590 AMERICAN HORSES. 



quently, the more the height at the croup exceeds that 

 at the withers, the greater will be the tendency of the 

 hind legs to interfere with the fore ones. 



The faster the speed at any gait, the truer must be 

 the action. Hence the knee action of the stars of the 

 " Harness Turf " is not exaggerated. Mr. Foster tells me 

 that horses with high action give the impression that 

 they are travelling faster than they are actually doing ; 

 but that those which bend their knees only to an extent 

 sufficient for the attainment of great speed, deceive us in 

 the opposite way. Consequently, trotters and pacers 

 which are competing near the 2.05 mark, often appear 

 to be going slower than fields of the 2.30 class. Lou 

 Dillon's action is low and " stealing." " High " action in 

 no way diminishes the tendency to '' interfere." 



Since page 569 of this book went to " press," I see 

 that Mr. John Gilmer Speed states, in The Century Maga- 

 zine, September 1903, that the pedigree of the Charles 

 Kent mare is " quite unknown," and that Bellfounder 

 was not her sire. 



Pacers. — Forty or fifty years ago, it was supposed 

 that there was a typical pacing conformation ; but now 

 there is practically no difference in shape between trotters 

 and pacers. Probably, three-quarters of the pacers are 

 trotting bred. The Wilkes family furnished a large number 

 of pacers, and consequently its young stock disappoints 

 many of their owners. Advance of speed in the trotter 

 has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the 

 number of trotting-bred pacers ; because, as we have 

 seen, the conformation most suitable to trotting speed, 

 greatly increases the tendency to " interfere." As this 

 tendency is present to a far less extent in pacing than 

 in trotting, it follows that horses which are inclined to 

 " hit " themselves, will prefer the former to the latter 

 gait, especially as they are not allowed to canter or 

 gallop. It is interesting to note that the shorter the 



