128 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



And these are the rules that obtain to-day in 

 keeping a register of which the rat-tailed semi- 

 Conestoga Abdallah is No. 1. 



It will be seen by the rules certain features of 

 the great breeding principle: "Like begets like" 

 are followed, and there is no doubt that some 

 intelligent breeders have tried most sincerely to 

 embrace in the mating of stallions and mares all 

 of the principles; but, as a rule, the speed test 

 alone was considered instead of similarity of 

 blood, similarity of conformation (for nature ab- 

 hors great contrasts), and also performance. The 

 importance given to the time tests and the public 

 records and the disregard of pure and similar 

 blood has detracted, in my opinion, most seri- 

 ously from the success of the experiments and the 

 effort to create a type of fast trotting horses. Why, 

 the Standard Bred Trotter is not a type at all. 

 They come in all sizes and shapes, they have no 

 fixed gait, and not more than three per cent of 

 them can trot fast enough to be considered even a 

 good roadster. The visitors to the Speedway in 

 New York have opportunities to see the best and 

 fastest trotters in the world. There are certainly 



