CHAPTER XXXII. 



HOW THE TROTTING HORSE IS BRED (Continued). 



Trotting speed first supposed to be an accident Then, that it came front 

 the runner William Wheelan's views Test of powers of endurance 

 The term " thoroughbred " much abused Definition of "thoroughbred"" 

 How trotters may be made "thoroughly bred" How to study pedi 

 grees Reward offered for the production of a thoroughbred horse that 

 was a natural pacer The trotter more lasting than the runner The 

 dam of Palo Alto Arion as a two-year-old Only three stallions have 

 been able to get trotters from running-bred mares " Structural incon- 

 gruity " The pacer and trotter inseparable How to save the trot and re- 

 duce the ratio of pacers Development a necessity Table proving this 

 proposition The "tin cup" policy a failure Woodburn at the wrong 

 end of the procession. 



BEFORE the question of speed in the trotter began to be con- 

 sidered, either from a historical or a philosophical standpoint, or, 

 in other words, a question involving scientific truths, there was a. 

 universal concurrence in the idea that speed at the trot was an 

 accident and that there was nothing of inheritance or heredity 

 about it. This idea was greatly strengthened by the performances 

 of such horses as Boston Horse, Rattler, Edwin Forrest, Dutch- 

 man, Confidence, Moscow, Pelham, Flora Temple, Tacony, etc., 

 whose origin and blood were wholly unknown, while they were- 

 on the turf. Contemporaneous with these there were such 

 splendid performers as Topgallant, Screwdriver, Lady Suffolk, 

 Sally Miller, O'Blennis and many others that were known to be 

 descended from Messenger, a horse that was looked upon by 

 everybody as a "thoroughbred/' Hence, the conclusion that the 

 flying trotter was either an accident in breeding, or his speed 

 qualities came from the English running horse. The fact that 

 such champion trotters, in their day, as Pelham, Highland Maid, 

 etc., had originally been pacers and changed from the lateral to 

 the diagonal gait was sedulously concealed from the public, dur- 

 ing their day, and only after they had passed away was this bar- 



