St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-19

Mr. J. W. Miller of Winterset, Ia, at
the meeting of the Iowa Improved Stock
Breeders association few days ago, adj
dressed that society upon the subject of the
trotting horses. from which we make the
following extracts: The trOtting horse is
an American creation. He is the product
of An American fancy and the result of
fashion which became fashion through
the necessity for horse able to meet the
requirements of our mode of travel 1t
cannot be said that the trotter is a distinct
breed, although the time is fast approach
ing when he will be classed as such. At
present they are largely mixture of all
breeds, from the thoroughbred race horse
and the PAGER to the Kennuck and even the
Norman. Although so many tribes and
types enter into his composition. yet it is
fact, that mainly. tpe tfotting horse of to-
day is descended from but three horses and
as about in the order named: Imported
Messenger, Justin Morgan and Grand
Bashaw. The former was nearly or quite
thoroughbred and was imported into this
country in 1883 at the age of years and
died in 1903. He possessed a natural in
clinatiOn to trot and transmitted that habit
to his progeny with wonderful regularity.
The breeding of the trotting horse is still
IN its infancy. and the results above noted.
although showing a rate of progress in
breeding exceeding that of any other branch
of live stock are primitive and crude when
compared to what we may expect in the flu
ture, when the breed will have become dis
tinct: when it will have advanced way be-
yond and freed itself from all obstacles, and
when it will have cast off all the dead
weight. both in the stud and on the track
If we now have horse that can trot in
2:0SI and carry 25 per cent. of this dead
weight in her blood composition. what may
we not expect to see in the future when. by
breeding. we will have gotten clear of all
these anchors as it were; when the trans
mitted inheritance. education and instinct
will have developed into a trotting horse
that can boast of a lineage pure, unadulter-
ated and uncOntamnated back through the
generations so lar that the collateral
branches penetrate the misty ages of the
past? Who is there who will say it is not
within the bounds of reason to assert that
in the near future we will produce horse
that will engage the eyes of thousands and
gain the plaudits of the world by trotting a
mile in 80 or even faster
The trotting horse presents more induce
ments to the breeder than any other animal
on the face of the earth. In the first place
his great field of usefulness is on the road
where he has no competitor. The business
world cannot do without him. and for pleas
ure or recreation he is without peer. Sec
ondiy. he is the turf horse. on whom mill
ions is spent annually, and for whom the
most fabulous prices are paid; he is the
chief source of the greatest American
sport. and entertains the eyes of our peo-
pie to a greater degree than any other ami
nal. Thirdly, he is the only horse of any
cline that can fill the wants of the gentle
man road driver. most numerous class,
and becoming more so every year.
How to most successfully breed
him has now become the great question
among breeders. 1t is not possible. within
the limits of a ten-minute article. to theor-
iZe. or even enumerate, the accepted no.
tons of the present day, therefore we shall
not attempt it. Suffice it to say that the
science of breeding has, however. at last
reached the commOn-sense and only true
basis viz: To get trotter you must go to
a trotter or a trotting inheritance for him.
The tenaeity with which men have held to
the reverse in the past has been the dead
weight to the moving structure. and as it is
at last cast off. the problem of how to sue
cessfully breed trotter is fast approaching
solution"