BREEDING THE TROTTER 



mare and her subsequent foals. If this be true 

 a brood-mare owner should be careful to breed 

 his virgin mare to the best stallion he can select. 

 One veterinarian has said that, all other things 

 being equal, he would choose the mare which had 

 been first covered by the better stallion. It is 

 agreed that the impression is a nervous and not 

 a physical one. I believe one reason a mare's 

 first foal is likely to be better than her others is 

 because she is then very likely to be in better 

 physical condition than at any other period of her 

 existence. The better health the mare and stal- 

 lion enjoy when they are mated the healthier and 

 stronger the foal, and the higher type horse it will 

 become. The same principle is true with refer- 

 ence to the other divisions of the animal kingdom. 

 The first foal of Estabella, one of my favorite 

 brood-mares, was Prince Regent, which I think 

 would have been one of the greatest sires the trot- 

 ting world ever saw. He died in March, 1891, as 

 a six-year-old, just before the stud season. Sixty- 

 four mares had been booked to him at five hun- 

 dred dollars. He was a very fast horse and took 

 his record of 2.16^, beating Pamlico (2.10) after 

 a stud season. Prince Regent was an equine 

 king and an impressive individual, either at rest 

 or while walking, jogging or racing. 



IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL SPEED. 



In connection with my observations on breeding 

 mares I might say that in my experience I have 

 found that the great matrons almost invariably 



99 



