Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-05-09

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TO the Editor ofths Dispatch:
Ny Dear Sir,-I have read with at
tention, interest, and profit MIR. RAN
dolph Huntington's beautifully.illus-
trated book on "General Grants
Arabian Horses" which you so kindly
turned over to me. II Is . valuable
work, and explains very fully the
writer's theories on the subject Of
horses, and Of the fountain source Of
their nobler qualities. He sets out
with the declaration that there Is a ma
tional horse Of England, national
horse Of France, one Of Russia,
and that other countries have theirs
but he insists that America has not yet
achieved q national horse distinctly her
own. He has been engaged for many
wears in the endeavor to establish a
type Of horse as distinctly American as
that of any Of the countries just named
and he has been sustained most fortu-
nately in this laudable and important
enterprise by the generous liberality
and support Of Hon. Erastus Corning,
one of the wealthy men of interior New
York.
His scheme is best illustrated by a
recital. lie lays it down as undenlable
that the base of the national horse OF
each country that has been named is the
Arab, the horse of Arabia, the only
perfect horse of the earth, originating
there from the hand Of the Creator, and
carefully bred thers in purity and per-
fiction for thousands Of years.
In 1920 there was imported into New
York, along with Grand Sultan and
Saladin, another pure Arabian stallion
called Grand Bashaw. They came
from Tripoli, and were of the best blood
of the Barbary States. From thor
oughbred mare, Pearl, who was daugh-
ter of Baird's First Consul and grand
daughter Of imported Messenger, Grand
Bashaw produced young Bashaw.
Probably no two horses can be found
in the stud-books moro thoroughly
Arabian in their descent through every
line than First Consul, the sire Of Pearl,
and old Messenger, her maternal grand
sire. So that the blood Of young Ba.
shaw, the son of Grand Bashaw and Of
Pearl, was of perfect purity; as much
SO as that Of any native Arabian horse.
This young Bashaw was bred to a
mare which was at once the daughter
and the granddaughter of old Messen-
ger, and their colt was Andrew Jack
son. This horse, of heroic name, was
therefore a pure Arabian, fusion Of
the blood Of Grand Bashaw with that
Of old Messenger-yery much in-and'
in bred on the maternal or Messenger
side. At such a stage Of the genealogy
an out.cross would not on general prin'
ciples of breeding do harm.
This in-and-in-bred Arabian horse
Andrew Jackson was outbred to
mare whose breeding was not known
She is called the "Surry Mare" The
product was a colt which grows more
and more in renown with each
succeeding generation of his descend
ants. He was called Henry Clay
Strange vagaries come about in pedi
grees,-what stranger one could there
be than Henry Clay son Of Andreu
Jackson? The two horses thus linked
in name and blood are founders of the
great family of American trotteri
known as The Ciays.
OF the Surry Mare, which was the
dam Of old Henry Clay, it is only
known that she was fast Canadian
trotter. Her form and qualities indi
Gated good blood, but that fact is The
only warrant we have for supposinG
that she was of gentle lineage. Whether
or not she herself had any Of the blood
of Arabia in her veins, it had been Sc
intensified in the constitution of the
horse Andrew Jackson, with whom
she was united, and of his ancestors
that the result could not well be Other
than colt CT the wonderful capacities
as a performer both on the course and
in the stud, Of their son Henry Clay.
Returning now to the author of oul
book, he is impressed with the impor
lance of a resort at proper intervals tC
the original Arabian horse brought di
rectly from the region which has been
his habitat since the creation of the
world. His belief is that the native
horse Of the desert is naturally as much
a trotter as runner, and that the rea
son why his descendants in England
and through England in this country
are distinguished as runners and not as
trotters is that ne has been bred and
trained to running, and running
only, for two or three centu
ries, and has contracted, in tha
way and from no other cause, the
instinct, propensity, and mechanism
for running now so characteristic o.
the thoroughbred horse Of Arabian de-
scent. His scheme Of breeding is there
fore the logical result of these ideas
lie holds that the most direct and ex
peditious method Of obtaining tho
roughbred race Of trotters is by resort
ing at once to the native horse Of Ara
bia insisting that we shall thereby
save ourselves the necessity of crossing
cold-bloods Of trOtting talents upon
thoroughbreds in order to obtain trotters
Mr.. Huntington was so fortunate ;
few years ago as to be possessed o
several choice descendants of old Henry
Clay, and he was at much expense ant
pains to purchase as many others a.
was practicable. Thus furnished, h
applied to General Grant, the owner
and to General Beale, the custodian o
the Grant Arabians, for the privilege o
breeding six of his best Clay mares tina
had never had foals, to Leopard anC
Linden, the two horses presented
by the Sultan to General Grant, anC
imported from Turkey in 1879. His re
| quest was generously granted, and hi
enterprise approximately encouraged
by both of these generals aud Mr.
| Huntington is now in the full tide o
his interesting experiment. From thu
six mares that have been mentioned
he obtained four foals, three Of which
fortunately proved to be stations
whom he has named respectively Gen
eral Beale, Hegira, and Islam. From
these stations he is obtaining numerous