The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-07-17

From the March Field Monthy,l
The roadsters are the real origin of
about all the trot we have to-day in the
United States. a vast deal of vigor-
Gus writing has,been done to prove that
Imported Messenger was the fountain
head of every trotting strain worthy of
mention, and tables voluminous and
lnnumerable have been compiled with
a view to demonstrating the truth of
this writing. Where Messenger could
not be found in the male line, an indus
trious search has ever been made to
find him in the female line. No differ
ence how remote and uncertain the
cross might be, it was the one element
to which all others were subordinate.
| Though the immediate ancestry might
be almost wholly Canadian, yet if in
the fortieth grand-sire or the SEVENTEEN
grand-dam, single drop of Messenger
could by any halfway plausible stretch
of supposition be made to appear, the
glory Of everything that was glorious
was ascribed to that single drop.
Now the fact is that when it comes to
the bone, to the substance, the trotting
action, the trotting form, the wearing
qualities on either the road or the turf,
the Bellfounder, the Canadian and the
Morgan are almost everywhere domi-
nantly obvious in our trotters Talk,
will you, about the staying virtues of
thorough blood, either in Messenger or
any other running horse-why, how on
earth should it have escaped the vision
! of the intelligent observer that any
good horse Of any class will stay in his
work? The well-bred, well-formed,
well-educated Clyde will out-stay any
runner on the heavy freight wagon.
The little shaggy kanuck will out stay
any such animal as Ten Brock on the
market wagon or on the butchers cart.
But neither the Clyde nor the Kanuck
can stay with the richly bred, thor
oughly-trained runner on the running
course. Horses, like men, stay at what
they are made for. We had no speedy
stayerS to speak of at the diagonal gait
till by long continued reproduction in
the direct line of that gait we moulded
them to our purpose; and it is well
known that the gamest, steadicst trot-
ters are those in whose pedigrees can
be found the most trotting blood. And
this brings ms back to the re assertion
of the fact that trotting quality, proper
ly so called, comes from the roadster,
and for the best of reasons. On him
the gait and wearing power at the gait
are most highly developed. Ills pace
may be quckcned by occasional patri-
clan crosses, but was not the pace of
Ten Brock quickened by very close
plebian cross? Now 1t so happens that
the practical breeder of trotters is fully
as anxious to find a Sood market for all
his produce as he is to make flying race
horses. To accomplish this he must
above all things breed strong, sound
animals. There is Just one thing for
him to do, and that is to see that his
seed-stock have good limbs, good con.
situations, and good sense. These are
the cardinal elements of the most de-
sirable, the most salablc driving horse.
How are they secured? by obtaining
for breeding purposes males and fe-
males that most fully represent the
greatest road families. In the fore
front of all these families stands the
Morgan.