The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-02-06
Form in The TrOtter.



Form is of more Importance than mere
action. The cart-holse is able to fold
tire knee, bus you can not train him to
get over the ground rapidly or to last
through a race Of broken heats. He
bends the knee, but can not reach and
gather quickly, isovertopped with weight,
and therefore fails in 5 struggle which Is
decided by speed and courage; and the
cause of his failure IL lack Of form. One
of the best writers on the horse has fur.
nished us with rules for the selection OF
thoroughbred. We are advised to
choose an animal with "a deep wide back
and loin;" with chest TO afford saffi
cient room for the heart and lungs" but
not too wide, for san open bosom "a re-.
garded as 3 sure sign of want Of pace -
the back ribs should be long, or, as such
formation Is generally called, deep
so as not only to give protection to the
contents of the belly, but to afford a
strong attachment to the muscles which
connect the chest to the hips :" the ribs
must be wide apart, and not huddled
together ;" "fOr fast road work, where
the failure Of the legs is generally the
limit to the amount of work, a very
heavy carcass is an objection, as it in>
cresses the weight upon them and an
overtOpped horse-that is, one with a
body too big for his legs-is a most worth.
less brute; ;" projecting neck, moder-
ately long and proportionalIy thin, wide
jaws, and intelligent head, broad above
the eyes, thin nostrils, which should
open under exercise and show the red
lining membrane; shoulders Obliquely
placed and broad blade, weIl-clotbed
with muscles; long thighs approaching
at most to tie proportions Of the grey
hound neck ful-size and clean, and sill
the points in proportion to one another.
The authority from which we have con-
densed these points is Stonehenge. +"
The fastest trotter in the world to-day,
Edwin Forrest, comes up to the standard
named by the English critic. He has
none of the characteristics of the cart
horse, and all of the points of the sub
stantial thoroughbred. Maud s., the
great fOur-Yesr old, also has the form of
a thoroughbred. The prepotent blood
in both Is that of the running horse.
Without form neither would have shown
20 much speed as to attract public atten~
ton. The trotting elements in the
pedigree of each have, with the assistance
OF e-weights, simply given a new i'm
pulse to speed. They have influenced
the motion, the folding Of the knee and
the action Of the stihe, and thus enabled
Inc two to startle the country with their
deeds. If q sire OF cart-hke form and
excessive knee>action is SO strongly pre-
potent as to stamp both his form and his
action upon his progeny, you may keep
breeding him from now until deOmsday
without getting a trotter of more than
average merit. Admit that he simply
IreproduCes himself and you allow no
margin for improvement. Edwin Forrest,
ike Maud g., is wonderfully speedy as 8
trOtter, because he has the speedy for
nation of the thoroughbred, without
which formation hewould be merely COM
monpiace, in spite of the trotting ele-
ments in his ancestral tree. Toe weights,
with brains behind them, have, in recent
years, played an important part IN the
development Gf the trotting horse. Take
an animal in which the lhOrough-biood
| lriumphs over the Cannuck" at the
rate Oh seven 70 two and put him in the
/ hands OF a Gliddeu VINO unde, stands the
use Of weights and lie will make tr1t.ar
OF him, not able merely to 20 the dis
lance, but TO DO his miles in the quickest
time. The horses vhicn win the mai1rity
OF kard-tought races IN these days OF
/ progress possess not only the form, but 8
| large percentage OF the blood Of the Eng
| lsn racer,