154 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



That is pretty good breeding, even though the 

 ancestors of Potomac might not pass muster 

 with those who look very closely back through 

 the sixteen generations. It may be that this so- 

 called "cold-streak" in Denmark, through his 

 maternal great grandsire, was just what was 

 needed when he was mated with the Kentucky 

 mares whose produce has given him enduring 

 fame. 



In England the Thoroughbred is thought to be 

 the ideal saddle-horse. I confess that I have had 

 the Thoroughbred fever pretty badly. But that was 

 a long time ago ; and maybe that fever was con- 

 temporaneous with Anglo-mania; indeed, the 

 former may have been due to the latter. Personal 

 preferences, however, have properly little weight 

 in a judicial inquiry. My whole effort in this book 

 has been to be entirely fair. Personally, I care for 

 a very few gaits in a saddle-horse. I am quite con- 

 tent with the walk, the trot and the gallop. The 

 Thoroughbred does all of these with, to say the 

 least, a reasonable satisfaction. But it is unques- 

 tionably true that a well-formed, well-trained, 

 well-bred Denmark will go all three of these gaits 



