PHYSICAL CONFORMATION. 71 



enoug-h to miss his front feet. Such is the gait of those who have the 

 Harry Clay cross, and such was the gait of Lady Thorn, wlio pos- 

 sessed a thigh only 23 inches, but a length of hip to hock of 4:3 inches; 

 and the manner in which she made her long reaches with her hind 

 feet, evenly and smoothly, in direct line under her body, must still be 

 fresh in the memory of many of my readers who saw her during her 

 very distinguished career on the trotting turf. 



If I am asked what measure I recognize as the true and prociso 

 standard of the highest excellence, I answer, that there is no such 

 standard; but the degree of excellence that will combine the best 

 approximate of adaptation to the trotting gait will be found some- 

 where between the extremes which I have pointed out. 



The Volunteers and Messengers generally are a superior trotting 

 family, occupying the highest rank and most eminent distinction. It 

 may be that a little more knee-action than they usually display is 

 desirable; most of tastes would call for a slight increase, but as long 

 as their far reaching in front does not amount to a dwelling action, 

 there certainly can not be any real objection to their way of going. 

 The opposite extreme is one that I can not in any respect commend, 

 and should always avoid it if possible. The short stroke and hard 

 pounding trotters can not endure. 



That the real trotting power is in large degree increased by a proper 

 elongation of the line from the hip to the hock, is appax-ent from the 

 display of power in some of the great trotters, which excel in that 

 measure. Smuggler is 40 inches in that line; Bodine is 41; Lady 

 Thorn was 42; Prosper© is 41^; the stallion Cuyler is3iH,as also 

 Administrator ; Volunteer is also 40; Ericsson and Clark Chief, and 

 their descendants, were also long in that respect and the best trotters 

 of their respective families. Any one who has closely observed the 

 immense power as well as the extent of sweep shown by either of 

 these trotters, can not for a moment fail to see the great superiority 

 they possess over those that are short in that line. They reach far 

 out behind and set the foot forward more nearly in line under the 

 body, without lifting the hock high or making great apparent effort. 



Those of the other class, even the best of them, while they display great 

 vigor and muscular power, also show that it is accompanied with great 

 effort. It will be found in a study of the trotters of the various families, 

 that those members of each family respectively generally excelled which 

 showed the greatest length in this line. This will be shown more fully 

 hereafter, when I come to particularize and speak of each stallion and 



