518 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



and as some of the more salient points seem to be of sufficient 

 importance to hand down to future generations, I will here con- 

 sider them very briefly. In doing this I am conscious of some 

 feeling of embarrassment on account of the personal matters that 

 must enter into the recital, but it is a part of the trotting history 

 of the times, and I prefer that the truth may be preserved, what- 

 ever may be the teachings of the canons of taste. 



In the collection and registration of pedigrees that seemed to 

 be more or less closely allied to trotting blood, embracing all 

 contained in the first, second and third volumes of the "Trotting 

 Register," there was no guide or rule to determine what was 

 worthy of registration, in a trotting sense, and what was un- 

 worthy. I had a general conception of the families that had 

 produced trotters and those that had not, but I had no rule by 

 which I could decide what to admit and what to reject, except 

 that all actual performers of reputable speed must be admitted. 

 To undertake, on individual responsibility, to determine what 

 amount of trotting blood should be requisite to admission, and 

 how that amount should be measured, was quite too hazardous, 

 except when backed by a strong moral and numerical force of 

 breeders. Hence my active interest in the organization of the 

 National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders, and my earnest 

 desire that it might be composed of breeders of high standing 

 and character from all parts of the country. Upon the organiza- 

 tion of the association, its character was so entirely acceptable to 

 me that I did not hesitate to place in its hands the supervisory con- 

 trol of the registration of pedigrees for the ''Trotting Register," 

 to be exercised by a Board of Censors to be appointed annually. 

 The first board was appointed and entered on its functions Janu- 

 ary 15, 1877, by formulating the first set of rules relating to the 

 requisites necessary to the acceptance of pedigrees, in their form 

 and completeness. The third volume was then approaching 

 completion and the Board of Censors commenced their super- 

 visory duties on that volume. 



The members of the Breeders' Association were generally men 

 of intelligence, and capable of thinking, and every suitable op- 

 portunity was improved to get their individual views on the ques- 

 tion as to whether a set of rules could be adopted by the associa- 

 tion that would distinguish between animals that had trotted 

 themselves or produced trotters in say 2:30, and animals that 

 had not. Not many had ever thought of the subject, but all 



