218 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



and an inheritance of mental quality, adapting 

 the horse to this special use, in which the mod- 

 ern American trotter is as much superior to 

 the average thoroughbred as is the best race 

 horse that ever struck hoof upon the Epsom 

 Downs to the average Arab of to-day. 



Manifestly, the principal valuable qualities 

 that our trotters have derived from the thor- 

 oughbred are courage and endurance. No one 

 will claim that, as a breed, the thoroughbreds 

 are fast trotters; and more, no one will claim 

 that a single thoroughbred has ever excelled at 

 that gait, judged by our standard of speed. The 

 trotter is an American product a creature the 

 result of our own selection, breeding and train- 

 ing. What, then, can we gain by a stronger 

 infusion of the blood of the thoroughbred? 

 Certainly not more speed at the trotting gait, 

 because it is not there, and cannot come from 

 that source! We may, and doubtless can, in 

 some cases get more courage and greater 

 powers of endurance from this quarter, but 

 beyond these two qualities I cannot conceive 

 of a single point in which the American trotter 

 can be improved by a fresh infusion of racing 

 blood. It is against reason and against the 

 experience of breeders the world over; and the 

 man who rings the changes on "high breed- 

 ing/' and the "form for speed," and the "dispo- 

 sition to go fast," and the "foundation of all 



