THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 



(Published in the "American Stock Farm," November 23, 1899.) 



The American trotter is the most useful all around 

 horse of the world ; he is the swiftest and most tractable 

 in harness ; he is a great sporting horse ; he can run some, 

 he can work a great deal ; he can outlast any breed in the 

 world ; he can pull a plow if necessary, and he can out- 

 hackney a hackney in the premium show ring, and beat 

 him at his own game — showing off. The thoroughbred 

 horse will always have his field-sport, and sport only. 

 Clydesdales, Percherons, Normans and other heavy draft 

 breeds have their place and always will have it — drudgery 

 only. But the American trotter beats the world doing 

 everything — and always will. This fact is most remark- 

 able when the comparative youth of the breed is consid- 

 ered, for it is but little over fifty years since its origin, 

 and not much more than half that number since an intel- 

 ligent study as to how to produce him with a degree of 

 certainty was applied. The thoroughbred, or running 

 breed, has existed hundreds of years, yet we now breed 

 trotters that can race successfully in almost if not quite 

 the proportion of the runner that can race successfully. 



Brushing aside the cobwebs of visionary theorists, 

 each with a different hobby, the widespread fallacy of the 

 Arabian breed or the legend of the horse that swam 

 ashore somewhere on the Puritan banks of New England, 

 practical horsemen of to-day regard this wonderful result 

 as primarily a lucky combination, or the uniting and blend- 

 ing of different harmonizing strains which produced a 

 fortunate nick, and which included that of the English 



