Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-09-13
TROTTING SIRE WHO OUTLINED
HIS IDENTITY,

From the Mark Field Monthly, July, lss5l
In the year 1865, and possibly the fol-
lowing year, there was a horse called
Vermont Boy who stood for mares at
Lawn Ridge, in Marshall county, and at
Princeville, Peoria county, belonging to
James Terrence, who had brought him
west from Pittsburgh, Pa. After these
two seasons he was taken to Oskaloosa,
Iowa, along with his son, Reconstruction,
where he remained until his death. He
left some good colts and fillies in Peoria
and Marshall counties; and in Iowa
through his son Reconstruction and his
grandson Little Crow there has numer-
Gus family dccended whose genealogy in
the backward tracing reaches its jump
ing-Of place when it arrives at Vermont
Boy. 1t is probable that at this day no
man has documentary evidence of the an
cestry or the origin of this horse, al
though there must at some time have
been such proofs. We may have strong
statements from men as to the breeding
of certain horses, either that they are
bred in certain way or that they are not
bred in certain way, bat when those
emphatically worded statements are ana
Jyzed, they in themselves prore nothing
absolutely nothing.
Apparently all that remains to be done
in the case of Vermont Boy is to place in
a connected form before the public the
various statements that have been made
about the horse, and leave the conclu-
sions to the intelligent reader.
That such statements should be consol-
idated or placed together under one head
is important lest the lapse of time should
throw about them an obscurity that
would render them valueless to equine
history, and we be guilty of the same
negligence of the lights before us that
we charge against our fathers and grand
fathers in that they failed to preserve
and transmit to us documentary or other
absolute proof of the pedigrees of horses,
which negligence has occasioned great and
irreparable injury to the breeding inter-
ests of the country.
Below in the order of their dates are
the various pro and con statements. If
one half of the pro claims are true, Yer
mont Boy was remarkable horse, and
the cons practically admit just about that
much. First we have an extract from
his printed poster advertising his season
at Lawn Ridge.
l. do, IL oh l.,
color, with no white except a strip in the
face; light name and tail /; hair short and
fine as silk he is scant l6 hands high
has large open nostrils, a clean. neat head,
large eye, and short, projecting ears; a
light, well-formed neck and high wirhers,
with remarkably well-proportioned
body. His style and appearance when
In action are fine and commanding, his
clean, bony limbs, good length of
hips and combination of muscular
strength and symmetry, rendering every
motion easy and graceful. Napoleon
Bonaparte, Emperor of France, procured
three stations and four mares from the
government of Barbary which he bred
through successive generations that he
might produce superior animals for the
French cavalry service. By law none
of this stock could be sold for exporta-
ton. Though probably purchased this
law was indirectly evaded by Vermont
Boy being presented when one year old
in 1852 to John A. Trask and Louis
Barboo, celebrated French sheep import
ers, of Chambely, Canada East, with a
lot of imported sheep. When three years
Old he was presented or sold to G. V.
Gadromb and Sanderson, of st. Adams,
Vermont, also importers of fine stock.
He was kept by them one year and sold
to Frank Stone of the same place, who in