q82 AMERICAN HORSES. 



especially in fast races, are now uncommon. Hence, 

 persistency at the trot is as well marked a characteristic 

 of " standard trotting breds " of to-day, as speed at the 

 trot ; both being hereditary qualities which have been 

 strongly developed by artificial selection. 



Also, the fact that standard-bred horses of the present 

 day acquire ability to trot comparatively fast, at a much 

 earlier age than American trotters of former times and 

 horses of other breeds, is a proof that speed at the trot 

 is to a large extent an instinct (mental gift), which is 

 the faculty of performing special movements under 

 appropriate stimuli, without instruction or previous 

 experience. At two years old, Arion (p. 578) came within 

 reasonable reach of The Abbot in 1891 ; but Goldsmith 

 Maid had to wait till she was past eighteen, before she 

 made her record of 2.14 in 1875. Up to the age of seven 

 years, she was able to get only a little within 3 minutes. 

 Mozart at seven years of age and Mendelssohn at twelve 

 years, appear to have played the piano quite as well 

 as many professional pianists do, after twenty years of 

 assiduous practice. It is recorded that Landseer had a 

 picture hung in the Royal Academy when he was thirteen 

 years old, and there are drawings of his in the South 

 Kensington Museum, which he did when he was only 

 five. Even a genius in manual or pedal dexterity must 

 have his muscles capable of responding with suitable 

 speed and power, to the special stimuli given to them 

 by his nervous system ; and to attain excellence, he 

 requires practice, which in his case is accompanied by 

 far better results than in that of an ordinary individual. 

 As speed at the gallop is the horse's -natural means of 

 preservation, it is far less dependent on special nervous 

 adaptation than speed at the trot, or ability to jump 

 obstacles such as those met with when hunting in Leices- 

 tershire or " between the flags." Under natural con- 

 ditions, the jumping ability of horses in a wild state 

 is rarely tested to any great extent. Hence, conformation 



