CHA.PTEE IV. 



THE PACING ELEMENT. 



On this subject much has been wi-itten of late years and some 

 have occasionally referred to it as having made important discoveries 

 in regard to its relations to the trotting horse. But vdth all that has 

 been so wisely surmised or written, not a particle of light has been 

 shed on the topic, and this suggests the conclusion that it is not a 

 matter which is susceptible of any special elucidation, or one that has 

 very important scintillations to diffuse over the matter of breeding 

 roadsters. It has been asserted that the thoroughbred never paces, 

 and that, as a consequence, the discovery has an important bearing on 

 the problem of breeding trotters. 



The simple fact is, that the subject is a common-sense matter and 

 shi-ouded in no such mystery, nor does it carry with it so much 

 importance as has been attributed to it. "Without going into the 

 subject at great length, which the space allotted to this topic wiU not 

 permit, I may here say, that the pacers seem to come in most in- 

 stances from highly-bred families, and from such parent stock have 

 inherited a nerve and brain organism or temperament that gives 

 them the element of speed at any gait they may adopt. Their speed 

 is an inherited element resting in a nerve organism which com- 

 mands a physical or muscular conformation adapted to and capable 

 of executing in high degree the impulses of the will that directs it. 

 The same formula of expression will apply to the trotter, and this 

 proves the identity of each in all that relates to physiological or 

 psychological organism. 



The pacer, like the trotter, is such in consequence of a nerve or 

 mental organism and physical conformation that adapt him to that 

 particular way of going in each case respectively. Both of these are 

 the result not of accident but of use, — employment and adaptation, 

 having a common origin in' the tastes or habits of the employer, that 



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