492 THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 



qualities of the stock could be, and would be, perpetuated, and the 

 defects would become extinguished from his family. 



The purpose of in-breeding the Messenger family was not, at 

 first, to produce trotters ; but the result followed without regard 

 to the intention. Whatever loss of stamina accompanied the 

 practice was remedied by out-crossing, and the trottiDg was still 

 preserved by careful selection. 



Taking this view of the subject, we see how the perpetuation 

 of any particular quality may be effected by in-breeding, and how, 

 also, the evils of the practice may be to a great extent avoided. 

 It should be borne in mind that Messenger was remarkably free 

 from defects, and had so much strength of constitution that his 

 descendants from good mares might be in-bred and still give good 

 constitutions to their offspring. It was because of this excellence 

 that the in-breeding was practiced ; not for the purpose of re- 

 producing in the progeny any particular quality, but with a desire 

 to get as much as possible of the general characteristics of a horse 

 recognized as greatly superior to all others in the same vicinity. 

 The same reasons that induced to the practice made it physiologi- 

 cally safe. 



Now let us suppose that another equally good trotting family 

 had existed at the same time and place, and that instead of breeding 

 Messenger's descendants together closely they had been crossed with 

 the other family. The result would have been equal speed, with 

 equal power of transmitting it to offspring, and better constitutions. 



In breeding two trotting families together, if one has any defect 

 the other may correct it, as it is improbable that both will have 

 the same defect; but by in-breeding any defect of the family will 

 be pretty surely perpetuated, as the colt will inherit it from both 

 sides. Now that we have trotters enough to allow of a free selection 

 without breeding near relations together, there are no reasons why 

 the practice should be continued, and many why it should not be. 



The opinion is quite prevalent among breeders, that every horse 

 a mare is bred to modifies, not only his own get, but all the colts 

 she may afterward have by any other horses. Without denying 

 the facts set forth in the body of this book by Stonehenge, of a 

 mare that had colts by a horse, and that they resembled the 

 quagga she was first bred to, I am prepared to assert that no such 

 effects are commonly noticed when mares are bred to different 

 stallions. I have looked for such results in various species of ani- 

 mals — the human included — and could never detect the slightest 

 resemblance in the offspring of one sire to any other sire the dam 

 had previously borne offspring to. Practically, the theory is of no 

 value whatever. Another notion, about equally common, is, that 

 a mare that has bred a mula will not breed to a horse. It is 



