62 AMERICAN TROTTERS. 



i 



the most fortunate accident that could have occurred, since it furnished 

 the exact combination to insure a change of gait and still retain the fire 

 and instinctive speed of the Racer. 



The peculiar conformation of Imported Messenger low, round, al- 

 most flat withers has been faithfully handed down to his lineal descend- 

 ants ; and it is a matter of common note, that all true Messenger-bred 

 Trotters have always enjoyed a remarkable freedom from all kinds of 

 foot, leg and bone diseases. Messenger blood is found in nearly every 

 family of American Trotters ; and through his great grandson, Rysdyk's 

 Hambletonian, we have a family pre-eminent above all others in steady 

 reproduction of the trotting gait, through a long line of noted descend- 

 ants, of which we shall write later. 



Another original source of trotting blood was found in 



IMPORTED BELLFOUNDER, 



a blood bay, with white diamond on nose, and white left hind foot. His 

 breeding has always been a matter of question, but by the best evidence 

 obtainable his pedigree is as follows : Sire, Old Bellfounder, out of Ve- 

 tlocity by Haphazard, by Sir Peter, out of Miss Hervey by Eclipse. 

 Grand dam of good blood but not Thorougbred. This stamps him as a 

 true descendant of the Fireaways a strain which has never been ex- 

 celled for the saddle. Bellfounder, the " Norfolk Trotter," was foaled 

 about 1815, imported to America in 1822, and died on Long Island in 

 1843. He was a natural trotter, of remarkable honesty, and his truest 

 descendants have since been known as "field trotters," showing their 

 best speed when free from all restraint of reins. The peculiar value of 

 the Bellfounder blood is found, like that of Duroc, in its happy combi- 

 nation with the blood of Messenger. 



. DUROC 



was not an imported horse, but was foaled (1806) and bred in Virginia. 

 He was a chestnut in color, of remarkable frame and muscle, got by im- 

 ported Diomed a small chestnut horse, winner of the first English 

 Derby and from him (Diomed) he derived many serious blood defects 

 such as a tendency to foot and leg troubles, as well as those high qual- 

 ities of nerve and spirit which are found in all of Diomed's descendants. 

 On his dam's side he traces to imported Medley, a gray by Gimcrack, 

 also a gray, and from this quarter comes the peculiar conformation of 

 his descendants wide hips, long powerful thighs, and hocks placed low 

 down over short hind cannons which is always accompanied by an open, 

 loose "straddling" action, by many regarded a sure indication of trotting 

 promise. As already noted, his greatest value was found in combination 

 with Messenger blood, and in such horses as Alhambra, Messenger-Du- 

 roc and American Star was found its happiest combination. 



