The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-08-14
The Sire of Bonesetter.

A day or two since, met q gen
tleman who lived on the adjoining
farm to Mr.. Calvin Harrison, breed
er of Brooks, the sire Of Bonesetter,
and was able to get some interest
ing information from linn. Says
the Rural Sun:
Brooks was black horse, with
blaze in the face, and all four legs
white to the knee; sixteen hands
high; strong and smooth, but with
rather rough legs. He was a fine
saddle animal, good at all the slow
saddle gaits, and fast PAGER. He
won numerous premiums; and my
informant tells me that Mr.. Hardi
son frequently beat better saddle
horses by fretting and exciting
them. He was always able to rely
on Brooks steadiness and good
temper. Most of his get were sen
sible, large and good saddle horses
so that he was always a populal
stallion.
His rough legs he inherited from
his sire, a large, coarse, brown pa
Ger, named Pilot, said to have beer
brought from Kentucky. The last
time my friend saw old Pilot was
about the year 1861. He was then
owned by Mr.. r. Allison, of Mar
shall, was 81 or % years old, very
equity and crippled, but when warmed
up showed a great deal of style and
speed. He probably died in Mr..
Alllson's hands. This would throw
his birth back to 1910, and sever
him entirely from all connection
with Pilot, Jr., or old Black Pilot.
He may possibly (though it is high
ly improbable) have been akin to
Brown Pilot, sire of the dam of Ro-
salind. He certainly was not the
same horse, as Brown Pilot lived
and died in Kentucky.
The dam of Brooks was "Old
Dock" a dun or yellow mare of
fine size, and a good saddle animal.
Her blood is unknown to my in
formant. She had a very large
blaze in her face and four white
feet. Brooks took these marks from
her and transmitted them to large
proportion of his descendants.
As Bonsetter is the steadiest, fast
est and most reliable stallion on the
turf at present, Ghis slight sketch of
his ancestry may not be without
interest. l will add that 1 have
never seen him, but am told that he
is a strong, handsome bay horse,
near sixteen hands, with blaze and
at least two white feet. He was
used mainly as a saddle horse until
1877-being then six years old-and
was then converted to trotting by a
man entirely without experience as
a trainer. In the spring he could
trot in about three minutes. That
fall he was g close second to Alice
West at Huntsville in 2;3O. He is
in every sense of the word a Ten
nessee-bred horse and if we were
only half as good at boasting as our
friends in Kentucky, we should
make a great noise over him.
1t seems to me that we have in
the pacing mares of Marshall, Bed
ford and adjoining counties as fine
material as is to be found anywhere
for breeding trotters. The people
of the fertile but billy counties, be-
ing of the line of railroads and
turnpikes, travel mainly on horse
back, and have paid considerable
to developing speed and
endurance at the saddle gaits. A
good many fast trOtters have al
ready been accidentally discovered
among our Tennessee PAGERS; and
by systematic selection of good
sized, well-formed and speedy mares
to be crossed with a stallion deep |
IN trotting blood, believe we can
do better than to go abroad for our |
mares and be content with such as
New York and Kentucky are will
ing to sell US.