HOW THE TROTTIKG HORSE IS BRED. 477* 



useful, and hence, in a utilitarian sense, the most valuable of all 

 the varieties of the canine race. In understanding his master's 

 commands and the motions of his hand in the management of the 

 flock, he evinces an intelligence, an instinct, that is almost human. 

 There is a marked distinction between the instinct of the pointer 

 and the collie. The former acts chiefly by his innate mental 

 endowments, while the latter is at his best when carrying out the 

 will of his master. In both cases the instinct was acquired in 

 comparatively recent years, and it is now fixed in the breeds and 

 is transmitted with great certainty. 



The most remarkable results in the development and use of an 

 instinct that was practically latent, or never developed, are to be 

 found in the history of the American Trotting Horse. Fifty-one 

 years ago Lady Suffolk was the first trotter to cover the mile in 

 2:29^. Four years later Pelham, a converted pacer, trotted in 

 2:28, and four years still later Highland Maid, a converted pacer, 

 trotted in 2:27. In 1859 Flora Temple trotted in 2:19f; in 1874 

 Goldsmith Maid trotted in 2:14; in 1885 Maud S. trotted in 

 2:08|; in 1892 Nancy Hanks trotted in 2:04; and in 1894 AJix 

 trotted in 2:03f. But a greater performance than any of these 

 was that of the two-year-old colt, Arion, when in 1891 he covered 

 the mile in 2:10f. I have no hesitation in pronouncing this the 

 greatest performance ever made, to this date, not because it was 

 the fastest, as shown by the watch, but because it was made by a 

 two-year-old, and from this fact there had been no time for pro- 

 longed and skillful training. He was essentially the product of 

 heredity and not the result of education. 



Fifty-one years ago there was but one animal in the 2:30 list, 

 and at the close of 1896 there were over fifteen thousand within 

 that limit and far more than fifteen thousand others hovering on 

 its border. This astounding result must be attributed primarily 

 to a trotting inheritance, but this inheritance has been constantly 

 strengthened, reinforced, fortified by the acquired capacities re- 

 sulting from the development of the trotting speed of succeeding 

 generations. This is not a mere estimate of what has resulted 

 from acquired characters and instincts, for if we put all the 

 observations of all the writers on subjects of natural history, 

 large and small, together, they make but a meager and unsatis- 

 factory showing when compared with the fifteen thousand actual 

 experiences, officially noted and recorded on the spot and printed 

 in "Wallace's Year Book." In all the world there is no other 



