Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-11-01
THE ORLOFF TROTTING HORSE
OF AMERICA.
AMOS BROWN

H"eeoF D"uoH SpVU OF me IUr: AS
the beautiful Orloff trottng horse owned
by MIR. 5. 5. Rowland of Mount Morris,
\. Y, is making such marked, deep,
and pleasant impressions upon the
minds of Americans in the Empire State.
it may not be amss to look carefully in
to the breeding of said stock, as given in
their well-defined history. The origin
of this particular breed of horses may
be denominated an incidental happen-so
in history that has developed into i'm
portant consequences, illustrative of
that plain, philosophical axiom of the
master, "Behold how great matter a
little fire kindeth.''
Count Alexis, who was contempor-
aneous with Catharine, the great empress
of all the Russians, was great lover of
a good horse and, as is common with
the aristocracy Of the old world, was
very fond of horseback riding, his fav-
orite saddle-horse being the English
thoroughbred which has been selected
with great care and imported from Eng
land for and by himself. As he ad-
vanced in years, he grew corpulent,
which rendered the fine-limbed thor
oughbred too light for safe horseback
riding.
Necessity. "the mother of invention, -
led to the origin of this class of horses.
to Increase the weight carrying strength.
bone, muscle and general usefulness of
new and untried breed. At this point
the Count had not probably the most
distant thought or desire of originating
horse of superior speed, especially in
a trotting gait of movement. In the
year III he purchased, in the south of
Greece, silver-white Arabian stallion
Smetanka, consideration $500. BY
some writers the above consideration is
| declared to be myth. and state that the
horse was Il pure blooded Barb. assert
ing further that the horse was presented
by the Pasha of Turkey to Count Alexis,
whereas it is stoutly averred on the other
side, that carefully preserved documents
of evidence in the archives of Russia
prove, without the shadow of doubt.
the Greek origin of Smetanka, and that
the name of this horse never was Smo-
lenska, as some have persistently stated.
The premature death of Smetanka
left issue to represent him, viz: Four
male and one female colt, only. Pro-
baby the most important colt he sired
was Polcan. This stallion was used to
"big, strong, long-built Dutch mare"
imported from Holland. The result of
this cross gave to Russia that fixed
family type of horses known and dis
tnguished as the Orloffs, in honor and
memory of the Count. Then followed
from this admiXture of blood the cele-
brated stallion Barss. There existed at
at this time, for short period, some
careful inbreeding, but soon the old
Count began to introduce strong nfu-
SONS of thoroughbred blood, always
through the dams which shows the
Count to have been scientist in proper
crossing in good horse breeding. So
much for the origin of the Orloff family,
and now the question naturally arises,
"What particular nationality may Justly
claim the supremacy in this grand re-
suit, Greece, Holland, or England, in
producing horse which has originated
a challenge to our Maud :Os3, thought
to be an inferior in speed and endurance
to the Orloffs?"
1t is always pleasure to examine
carefully, nay critically, a good horse,
Leopard or Orlofi, particularly as they APP
pear on the parade scene side by side,
under circumstances where absolute JUS
tice forbids any and all mere petty preju-
dice to come into the account. As we
look at the Orloff horse we could but