Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-25
HVSTISGTON.s ARAB QUESTION.
More About the Proper Manner OF
Breeding BioOdcd UorSes--A FRI
butte 80 yirGiula's Racers.

butte 80 yirEiuIa's Racers.
To HE BditOr of tie DispGtch
On the 30th of May last there ap-
pearcd in tho columns Of your valuable
paper letter entitled as above, which
promised continued ones, upon Arabian
blood influences in the breeding of our
horses, as we believed, from years Of
practical study with observation, sup
plemented with experimental Greetings
Of the affinity blood in dams to Gene
raj Grants two Arabian stations
"Leopard and Linden Tree"
Many cares have prevented continue
ton of those letters. There IS one Ito
me- important consideration which |
would discuss with your readers, wish
ing the question might become one Of
general interest with horse-breeders
throughout the land.
When we were boys, forty and fifty
years ago, the pacing-horse was equally
common with the trotter, and was held
in as high esteem. The question arises,
why he was then so common and why
is he now so rare, for the instinct was
Of blood, and not of education or train
ing.
| am one who believes in cause for
everything, even to all movements IN
animal life, and while in brce1ings we
may say that " like begets like" and
the masses of men may apply the pro-
verb literally to the physical outlines,
such proverb is again encouraged by
another saying Of fashionable birth.
C., " breeding by selections"
May l ask, How many breeders fully
comprehend the tulness Of the above
two sayings? Each proverb opens the
door for a lengthy treatise which | will
not attempt in journalism. Unwritten
lines will here DO filled in by the
breeder with gifted conception. The
breeder of pork or beef will make pro-
gross through breeding to selections, for
he will first seek the bloods in purest
form, then make physical selections;
but in breeding trotting-horses, will Sc
lections physical, or by the name, beget
the desired blood instinct? viii such
breedings among or from our dung
hill "-bred trotting- horses beget" likes "
in blood instinct? The instincts are IN
the blood, the brain, and the nerve, and
not in the physical outlines. Record
breeding is a blind mans selection,
equalled only by the uncertainties Of
the poOl-box to the masses. To repeat
or criticise, like can beget like " ply
sically through the basest Of mongreli-
zation; put will the desired instinct be
there? the winning nerve power! the
do.or-die qualities of blood with breed
ing? General results answer, No. Ex-
cept blood be perfectly pure in O de-
sired line, selection breeding will prove
disappointment, and the breeder find
he has been using eyes without reason.
Men are so ready to jump at conclu-
sions that are in harmony with their
cultivated prejudices, they prefer to
talk than to study, and few will become
deep thinkers from the pleasure of talk.
The scarcity Of an article increases
its value. Because very fast trotting-
horses are scarce their money value is
great, and how to breed the trotter is
the absorbing question with the ma
jority Of farmers.
Because many very fast ones have
resulted from union Of trotting sire
with pacing dam, some professional
writers tell their readers that to breed
q trotter it is essential to secure
pacing mare, or one that is mixed
gated; then breed her To a standard
bred horse. Even though the horse can
not trot in four minutes, some of his
less mongrel.bred ancestors did at some
time secure q special record before
special selection Of preludiced friends.)
The mighty power Of STANDARDIZED ="
is money to the cunning, but disap-
pointment to the self-willed, ignorant,
or prejudiced breeder.
Why don't the breeders of thorough
bred race-horses have all this nonsense?
They breed TO blood, and tell you their
colts riH run, and they do run.
Again, those writers who leave their
readers in the dark as to blood infiu.
ences tell their dupes that the race or
thoroughbred running-hor never PAGES.
They 60 even further and say that no
thoroughbred Arabian horse ever
paced.
hNow, as the special friends of such
writers are mostly young or insxpe-
rienced men or boys, they believe and
repeat the writings, parrot-like, to those
who will listen.
Now, as the Arabian horse was the
progenitor of the thoroughbred running
horse, and as both the thoroughbred
Arabian and the thoroughbred race
horse do pace, we may look for the cause
Of pace to the primitive horse for the
blood cause. But this is not the way
the blind writer's and blind readers
of the Standard Bred" Record
Bred" "Selection-Bred" school rea-
son. "Blood will tell "
OF "pacipg-bred," spacing iormA-
tiop,n pacing bips,n 1 hear Young