THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE. 195 



mongrels, and the remoter crosses were impossible fictions. The 

 fact that he ran four miles cuts no figure as evidence of purity 

 of blood, for horses were running four miles in this country be- 

 fore the first "thoroughbred" was born. Of the fourteen stallions 

 that are inserted as "Foundation Stock/' it is unfortunate that 

 the choice seems to be practically restricted to the State of Ken- 

 tucky, while the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee, to say 

 nothing of Illinois, Missouri, etc., have produced numbers of 

 families and tribes that are much more prominent and valuable 

 from the true saddle-horse standpoint than some that appear in 

 the select list of fourteen. It is doubtless true, however, that 

 more attention has been paid to symmetry and style, and to the 

 correct development and culture of the true saddle gaits, in 

 Kentucky than in any of the other States. With such horses as 

 Games' Denmark, John Dillard, Tom Hal, Brinker's Drennon, 

 Texas, Peters' Halcorn, and Copperbottom the list is all right, 

 but the other half-dozen are mostly young and have hardly been 

 heard of outside of their own immediate neighborhoods. It is a 

 notable fact that ' old Pacing Pilot does not appear as the pro- 

 genitor of a saddle family. 



In considering the comparative merits of the leading founda- 

 tion stallions we find that Denmark was not a success in any 

 direction except as the sire of handsome and stylish saddle 

 horses. John Dillard may not have been the equal of Denmark 

 in the elegance of his progeny, but he far surpassed him in his 

 valuable .relations to the trotter. His daughters became quite 

 famous as the producers of trotters of a high order, and they have 

 over twenty in the 2:30 list. The Tom Hals have developed 

 phenomenal speed at the pace, and a great deal of it, interspersed 

 with but few trotters. 



Of late years many owners of the very best material for saddle 

 stock have given their whole attention to the development of 

 speed, either at the lateral or diagonal motion, because it has 

 been deemed more profitable. In thus selecting, breeding and 

 developing for extreme speed, the adaptation to saddle purposes 

 has been lost or bred out. While it is true that some colts come 

 into the world endowed with all the saddle gaits, it is also true 

 that skill and patience are requisite in teaching the saddle horse 

 good manners. There is no imaginable use to which the horse 

 can be put where he will show his beautiful form and thorough 

 education to so great advantage as under the saddle. 



