Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-03-02
From:the American rorf Register.

INC Th0roughhred Horse.
IFrom.the American Turf RegisterI
There are many important reasons
which, at the present time, combine toI
render the proper breeding and rearing
of horses a topic of absorbing interest |
to the farmers and stock men of the
country. AT no period in the history
of this country have good horses com |
manded such ready sale and enormous
prices as in the past ten years. Although
the number of horses bred in America
have been constantly increasing, the
prices are higher than at any former
period, ,Cthe increase not keeping pace
with the demand. -.
. Before the war, the South was the
great racing point, but the increased
wealth at the North has opened a new
and profitable market, and with the
coming prosperity of the South the de-
mand for well-bred horses will be-
double. To meet this doubly increased
demand for fine horses, breeders must
look to the thoroughbred, as he is the
source from which all the most valua-
BILE kinds are produced, not only for
racing, but likewise for driving, trot-
ting, riding and general utility.
Many writer's contend that our breed
of horses has degenerated when COM
pared with their ancestors, which /
think erroneous, and / attribute the as
'sertiOn to that law of nature which is
common to old age in speaking of the
present. We often hear our fathers and
grandfathers decry the present, and say
things are not as they were in their
youth. The speed of Lexington, Her
zog and Fanny Ludlow as racers, the
trOtting of Dexter, Lady Thorne and
Goldsmith Maid, at once give denial to
this assertion of degeneracy. Some de-
acy through the agency. of a new intro
the agency of the common Conestoga
horse, with great bone and substance.
For the purpose of forming a correct
Judgment upon these points it would
necessitate more elaborate examina-
tion of the subject than my time or the
patience of your readers would permit.
Taking the ground that the thorough
bred sire is the only present stock from
which the other valued kind can be
produced with success, some remarks
upon his origin and history. will be APP
propriate. Racing has been the foster
mother of the thoroughbred horse. By
it alone have we been able to test his
breeding, his speed, his endurance and
his stoutness. IF it had not been for
the amount annually given either in
purses or prizes, the present perfect
ability of the horse would not have
been obtained. Although 1 freely
admit that there are many evils con-
nected with both running and trotting
which are Objectionable, still we have
no kind of sport or industrial eXhibi-
ton without its concomitantevils. With
out racing, we would have no thorough
bred horses. Our fairs were Instituted
to test the merits and value of our
various kinds of stock, still our fair
rings are used for betting equally as
much as our racing and trotting con-
tests.
4 Bellerophon, some ancient authori-
tties assert, was the first that invented
friding on horseback, and is fabled to
lhave killed the triformed monster call
ed the Chimaera, by the assistance of
the flying horse Pegasus, granted him
! by Minerva. Xenophon, the disciple
of Socrates, and who has been styled,
from the sweetness and graceful sim
plicity.of slanguage, the Attic Bee, ~
is the earliest writer upon the horse
The Thessalians are supposed to have
lbeen the first nation that introduced
the services of horses in the wars.
Horse-racing is of classical antiquity,
land from an article contributed to the
/ E5aglish Sporting Magazine, by Lord
iLennox, I extract the following: ssUpon
1.-THE origin of hOrse-racing much has
been written, and few have.excelled.
/ lNeSbit, who, in his treatise on Sports
and Games,' gives the following in
tteresting and classical account of the
antiquity and progress OF horse-raees:-
Horse races were used at public festly-
] tiles even as early as the Patriarch's IS
time. They began in the most Eastern
! nations, and from them other countries
i Followed their example. AT first the
horses drew their burdens, instead OF
carrying them on their backs as they
lnew do. Saddles were. not invented
until agesafter. The Persian monarchs
celebrated the festivity of Mithras with
great pomp, and among other amuse-
ments they had their chariot races. The
Greeks had their Hippodromes, and the
LudsuT Trojanus was institutedin Sicily
It is to England the werld is chiefly
Indebted for the thoroughbred racer,
1.-THE highest and noblest type of the
deuuine species. ItiS difficult to ascer-
tain the origin of horse racing in Eng
4 land, but it was doubtless known to the
ISaxons as far back as the ninth century.
1t is not Improbable that France. pre-
lceded England in turf affairs, for we
SI6nd that when Hugh Capet solicited in
marriage the sister of Atherstan OF
England, among other valuable presents
which he sent that Prince were several
running horses, with saddles and brides
the latter embroidered in gold. The
love of. the horse seems to have been
hereditary with the Anglo -Saxons.
After Cromwell came Charles H.,
and from this period horse-racing may
date the importance which it has since
maintained in, England. This mon
arch re-established the races at New
markets and was the first donor Of a
cup on record, a silver one of the value
of one hundred guineas. The era of
thoroughbred horses may. be said to
have commenced during his reign; for
His Maiesty's stud contained some mag
Inifcent Arabian stations; and the
master of the horse, Sir Christopher
I WyviH, was dispatched abroad insearch
of Thoroughbred mares, which, upon
tfeir arrival in England, were called
the "Royal Mares" J"
Racing and breeding the thorough
bred horse has constantly increased in
England, until to-day she is the market
from whence the world draws its sup