114 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



the trotting world ; but they have never been able 

 to do it. And even during the ten years after the 

 Civil War, when trotting was immensely popular, 

 it was considered slightly a reproach to be inter- 

 ested in the sport. It was during this period that 

 Dexter took the trotting primacy away from 

 Flora Temple, and the tribe of Hambletonian 

 came into such prominence that the legislators 

 who framed trotting-match rules, established a 

 register and made laws fixing a standard en- 

 titling a stallion or a mare to a place in these 

 sacred books. And so the "Standard Bred 

 Trotter" came into being, and his has been a 

 long day — his advocates and admirers say a 

 great day. 



