GEO. W. CURTIS—DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN TROTTER. 39 
be slower, and the knee will not be lifted high, as when the bone is 
shorter. If, too, the cannon bone be short in proportion to the fore-arm 
the necessity for high knee action is entirely overcome, and the horse 
will have an easy reaching stride that covers distance without seeming 
to exert, and saves the feet by striking lightly even at the highest 
speed. 
The reverse proportion—short fore-arm and relatively longer cannon 
bone—insures a high and pounding action of the knees that always 
tends to greater wear and waste of muscle energy, as well as damage 
to the feet and legs by heavy pounding when the horse is forced to 
travel fast. 
Almost all the line descendants of old Hambletonian have this easy 
reaching action, and the measurements of leading members of the 
family show an uniformly long fore-arm and short front cannon, which, 
together, guarantee the smooth far-reaching action just explained. 
The Electioneers—descended from Electioneer, the greatest son of 
Hambletonian—show the feature strongest, and among them rest the 
records of the world at nearly every age from yearlings up. Hamble¬ 
tonian himself, the founder of the Hambletonian family, and the horse 
that should be credited as the actual founder of the trotting breed, had 
a cannon measurement of 11}4, fore-arm of 20^ inches—a ratio of 
1:1.783, and this ratio is exactly reproduced in his grandson Ansel, 
owned by Mr. Bonner and selected by him as the then best son of 
Electioneer. Sunol, the best daughter of Electioneer, measures 10^ 
and 19^ inches respectively for cannon bone and fore-arm—a ratio of 
1:1.823. Nancy Hanks by Happy Medium, another son of Hamble¬ 
tonian, measures 10 and 19 inches—a ratio of 1:1.9. Her knee action 
is perfection, and her mile in 2:09 on a regulation track is almost fairly 
equal to the 2:08^ of Sunol on the Stockton kite. 
The extreme of high knee action was illustrated in the gait of 
Smuggler—a converted pacer of undoubted courage and recorded trot¬ 
ting speed, but whose every motion carried a suggestion of a cyclone. 
He measured 12 and 20 inches — a ratio of 1:1.666. Helm credits 
Smuggler with raising the knee above the horizontal to an angle of 45 
degrees, and states that he “strikes the ground with a force that is 
simply terrific.” It should be borne in mind, however, that the heavy 
muscled shoulders, high withers and well set neck which made him 
pace by nature, made him also strike with added weight when speed¬ 
ing at the trot. 
While the principle of speed with least exertion is a good one al¬ 
ways to be kept in view, we should not forget that safety lies in mid¬ 
dle ground of conformation. The extremely short front cannon, acting 
with the long fore-arm, amounts to drag or dwelling motion and may 
even spring the knees behind the vertical, resulting in a “calf-kneed” 
horse—which no one can admire and few will care to use. The horse 
