134 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



himself and his paper, but it was a bad thing for 

 the horses of the country. The purchase of Axtell 

 at $105,000 and Arion at $125,000 was even more 

 demoraUzing. No trotting-horse was ever worth 

 that much and none probably ever will be. How- 

 ever, it is an excellent thing for very rich men to 

 breed horses. They can afford to make experi- 

 ments, and if their experiments are successful the 

 men of moderate means can imitate them and 

 succeed also. But this trotting horse breeding 

 business is a rich man's divertisement just as 

 yachting is. The men who breed for profit should 

 confine themselves to types which are reproduc- 

 ing, to types which come true more frequently 

 than they prove false. 



I firmly believe that if these trotters are ever 

 made a consistently reproducing type, it will be by 

 constant infusions of a mixture of trotting blood 

 — Morgan or Clay — with that of the Thorough- 

 bred. The first cross will probably not produce 

 it, but if the mares of such unions be bred back to 

 stallions of the blood mentioned, the result ought 

 to be more satisfactory in the way of making a 

 type, even though the experiments may not re- 



