22 INTRODUCTION. 



the last thirty years, oftentimes without any special refe- 

 rence to those rules of courtesy that should be observed, 

 and generally with a disposition to beat rather than arrive 

 at the truth. There are one or two thoughts, or, I should 

 rather say, facts, that lie at the foundation of this question, 

 and to which the disputants on both sides must give their 

 assent. The experience of generations has proved that the 

 thoroughbred horse will endure more than any other, and, 

 as trotting is a test of endurance, in that particular the blood 

 horse has the advantage Then, two horses of equal speed 

 will depend necessarily on endurance to win, and, if blood 

 has the endurance, the question of superiority is settled. 

 If the thoroughbred horse, with the proper trotting action, 

 is not preferable to breed from, then the experience of ages 

 in breeding racers, and the law which governs in breeding 

 all other domestic animals, is at fault in breeding trotters. 

 But it is not my intention or province here to discuss this 

 question, but to give the blood, as far as known, and per- 

 formances of all trotting horses. And in this case I have 

 discriminated in favor of horses and mares as against geld- 

 ings, for the reason the latter only illustrate the value of a 

 given strain of blood, without the power to transmit it. I 

 have therefore admitted all horses and mares that have gone 

 in 2:40 and under, while I have required 2:35 of geldings. 

 It is believed this compilation of trotting horses, embracing 

 over seven hundred animals, is very nearly perfect, but it is 

 not claimed to be entirely so. 



I have met the same annoyance in this as in the thorough- 

 bred department, growing out of the duplication of names ; 

 and in some instances it is intensified. I cannot tell how 

 many Patchens there are. but I know I have not gotten all of 

 them, as I would have had if they had been given an honest 



