460 DESCENDANTS OF MAMBKINO CHIEF. 



ever saw on a horse with any pretensions to breeding. He was always 

 -esteemed too large and gross in every particular, but for all that he 

 was one of the most perfect natural trotters ever seen. In the later 

 years of his life he was often exhibited at speed by the bridle along- 

 side of another horse ridden in a gallop, and it was a sight worth 

 beholding to see such trotting action, so perfect and true yet powerful 

 in a horse which seemed only a little less than an elephant. He made 

 his first appearance before the public when four years old, under the 

 name of Morgan Chief, and trotted against the stallion Idol, by Mam- 

 brino Chief. Idol was from a thoroughbred mare by American Eclipse 

 and a horse of superior quality and form, but Ericsson won in three 

 straight heats, in 2:49, 2:41, 2:38f. He was a natural trotter, and his 

 action was so perfect, so faultless as to create the belief, which had 

 good foundation, that he was a trotting stallion possessed of the most 

 valuable qualities, notwithstanding the fact that he was grown upon 

 the scale of a draft horse rather than a roadster. It is stated that 

 prior to this race he had made a private trial to wagon in 2:36. 

 This race was in May, 1860. 



In October of the same year he was matched against Kentucky 

 Chief, owned by A. H. Brand, a near neighbor of Mr. Enoch Lewis, 

 the owner of Ericsson, and trotted a race of four heats, Kentucky 

 Chief taking the first in 2:39|^, and Ericsson the ensuing three heats 

 and the race in 2:34^, 2:30^, 2:32. He was soon after bought by 

 Hon. K. C. Barker, late of Detroit, and was used as a breeding stal- 

 lion until his death, which occurred recently. He was a valuable 

 breeder, and the influence of his blood will be seen in the trotters of 

 this country for many years yet to come. He has to his credit Doble, 

 a stallion, 2:28, and four heats in 2:30 — one of the fastest two- 

 year-olds that ever appeared in Kentucky; Belle, 2:28^^; Eric, at four 

 years old, 2:28^; and Nightingale, 2:29f. 



The produce of Ericsson all show a thigh proportionately shorter 

 than the usual Mambrino measure, but a greater length from the 

 hip to the hock than those of any other branch of the family. They 

 are noted as trotting with a gait very nearly such as I have described 

 among the Royal Georges — a very long reach of the hind foot, but 

 not such wide spreading action behind. 



Clark Chief was bred and owned by John Marders of Clark county, 

 Kentucky, and was from Little Nora, by Downing's Bay Messenger; 

 grandam Mrs. Candle, the dam of Ericsson. He was a bay stallion, 

 not so dark as Ericsson, and not so large. His produce show the 



