A BLOOD HORSE. 183 



•doubtless more like the latter; his ear is like his sire; his eye is not 

 an Abdallah eye, yet a full, placid and quiet eye — until he is led out, 

 and then it is anything but quiet. In his box-stall he is very kind 

 and docile, obedient to the word of command of his keeper, and can 

 be moved about from place to place and inspected without a hand 

 touching him, a simple word being sufficient. But lead him out and 

 the aspect is changed. No effort of the pen can delineate the flash- 

 ing eye, the curving neck, the whole frame swelling with the nervous 

 •energy which he then presents. I confess that my feeling was one of 

 mingled hope and fear with reference to the ability of man and rein 

 "to hold the pent-up fire that seemed roused to such a sudden exhibi- 

 tion. Never could Grey Eagle, when brought out for his famous 

 contest with Wagner, have shown more of the royal blood of the great 

 race-horse in form or temper than did this twenty-two-year-old son of 

 Hambletonian when led out of his box on a cold day in January. As 

 to his perfect health and soundness of limb and joint, all that has 

 been said of Hambletonian will apply to him — he is without a blem- 

 ish. His limbs, joints and tendons at this day show a fineness of 

 quality, a perfection of all that pertains to health, that can not be sur- 

 passed by anything found in any family I ever examined.. 



He has the one quality for which the Abdallah and Bellfounder 

 families, in their pure state, when unaffected by unsound crosses, 

 always show — that overpowering element of health of blood, fibre, 

 muscle, tendon, and joint, that keeps out disease, that endures friction, 

 and even the wear and tear of hard usage, and yet resists the inroads 

 and ravages of infirmity or decay, and almost triumphs over time 

 itself. He has a quality of cellular tissue that does not irritate and 

 inflame by friction or use, and his synovial fluids are all absorbed and 

 -taken up by natural processes, without resort to any of the unnatural 

 aids of firing or blistering; hence there is no tendency to curbs or 

 spavins in the family, the cause and the philosophy of which are plain 

 to any intelligent student of physiology. 



In color, the Volunteer family follow the example of his sire, and 

 choose the Bellfounder type — all bays or browns, and no chestnuts. 

 In regard to the matter of gait, or way of going, it is difficult to say 

 whether Abdallah or Bellfounder has had the absolute or greater con- 

 trol, as a new element has come in that has had the effect in great 

 part of modifjdng and controlling both the blood forces of Abdallah 

 and Bellfounder. But it must be kept clear that in this I only speak 

 AS to the manner or way of going, not the essential nerve element 



