306 Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



level-headed. I lay great stress on the moral evolution of the Ameri- 

 can trotting stock, for without courage, without will power, without 

 good manners, without obedience, without a high intelligence, the pres- 

 . ent prominence of the trotter could not have been attained. These 

 essential qualities, so important in the life of a horse, are mainly the 

 work of our American breeder. By education and by public speed 

 contests the standard bred horse has gone through an evolution that 

 more and more establishes a breed of horses typically American. It is 

 but rational that horses should publicly prove their strength and en- 

 durance and, though speed is made the only test of eligibility for reg- 

 istration, the contests demand a showing of qualities that will insure 

 progenitors of a robust race of horses. 



Of late years the treatment of the trotter has been more or less on 

 lines of usefulness. Barring the heaviest kind of work, we have 

 among the representatives of the standard bred horse satisfactory ma- 

 terial for nearly all purposes in the country as well as in the city, on 

 the farm as well as on the track. Whether in front of the carriage, 

 buggy, spring wagon, delivery wagon, or the implements of the field 

 and orchard, we have had ample evidence that the American standard 

 bred horse "fills the bill," because he has the disposition and the in- 

 telligence for such work. Some of our greatest trotters were bred by 

 small breeders. No truer words were ever written than these: that 

 the brood-mare, to show great results, must be "under the hands of the 

 breeder; he works and feeds her well. All the secret of his breeding 

 lies in these few words/' My own experience and observation corro- 

 borate this truth. At bottom of all horse breeding stands the small 

 farm with its one or two choice broodmares. The small breeder is the 

 backbone of all breeding interests, and if the American trotter is to 

 fulfill his mission of becoming a national type, appreciated everywhere 

 for his intelligence, strength and quality, it would be well to frame 

 his qualifications on other requirements than just speed alone. We 

 need size and weight in the trotter if the animal is to be a useful one. 

 He should not become a mere racing machine or a rich man's toy. In 

 this republic of ours the trotting turf is democratic and the exhibitions 

 of speed are "of the people, for the people, and by the people." Great 



