THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



the speed of the produce. From this it is evident that the- 

 count a;id his managers were at that period entangled in the 

 same foolish notions that befogged the minds of so many very 

 worthy gentlemen in this country some years ago, viz., that the 

 way to improve the trotter was to go to the runner the horse 

 that never could trot. This foolish notion, that never had a 

 spark of reason in it, naturally and necessarily weakened the 

 trotting instinct of the descendants of Barss, and would have 

 wiped it all out if it had been followed persistently, and there 

 would have been no Orion* trotters to-day. 



After this narrow escape from the annihilation of much of the 

 good that Barss had done, the management then began to look 

 for the same blood and the same habit of action that the "Dutch 

 Mare" transmitted to her son, and, with this element to the 

 front, progression was resumed. Out of his great variety of 

 forms and of strains of blood the count and his managers could 

 pick and choose for the size, shape and forms they wanted, but 

 they were not able to transfer with the size, shape and form the 

 instincts and psychical nature of the horse. The count seems 

 to have carried forward his great enterprise rather with a view 

 to experimentation than its commercial possibilities. Smetanka, 

 lived but a year or two, and when he stumbled upon the produc- 

 tion of Barss, a magnificent individual and a great trotter, his 

 head seems to have been turned, as he evidently supposed that 

 he could breed any kind of horse he wished to breed, and be able 

 to do anything he wished him to do. At his death, in 1808, he 

 left no male heir to succeed him, but he provided in his will that 

 his stud should not be dispersed. It was kept intact till about 

 1845, when it was purchased by the government, and finally 

 divided among a number of prominent breeders in different por- 

 tions of the empire. 



Without having any knowledge on the subject that is definite 

 and specific, I am led to infer that the rules on registration and 

 racing in Russia are a hindrance to the breeding and develop- 

 ment of the trotter. As I understand it, no horse can be regis- 

 tered unless he is purely descended from Barss. And I under- 

 stand further, that he must possess the same requirements in 

 order to enter and start in a public race against the Orloffs. If 

 it be true that these restrictions are really in existence and are 

 enforced, we can understand why the American trotter is so far 

 ahead of the Orloff in speed and in the markets of Europe. 



