184 VOLUNTEER. 



derived from the breeding itself which constitutes the animal a trotter. 



r 



or a galloper, or neither. While the outward form and way of going- 

 may indicate Abdallali in one instance and Bellfounder in many 

 others, the blood forces of both are there present in full union and 

 perfect harmony. In point of that which we call trotting qualiti/y 

 Abdallah had no trait or nerve force that is not present in full force 

 in Volunteer, while Bellfounder is displayed in every impulse or 

 motion. The vital blood forces of each are there in all that enters, 

 into his character as a trotter. He is none of your trotting thorovigh- 

 breds, that have acquired the art from some assiduous and careful 

 teacher, but he is a trotter by nature, from blood and inheritance. 



Nevertheless, as to the matter of gait, the Volunteers do not trot 

 precisely after the Abdallah pattern, nor do they exactly follow the 

 Bellfounder way of going, and yet they all, with wonderful uniformity^ 

 follow their own, the Volunteer model. If I am asked why this is so^ 

 I answer that, as I have already in part shown, this matter of gait 

 or way of going is largely affected by anatomical construction — a 

 matter of conformation of certain parts, and their relation to each 

 other — and in this particular the Volunteer family afford one of the- 

 best illustrations to be found anywhere. 



Let it be kept in mind that the Hambletonian family have, as might 

 be expected, a distinctive type, as shown in their points of measure- 

 ment, to which they adhere with great uniformity — subject, however, 

 to sub-family types, which, while following in great part the one orig- 

 inal of Hambletonian, have also their peculiarities. This is the case 

 with the Everetts, and all of the Star cross, as will be shown when we 

 come to them, but for the present, we have a family sufficiently 

 marked, and at the same time sufficiently uniform, for the purposes of 

 very clear and explicit demonstration. 



It has been alleged against the Volunteers that they lack in knee- 

 action; also, that their knee-action is defective. One gentleman has 

 it, a " thoroughbred way of handling their forelegs, a friction, which 

 undoubtedly comes from Volunteer's dam," etc., etc. V^^'ithout stop- 

 ping to consider where it comes from, I Avill say that the Volunteers 

 have not necessarily a lack of knee-action, nor a defective knee-action^ 

 They have enough of it for their purposes, and hence, if it suits them» 

 it is of the right kind. The error comes from the writer not under- 

 standing that the Volunteers require less of what to him is apparent 

 — visible knee-action — than any family, perhaps, which he has seen. 

 They are longer in the forearm, and correspondingly shorter in the 



