146 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF TROTTING BLOOD. 



American Eclipse was not a trotter, nor ever got a trotter, I believe, or 

 scarcely a good roadster. With all his fame, he was deficient in his hocks, 

 and I think was fired to prevent or cure a curb. Mr. Colden, the most enthu- 

 siastic and profuse writer on the horse at that day, stated that this deficiency 

 and tendency of his get to curb, for a time operated greatly against him iu 

 the stud. Duroc, his sire, was spavined, was unpojiular on Long Island as a 

 road horse, and got few that were good roadsters. It has been claimed by some 

 writers that his get were inclined to ringbone. 



A monthly, which is the especial organ of the Duroc blood, (my own 

 exposure of its defective tendencies having rendered an organ neces- 

 sary), admits that — 



There is no use in glossing over the fact that this tendency to unsoundness 

 or malformation of the limbs was in the Diomed blood, and whenever we 

 meet with a strong concentration of that blood, till this day we are apt to see 

 this tendency manifesting itself. 



The same authority in the interest of the establishment, where ten 

 close and straight crosses of this blood are presented in one animal, 

 however, suggests that as a stallion grows older he is less likely to 

 transmit these defects that so greatly detract from the value of his stock 

 while young. This is a sort of philosophy which might also suggest 

 that the valuable qualities, the strong trotting instincts, would also 

 grow feeble with age, if the animal possessed such a composition 

 of fibre and sinew as to render constant training and use imprac- 

 ticable. 



These defects come from such a composition of blood — fibre, sinew 

 or muscle, or wherever it may reside — as to cause inflammation to 

 result from friction or use, such as creates an inability in the system to 

 absorb its synovial and other secretions, the production of which is 

 stimulated and increased by friction and use. The crowning excel- • 

 lence of the Messenger blood lay in its ability to withstand the wear 

 and tear — the friction of use, and absorb all the secretions without the 

 resulting inflammations which in other less healthy systems were pro- 

 ductive of swellings and unsound accretions — lasting and injurious 

 disabilities. His blood reveled not in idleness — age added nothing 

 to its purity, and brought no trace of infirmity. But the blood of 

 Diomed was of an opposite character — disuse and inaction suited it 

 best. 



But in the face of this great and formidable obstacle the blood of 

 Duroc is an important element in our Amei'ican trotter. It must be 

 used with intelligence and a due regard to its baneful influence if 

 bred closely; and such families must be avoided as show a tendency 



