THE BLUE BULLS. 109 



THE BLUE BULLS. 



Blue Bull, like Hambletonian, is a subject, or rather an ob- 

 ject, that loses none of its charm by the lapse of years. 



Wilson's Blue Bull, whose breeding is acknowledged by the 

 best horsemen of the present day to be somewhat shrouded in 

 mystery, was a horse of great individual excellence. In color 

 he was a chestnut with an elongated star and nigh hind foot 

 white ; he stood about fifteen hands high and was of the Mor- 

 gan type (see illustration); in fact, in general conformation 

 and appearance he would pass for a Morgan the world over. 

 As his breeding is surrounded in mystery the question natu- 

 rally arises : " Was he a Morgan?" 



He had a clean cut head and bright, intelligent eyes, to- 

 gether with the clean, cordy legs and flinty feet for which 

 succeeding generations of Blue Bulls are noted. His appear- 

 ance was that of durability, strength, and speed. 



No stallion ever began life under more unfavorable circum- 

 stances and finished his career under such a brilliant crown of 

 well-earned glory. 



We will not go over the disputed ground of his pedigree,, 

 for while we do not believe in that promulgated pedigree given 

 him by that great recorder of many false ones, we will not 

 assault that which we cannot disprove, nor advance that which 

 we might not be able to prove to the satisfaction of all ; yet,, 

 in my own mind, and to my long-practiced eye in the compar- 

 ison of families, if Wilson's Blue Bull was not a direct 

 descendant of the Narragansett Pacer, infused with the blood 

 of Ranger, — afterwards the Darley Arabian — the maternal 

 founder of the Morgan, then I am mistaken. 



Blue Bull's days in the stud were very nearly contempora- 

 neous with those of Hambletonian, there being, according to 

 accepted data, only about five years' difference in the dates of 

 their foaling. 



Hambletonian was foaled in 1849, in a community contain- 

 ing the very best trotting blood of that day, and from his own 



