THE HORSE—INTRODUCTION, 19 
shaggy appearance of their legs, the fringe of long hair beginning just under 
the hocks and knees and reaching to the ground, all round the hoof in some 
specimens. The heavy draught horses of England are very bulky, but the 
Clevelands are more rangy and stylish. All the large breeds have heavy 
and wavy manes and tails, thick neck, large head and great round feet. 
THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 
American progressiveness, the wonder and admiration of the Old World, 
is manifested in many ways, not the least important of which is the rise 
and development of the trotting horse. Trotting began in a humble way, 
and yet one of utility. The ponies of the bakers or butchers were hitched 
to theircarts and urged by honest endeavor to reach their patrons in advance 
of similar outfits of equally enterprising rival shopmen,. 
Professor Brewer, of Yale College, has brought to light the fact that a 
horse called Yankey trotted a mile in 2:59, believed to have never before 
been excelled in this country, that time having been made in June, 1806, an 
account of the same appearing in the New York Sfectator. This was the 
dawn of trotting for a time-record. Professor Brewer also shows why trot- 
ting became popular asasport. He says: “Under the hostile laws against 
races other means were taken to gratify the instinctive pleasure of seeing 
horses get over the ground swiftly. A race, as then understood, was a con- 
test between two or more horses, to see which could run the fastest, as it 
still is in most countries. Men did not dream of a race being run by one 
of anything. Morever, in those times orse-racing meant horses running ; 
so when horse-racing was acrime, punishable by fine and imprisonment, 
the good Jaw-abiding citizen who owned a good trotter, and who instinc- 
tively yearned for the pleasure of seeing a spirited horse in action, would 
not run him, nor race him; he merely trained him and had occasional trials 
of speed in which he could hold his watch and see how long it took his 
horse to trot a given distance, and the ¢émzng of trots became common 
long before the system of records was established.” 
It was not until the year 1843 that the present standard of speed, 2:30, 
was beaten, when Lady Suffolk trotted in 2:28. This mare afterward 
trotted under saddle in 2:2614 and was hailed the queen of the trotting 
turf. Before this time long distance was more the test, the heats being 
two, three and four miles, the culmination being reached with the great 
performance of Dutchman, ridden by Hiram Woodruff, three miles against 
time in 7:3234, and this was not beaten until Huntress, by Volunteer, did it 
in harness in 1872 in the remarkable time of 7:211%4. Dutchman and 
Lady Suffolk had many contests, but Dutchman was too much for the Lady 
é 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
