages we have treated at length, and 

 with careful consideration, the subject of Horses in general. 



Now we propose to devote some pages to a description of 

 the Trotting Horse, and especially the American Trotter. 



It is now admitted by even the most prejudiced of Eng- 

 lish writers on the subject, that the Trotting Horse, as he ap- 

 pears now in our country, far surpasses in all essential qual- 

 ities, similar animals in any other country in the world. 



For various reasons not necessary here to dilate upon, 

 horseback riding has never been anything like an universal 

 passion with North Americans. True, in some States, owing 

 to the irregular formation of the face of the country, and a 

 scarcity of good roads, it became a necessity to use saddle 

 horses. The wealthier classes in Virginia, and some of the 

 Southwestern States, also, to a certain extent, kept up the 

 hunting customs of their ancestors in the mother country. 



Still, a general preference has always been given to driv- 

 ing in place of riding, wherever the country was compara- 

 tively level, and the roads tolerably smooth. 



Another reason for the popularity of driving in lieu of 

 riding lay hi the fact that the majority of persons able to keep 

 a horse for both use and pleasure were not bom " with a sil- 

 ver spoon in their mouth," and have had little opportunity to 

 learn the art of equitation in their youthful days. Such per- 

 sons, as they became possessed of the means to indulge in 

 harmless and healthful recreations, found exactly the agree- 

 able style of locomotion that suited them, seated in a pretty 

 light wagon, behind a trotter or pacer going at a speed but 

 little less than that of a running horse. 



Just about the time that the fast and enduring trotter was 

 needed, many circumstances combined to produce the do- 

 sired animal 



This breed of horses the American trotter is now al- 



