512 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



pedigree would be cut off. This rule saved the "Trotting Regis- 

 ter" from becoming the mere dumping place for countless frauds, 

 but it aroused such a feeling of antagonism on the part of the 

 manager of Woodburn Farm that he, at once, started an opposi- 

 tion Register to be compiled at the farm, under his own personal 

 direction. Of this, and what came of it, I will speak further on. 

 It is but just that I should say here, that from a wide knowledge 

 of men and from a study of their moral fiber extending through 

 many years in connection with horse affairs, I have found many 

 Kentuckians that were thoroughly truthful and reliable in pedi- 

 gree matters; but at the same time it must be admitted that the 

 conditions there for generations past have not been favorable, 

 among horsemen, for the cultivation of the highest type of truth- 

 fulness. Many of them have been making their own pedigrees 

 for so long, and padding them out with nameless dams by sup- 

 positions sires, to suit themselves and the market that they 

 don't take kindly to any restraint in what they consider their own 

 business. 



The great central truth in reproduction, whether of animals 

 or plants, is summed up in the homely but axiomatic phrase, 

 "like begets like. 7 ' With the rank and file of intelligent breeders 

 who were able to think, this axiom was soon accepted as a funda- 

 mental and basic truth. The phrase "trotting instinct" was 

 soon in everybody's mouth, and the broad, plain distinction be- 

 tween that and "running instinct" was so palpable and easy of 

 practical comprehension that the fallacy of a "thoroughbred 

 foundation" was buried out of sight. When it was considered 

 that the instinct of the one was to put forth his supreme effort 

 at the trot, and of the other to put forth his supreme effort at 

 the gallop, the irreconcilable antagonism between the two gaits 

 was apparent. The cumulative evidences furnished year after 

 year by the official records of performances on the tracks, and all 

 going to show that the trotting horse must have a trotting in- 

 heritance, soon became so overwhelming in the uniformity of 

 their teachings, and so completely unanswerable in the force of 

 numbers, that no man able to observe and think could any longer 

 doubt the truth of the position taken. But, unfortunately, some 

 men can neither observe nor think, and, what is still more un- 

 fortunate, they not infrequently undertake to fill the r61e of 

 public teachers and leaders of public thought. We can under- 

 stand how a man of average intelligence may be wise in many 



