The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-10-27

llll.t liICIl Cdliic W lDVh ~ lis tliiti
that all trotters come from thoroughbred
sources, and starting from an erroneous
supposition their logic carried them tt
the absurd conclusion that thoroughbred
E blood was essential in the trottcr, and this
,, is the rock upon which all theories OF
, breeding the trOtter still split. The adj
vocates of thoroughbred blood do not
agree as to what percentage is necessary
One doughty champion the other day an.
i, nounced in Il stock paper that it was now
quite clear that ''the more thoroughbred
, blood we get in the trotter the better
If he is right the simplest thing magma
bic is to breed a trotter by coupling tho
!, roughbred sire and dam. And the differ
ence between this mars absurdity and
that of the average thoroughbred advo-
:. cate is only one of degree. No one claims
that running blood can give trOtting ac-
ton, but it is claimed that it gives cour-
age, endurance and stamina. The way to
test this is to go to the records. Take the
trotters with known considerable percen-
tage of running blood and see whether
they have proved more game as racers
and more reliable as campaigners than
trotterS whose blood is innocent of tho
roughbred admixturc. The records do
not show this to be the case, and even if
the eighteen or twenty trotters, with
large percentages of running BLOODY out
of the 2:30 list, now containing nearly
24O0 names, did show to especial advan-
tage, to argue from this that we must use
thoroughbred blood in the trOtter would
be very similar to assuming that Zone
LswafiOw makes summer" But suppose,
for the sake OF argument, we cOncede that
all trottcrs came of a thoroughbred origin,
(Which superstition we assume to have
originally given birth to the running
Observation-Disclosures idea,) what does ex-
perience teach? The origin of running
horses thoroughbreds, was the Arabian.
The imported Arabian's descendants in
England were bred especially for running.
Continual breeding, with careful selec-
lions and one purpose in view, in genera
lions produced type of horses much sl-
perior to the Arab ancestors as runners
But men reasoned years ago as some do
now, They knew that the great runners
were descendants of Arabians; from this
they reasoned that all running capacity
was due to Arab blood, aud consequently
the right way to breed runner was to
get the pure stream at the fountain head.
| The fashionable running pcdigrees traced
back to Flying Childers, the Darby Ara
bian, and the Godolplin Arabian, and it
was reasoned that to get more Godolphin
Arabians was the way to get more great
| runners. Sir Wilfred Blount, at enor-
nous expense, imported pure Arabian
stations, whose ancestors were probably
acquainted with the white OK which car
ried Mahomet up the mountain. The re-
suit was what was to have been expected,
failure. Sir Wilfred bred runners that
had not ghost Of chance with fourth
rate English turf horses, and finally dis
gusted. he sold out his stud at loss of
many thousand pounds. There was
parallel case in this country. F. keene
Richards, of Kentucky, made two impor-
tations from Arabia, prompted thereto by
the same doctrine as Sir Wilfred. He be-
gan his experiments il rich man and died
poor one. His pure Arabians had no
more chance OH the Kentucky courses
than had Sir Wilfred's in England. These
men wholly overlooked the truth that
! where horse that has a tendency and ca
pability to run fast is bred to a mare of
similar capacities, and where the offspring
OF such unions are again selected for
breeding solely on account of their inner
tied tendency and demonstrated capacity
to run, the instinct becomes increased and
intensified with each generation, and thus
a type is gradually evolved vastly super
iOr to the original And in like manner
the advocates of running blood in the
trotter overlook the fact that the trotter
OF to-day is the result of the selection and
breeding OF animals with inherited in
stinct and individual ability to trot, and
thus the trotter improves with each gene
ration, because the instinct to trot be-
comes stronger, and other tendencies be-
come weaker. The simple lesson, then,
that experience has taught is that we
must breed the trotter from trotting pa
rents of an undivided trotting Inheritance
and avoid every influence that might
prompt the colt to resort to any gait but
the trot. And when the two-minute trot-
ter is produced he will go at the trot as
his fastest gait-he will know no gait but
trotting, because his Inheritance was a
pure and undivided trotting one. The
whole philosophy of the subject is given
in a nutshell-"Brced to what you want"
That raising trotting-bred horses is pro-
titabie branch of business for the farmer
there is little doubt. He has, indeed, adj
vantagcs which the exclusive breeder has
not. His brood mares are not an expense
but an assistance to him. Certain farm
poorer animals. Where colts are raised
on the surplus produce of the farmer, in
place of their being an actual cash outlay
9th colts are good ones) the produce is
being put to its best use and the soil is
enriched by what returns. There is al
ways a demand for gentlemen's stylish,
fast roadsters, and the roadster and the
trotter are the one animal. Size, style,
Substance SDccd and ia shinna h1a hrooi;nr
are the essentials that the market de-
mands. If the farmer expects to raise q
sensational trotter every time he will I'M
dOuhtedly be disappointed, and if his ex-
pectations are not moderate enough to be
satisfied with the sure and reasonable pro-
fits accrning from selling good animals at
good prices, he is not the man to think of
breeding. If he gets an extraordinary
trotter, let him take it as extraordinary
profit arising from exceptional success,
but let him not court disappointment by
constantly expecting such results. The
men who look for sudden fortune in any
business are the number that failures are
made of. With theories contrary to these
natural laws, capital, education and spe-
cial advantages are futile. The worlds |
wealth is not capital enough to fight ma
ture. 1t is not by seeking to override,
but by shaping to our purposes, natural
laws, that we can reasonably hope to sue
coed. The measure of success will depend |
upon the adaptibility and the intelligence
of the breeder rather than upon the |
amount of capital he can devote to the
business, and after all, adaptibility, the
first requisite, is a plant, the root of
which is instructive love of the horse, and