Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-06-13
TROTTING HORSES.


breeding the trotting horse, which theory,
in brief, is, that to produce a trotter you
must breed to trotter; and endorsed it.
We still do, and think it the correct the
ory; but this morning the Tribune takes
issue on the theory, and upholds the run
ming blood. We are very glad the
Tribune does, not on account of the fact
that we believe their theory to be wrong,
but because the discussion will lead Utah
horsemen to an investigation of the ques-
ton themselves; thing they have not
done to any extent.
True it is that theories are not facts,
and we agree with the Tribune when it
cites the Rt. Rev. Mgr. Capel as an au-
thority that all the theories of scientists
are not yet established facts. But what
is a theory? An explanation OF facts
and the more the theory harmonizes with
the facts, the better it is. The value OF
any theory rests upon the number OF
facts which 90 to establish it. All facts
will not harmonic with any theory, and
the theory must rest upon the most pow
erful and numerous facts. The expert
ence of men engaged in dealing with
particular facts must also be taken into
consideration in estimating the worth of
a theory.
Now, in determining whence came the
trotting horse of America, and what
blood it is that has made him what he is,
there are many facts to be taken into con-
sideration. We fully agree with the Tri-
bune that there is no other family of
trotter5 that stands so pre-eminent as the
Hambletonians; and we further admit
that that family is descended from i'm
ported Messenger" Messenger" was
a thoroughbred, or running horse, but
that there was any tendency in his get to
trot until the second generation, it is we'll
known there was not. In that generation
there was a marked tendency. 1t was
Rysdick's Hambletonian that made the
Messenger" blood SO famous, although
there were others of the same blood that
were well known. 1t is too long a his
tory to relate to tell of all the crosses and
out-cro5ses, of the proportion of pacing
blood, the proportion of running blood,
and of unknown blood that makes the
American trotter of to-day, and SO we
come to the question of the value of the
blood in the trotter. 1t is the
action which makes the running as well
as trotter, and not conformation.
The power to carry this action to its
lightest speed depends on the power and
of the muscles, as well as the
hardness and strength of the bone.
is the conjunction of these in
their highest development. The Tribune
says that the chest, in the trotter, must
be deep and not broad. SO it must in the
runner. The broad chest is needed
where great strength is required las in the
hunter. The running horse has arrived
ut his present state of perfection through
hundred years of breeding, and select
Ing the best runners, both for
speed and endurance, to breed from.
To trace a thoroughbred back to FLYING
or the Darley Arabian, or the
Godolphin Arabian, is the ambition of
all breeders of runners, as the Arabian
horse is the fountain head from which
come the streams of running blood. On
the theory that the trotter originally
came from the runner, then the closer
you breed the trotter to the runner, the
better lie will be, must hold good in
breeding the runner back to the Arabian.
10 carry out this theory, and to imp1o
The English racer, Sir Wilfred S. Blount
spent some hundreds of thousands of |
dollars to purchase Arabian horses in
Arabia, and of the purest blood. What |
was the result? Not an English breeder |
would patronize Sir Wilfred's stud of |
horses, and all the sporting papers de-
Jared that there was not a third-rate |
horse in the United Kingdom that could
lot beat the best horse in Sir Wilfred's
stud. What was the result? The enter
Drise failed; cost Sir Wilfred some hun-
ireds OF thousands of dollars, having to
ell his stud at great sacrifice; and es-
ablished the fact that the Arabian.
he forefather of the English
acer, is greatly inferior to
lis descendants, the thoroughbred.
the running gait. 1t is fact that
one will deny, that the thoroughbred is
better runner in every respect than the
arabian. What theory does it tend to :
This: That where an ances-
er OF the race horse had tendency n
un, and when his descendants have
een selected for breeding on account of
heir inherited tendency to run, that the
will increase with each gener-
tton, the inheritance being stronger.
his is Mr.. Wallace's theory of the
rotter. 1t is Darwin's theory of descent {
nd of adaptation of means to ends.
his theory of Darwin's as applied to the /
reeding of horses will be found
est expounded in his work on :
The Variation Of Plants and AMI
lals under Domestication." 1t is said /
lat the infusion of thoroughbred blood b
Ito the trotter imparts stamina. This is y
theory that is not yet established. On S
e theory OF Darwin and Francis Galton a
ose lnstlhcts are most transmitted
hich predominant in parent. Now in ,
e runner does not the instinct to run v
edominate over all others? 1t is this =,
= l.