The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-02-07
Form in The Trotter.
Turf, Farm and Homo.

Turf. Farm and Homo.
Form is of more Importance than mere
action. The cart-hoIse is able to fold
the knee, but you can not train him to
get over The ground rapidly or 10 last |
through race OF broken heats. lie
bends the knee, but can not reach and
gather quickly, isovertopped With weight,
and therefore fails in struggle which IS
decided by speed and courage; and the
cause of his failure is lack Of form. One
of the best writers on the horse has fur
nished us with rules for the selection OF
thoroughbred. we sre advised to
choose an animal with "a deep'wide back
and loin :" with chest to ." afford suffi-
Gent room for the heart and lungs" but
not too wide, for an open bosom is re-
gsrded as s sure sign of want of Psee ;"
"the back ribs should be long, or, rs such
formation is generally called, deep
80 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 10 the hips p 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
creases the weight upon them and an
overtopped horse-that is, one with a
body too big for his legs-is most worth
less brute :" projecting neck, moder-
ately long and proportionally 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 bread blade, wel[clothed
with muscles; long thighs approaching
at most to TIE proportions of the grey
hound neck full-size and clean, and all
the points 10 proportion to one another.
The authority from which we have con-
deDsedr these points is Stonehenge.
The fastest trotter in the world tosdsy,
Edwin Forrest, comes up to the standard
named by the English critic. He hs:
none of the characteristics of the cart
horse, and all of the points of the sub
stantial thoroughbred Maud S, the
great tour-yesT old, also has the form O
thoroughbred. The prepOtent BLOOD
I in both Is that of the running horse
J Without form neither would have shown
SO much speed as to attract public atteu
ton. The trotting elements in ia,
r.Allis-44 az each have, with the azsistanc,
of toe weights, simply gwen new I'M
pulse to speed. They have influenced
the motion, the folding of the knee anC
the action of the stife, and thus enabled
the two to startle the country with theil
deeds. If a sire OF cart-like form anC
excessive knee>action is so strongly pre-
potent as to stamp both his form and hi
action upon his progeny, you may keel
breeding him from now until doomsday
without getting 8 trotter of more thar
average merit. Admit that he simpl,
reproduces himself and you allow NJ
margin for improvement. Edwin Forrest
like Maud S, is wonderfully speedy as
trotter, because he has the speedy for
nation of the thoroughbred, without
which. forms ton he would be merely com
monplace, IN spite of the trOtting ele
ments in.his ancestral tree. Toe weights
with brains behind them, have, in recent
yesrs, played an important part IN III.
development Of the trotting horse. Take
an animal in which the thorough-blooc
triumphs over the "Caunuck at the
rate of seven to two and put him in the
hands of Glidden who understands tn.
use of weights and he viii make trottel
of him, not able merely TO go the di.
lance, but to do his miles in the quickes
time. The horses which win the majority
of 'hard-fought races in these days O
progress possess not only the form, but
. large percentage of the blood of-the Eng