"214 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



" Mauabrino was likewise sire of a great many excellent hunters and strong, 

 useful road horses. And it has been said that from his blood the breed of 

 horses for the coach was brought nearly to perfection." 



This paragraph, considering its date (1805), the authority 

 from which it comes, and the peculiar circumstances which 

 prompted its utterance, has a most striking significance. After 

 years of familiarity with Mr. Pick's works we can say freely that 

 we never have been able to find any allusion or reference to the 

 qualities of any horse portrayed by him other than his running 

 qualities. This reference to the adaptabilities of the progeny of 

 Mambrino stands alone. The i 'blood that brought the breed of 

 coach horses nearly to perfection" must have been blood that 

 gave the "breed" a long, slinging, road-devouring trot, as well 

 as size and strength. The very same qualifications were observed 

 and noted in the descendants of Mambrino in this country forty 

 and fifty years ago, and at no time in our history have we had 

 such unapproachable coach horses as the great-grandsons of 

 Mambrino. What has been said, therefore, by Mr. Pick of the 

 "coach-horse" qualities of the descendants of Mambrino in Eng- 

 land has been fully realized and verified in his descendants, 

 through Messenger, in this country. 



The question here arises whether Mambrino ever showed any 

 remarkable trotting action himself that would seem to justify 

 this estimate of the trotting action of his descendants? Several 

 writers, and among them Mr. Lawrence, have spoken of this 

 peculiarity of Mambrino's incidentally, but the most tangible 

 account we have of it is furnished by an English writer to the 

 Sporting Magazine, who dates his letter from the "Subscrip- 

 tion Rooms, TattersalPs, 1814." These "subscription rooms" 

 were the very focus of sporting events, and this writer seems to 

 be unusually intelligent on this class of subjects. The object 

 and point of his communication is to prove that no thoroughbred 

 hor~e could be developed into a fast trotter. "Hence," he says, 

 "no thoroughbred was ever known capable of trotting sixteen 

 miles within the hour, and only one stands on record as having 

 trotted fifteen miles within one hour. That was Infidel, by 

 Turk, who performed it in the North, carrying nine or ten stone. 

 Several race horses have been supposed capable of trotting four- 

 teen miles in one -hour, and it is reported that the late Lord 

 Grosvenor once offered to match Mambrino to do it for a thou- 

 sand guineas." Now this writer does not say that Lord Gros- 



