The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-02-06
Form In The TrOtter.
Turf. Farm aBd Home.


Form is of more Importance than mere
action. The cart-horse is able to fold
the knee, but you can not train him to
get over the ground rapidly or to last
through race of broken heats. He
bends the knee, but can not reach and |
gather quickly, isovertopped with weight,
and therefore fails in a 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
a thoroughbred. We are advised to
choose an animal with "a deep wide back
and loin ;" with a chest to "afford suffi
cient room for the heart and lungs" but
not too wide, for "an open bosom is re-,
garded as a sure sign of want of pace -
" the back ribs should be long, or, as such
formation ID generally called, deep
go IS not only to give protection to the
contents of the belly, but to afford a
strong attachment 10 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, very
heavy CARCASS is an objection, as it in
creases the weight upon them and an
oVertopped horse-that is, one with
! body too big for his legs-is a 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, we'll clothed
with muscles; long thighs approaching
at most to the proportions of the grey
hound neck full-size and clean, and all
the points in proportion to one another.
Ghe 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-yeaI old, also has the form of
Il thoroughbred. The prepotent blood
in both Is that of the running horse.
} Without form neither would have shown
80 much speed as to attract public atten~
ton. The trotting elements in the
pedigree of each have, with the assistance
OF toe 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 stife, and thus enabled
the two to startle the country with theil
: deeds. If sire of a cart-like form and
excessive kneeNaction is SO strongly pre-
potent as to stamp both his form and hi
action upon his progeny, you may keeE
breeding him from now until doOmsday
without getting a trotter of more thar
average merit. Admit that he simply
, reproduces himself and you allow n,
margin for improvement. Edwin Forrest
like Maud S., is wonderfully speedy as
trotter, because he has the speedy for
nation of the thoroughbred, withou
4 "AlSL III WIN 4C NOu1O bC AlSlSly COl1l
moDplace, in spite of the trotting ele
nents in his ancestral tree. Toe weights
> with brains behind them, have, in recen
| years, played an important part IN thu
. development of the trotting horse. TAX
an animal in which the thorough blooC
triumpbs over the "Cannuck" at tn
rte of seven to two and put him in tn
{ hands of a Glidden who understands tn
u-e of weights and he will make trotte
o. Lin, not able merely to go the dis
lance, but to do his miles in the quickes
time. The horses which win the majorit
L @. hard-fOught races in these days c
rrgress possess not only the form, but
.arge percentage of the blood of the Eng
II li>h racer.