224 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



with high, thin withers and well-bent hock, 

 see page 223,) is one which appears to be 

 well adapted to great speed in trotting when 

 once the gait has been changed by any pro- 

 cess of training. It is undeniable, however, 

 that the form which is usually seen in our 

 fast trotters (see page 207) is not that of the 

 natural pacer, for with the former we fre- 

 quently find as in the case of Maud S. and 

 many other notable trotters that the animal 

 is higher at the hips than at the withers; and 

 while I have frequently seen horses possessing 

 this conformation trained to the pacing gait, 

 yet they never take kindly to it, neither do 

 they ever become fast pacers. On account of 

 this obvious difference in form between our 

 best trotters and best pacers I am decidedly of 

 the opinion that when speed at either gait is 

 especially sought for, the breeding of the two 

 types together should not be encouraged; but 

 rather that the breeder of trotting horses 

 should adhere to that form which usually ac- 

 companies the highest speed at the trotting 

 gait, and vice versa. Some of our well-estab- 

 lished trotting families notoriously some 

 branches of the Hambletonian family pro- 

 duce a large per cent of horses possessing the 

 pacing conformation, and which pace naturally 

 from birth; and selection from these and others 

 possessing similar characteristics will at a very 



