322 OTHER IIAMBLETONIANS. 



dam, a dapple gray, and as he grew older the dapples became smaller, and he 

 had more of a flea-bitten appearance. He was not as smooth and elegant in 

 form as his dam, but was more bony and coarse in his formation. His legs were 

 stout and large, and Mr. Eddy says that to make him answer as well as possible 

 the demand of those times, they found it expedient to keep his legs closely 

 trimmed, to give them a lighter and more delicate appearance than with their 

 natural covering they presented. His head was long, slim and bony, but with 

 good width between the eyes. His tail and mane were fair. He was broken 

 to all harness, and never showed indications of a really vicious temper. He 

 was not often hitched up in carriages, but, as was then more the custom, was 

 often ridden. 



He was a good, square, unmixed-gaited trotter, and though he had the power 

 and speed to enable him in a common hitch-up to go 75 miles a day without 

 distress, he was not boasted of as a fast trotter, and may never have made a 

 mile much quicker than four minutes ; though Mr. Eddy thinks that with 

 such training as horses suspected of extra speed receive nowadays he might 

 have trotted easily in three minutes or better. At a time when his services as a 

 stallion would have been of the most value to the country they were in mod- 

 erate demand, since foals were insured by him at from three to five dollars. 

 His colts did not fully mature until seven or eight years old, and from three 

 to six years old were bony, rough, and rather lathy. On the common feed of 

 farmers they looked angular and carried little flesh. Breeders of that class 

 then greatly preferred to raise colts of a more pony mould, that more readily 

 took on flesh and were almost mature at three and four years old. When the 

 Hambletonian was fully ready for business he would sell for twice as much, 

 and came at length to be well known ; but when not needed for the breeder 

 for any kind of service, a considerable expense had to be incurred in maturing 

 him. 



Not until the last of his life was Harris' Hambletonian a popular stallion. 

 Neither the form nor appearance of himself or his get indicated that he was 

 finely or highly bred. His own sire. Bishop's Hambletonian, did not stand so 

 high on the roll of fame as more lately. It had not then come to be claimed 

 or supposed that all trotting excellence was to be found in the descendants of 

 imp. Messenger. The Morgans were then in the height of their popularity 

 especially in Vermont, and Messenger in the pedigree of stock horses was not 

 always printed in glowing capitals, and displayed as many times as possible. 

 An astute horseman, here and there, had discovered that the Hambletonian colts, 

 when matured, were equaled by few, if any, then raised here. Among them 

 was Mr. Cotrill, of Moutpelier, Vt., then one of the largest and most successful 

 stage proprietors in the country — a business at that time of no small im- 

 portance. He is reported as having often said that he found the Hambleto- 

 nians, for staging purposes, rapid reading, with heavy weight pulling, much 

 superior to all others. 



A large share of the colts by Harris' Hambletonian were gray, and for 

 several generations the distinguishing characteristics of the family were dis- 

 tinctly marked. For reasons already suggested, but few of his immediate 

 male descendants were saved for stock purposes. Mr. Eddy never heard of but 

 three or four, and has but little knowledge of but two. 



