6 4 



OLD "HENRY CLAY." 



Both these orders were given to help Mr. Van Zant, who was needy. 

 When the paintings for me came to hand, they were far from satisfactory 

 to these old gentlemen critics; nothing but Kittredge's sketch would do 

 for them, or for myself, as I remembered Old Henry, so I presented one 

 of the two paintings to a gentleman, retaining the other. In these two 

 copies Mr. Van Zant's love for scenery was such, that he would not 

 reproduce the horse in his stable as in the original ; but made an entirely 

 new painting, losing all semblance to the original. Kittredge, in his 

 copy of the painting, reproduced fact (the horse in his stall). As a 

 scenic-painter, Van Zant would be grand. Kittredge, on the other 

 hand, would concentrate all his mind upon the one object. This I en- 

 couraged, so that most of my sketches represent the object standing 

 upon a plain floor. I have often noticed that our very best portrait-, 

 as well as animal-painters, failed in all but the object ; Kittredge him- 

 self knowing this, depended upon his young associate, Andrew J. 

 Schultz, to fill in the background where one was desired, in which 

 Schultz excelled. The two were differently gifted ; Schultz studying 

 under Kittredge progressed rapidly in horse portraiture. 



I have already said more than I intended about the sketch of Henry 

 Clay, in this book. No horse, to my knowledge, had such a remarkable 

 life as Henry Clay, as will appear in my history devoted to him, and for 

 which he was sketched as a frontispiece, to be followed by over seventy 

 representative sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters, all by 

 the master-workman, Herbert S. Kittredge. 



All horsemen and readers of equine literature know what value I 

 put upon Henry Clay; they also know that my persevering and vigorous 

 championship has resurrected him from the oblivion to which he was 

 rapidly being consigned, and has given him a name and fame among the 

 different families. 



Although his superior value was patent to me from the time my 

 attention was first directly called to him as a remarkable horse and 

 sire, I must confess that it was not until after months and even years 

 of persistent investigation, that I discovered I must look to Arabian 

 blood for the qualities which made Henry Clay of such unusual merit. 

 At first I was satisfied to call it " Henry Clay," and on that name to 

 build my foundation; but when the inquisitive and ever-insatiable public 

 continued to ask the reason ivhy 1 placed Henry Clay at the front, I was 

 forced, nolens vo/ens, to seek for the primitive cause, and that I have 

 proven, to my own satisfaction at least, was due to the Arabian ancestry. 

 So, as Henry Clay has seemed from some unaccountable reason a dif- 



