Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-03-18

this State. Kentucky has so Ear chal-
lenged all competition as to the quail
ties Of her stock, and it may be that We
may not become successful rival of
that State, although occupying nearly
the same latitude. ROBERT BoNNER,
the great New York horse fancier, has
recently visited Kentucky, and some Of
his observations are instructive. He
says:
'There is certainly no such country
in the world for horses as the bluegrass
region in Kentucky. Within radius
Of twenty-five miles from Lexington,
YOU find section which has about it
every requisite for raising the finest an
finals. The climate Is perfect. l visi-
ted twelve stock 1arfns and I did not see
a single horse blanketed. Mr.. Alexan-
der has recenttS purchased q stallion
for ST., 500, and saw this valuable ami
NAL running around uncovered. The
grass is as green now as it is here by the
LIST of May. This bluegrass region is
son a limestone formation, and it is sup
posed that it is this fact which makes it
such very valuable feed for horses. 1t
is certain that the animals coming from
there are always noted for their size.
The grass itself is the best feed for
horses which has yet been found. |
wish | could get three hundred acres of
bluegrass land near New York"
!; There is but little doubt that "blue
grass" is an important factor in Ken
tucky's business of horse breeding.
Good blood and blue grass are her main
points. But after these come the mat
ter Of training. The education and de-
velopment of the horse has become a
science, which in this day, adds inn
mensely to his value. If we first get
qualities susceptible of education, the
price we may put upon the horse is only
limited by the amount and character OF
the educational process through which
he is put. This branch of the horse
breeding business is the most promising
field of operations now open, and is as
fully open to us as to Kentucky or any
other State. That it is by no means
exhausted is indicated by Mr.. BONNER
in what he says of the future of the trot-
ting horse. He is strongly of opinion
that the greatest speed is yet to be at
tanned by the trainingof horses together,
so that the weight of the vehicle may
be divided between them, and his OBJ
servations in this connection are very
plarlsibly put, as follows:
A few seconds in time, then, on along
race, makes difference Of SAT, 900 in the
value OF horse. But if you take that
Derby winner and put him into a five
mile race with his brother and make
him carry only few pounds extra
weight, it is the $4,000 horse that will
be beaten. A few pounds of weight
then makes all the difference between a
winner Of the Derby and beaten horse.
This is 50 fully recognized in England
that several pounds extra weight in a
four mile race is equal tOdistance. Now,
in this country, We trot our horses to
either sulky or wagon. The lighteSt
weight we can put OH single horse Is
200 pounds. That is, driver weighs
$50 and the lightest sulky made weighs
80. We can make wagon which
weighs lO7 pounds. Add to this the
weight of the driver and We get 257, or
say 25S. Each horse in the team, then,
has 129 pounds behind him instead of
200. Now this difference of II pounds
means a good deal i'll the way of speed
in my opinion, and do not think that
We will ever know what our trOtters can
do until We get teams on the track. 1t
is of course exceedingly difficult to get a
team to trOt tOgether-how difficult no
one but horseman can know. The
horses must be trained TO worktngether,
each doing One-half of the pulling and
no more. They must be equal in speed,
in weight and in action. They must, in
short, be able to trOt as one horse rather
than two. 1t takes great deal of train
ing added to natural fitness on the part
of the animals to permit of horses being
worked to this point.
"Thcy must be even-tempered or they
~.lIlilUl speed I0SSJner. Tor S>auIPlVi
Dexter COuldnever be worked in ateam.
He is too impetuOus, too anxious to do
all the work himself. But l believe it
possible to find fast trotters who will
work together, and when they are found
| believe that we will see for the first
time what American trOtting horses can
do. Ii is a number of years ago since l
first had reason to believe this and first
made up my mind that for real speed
We must look TO the team. On the 10th
of May, 1862, drove Lady Palmer and
FlatbllSh Maid to q road wagon two
miles in 5:013. The second quarter of
the second mile was driven in 80 Sec
onds. When | was told of the time
made / did not believe it. asked
gentleman there to drive the mares for
me and timed them. They went the
quarters in about half second worse
than before. Then l believed the time
taken when was driving and / believed
that team driving was the driving Of the
future. | have never changed my
opinion from that day to this"
TIE recent fire in New York city fur