Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-12-06

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True Britton with that of imported Wild
Air, grandson of Godolphn Arabian,
which produced Justin Morgan, the noted
progenitor of all these families, which
were each produced by breeding back to
Justin Morgan or by uniting his blood
with that of Messenger or some other
thoroughbred or Arabian horse.
Whence came the "Hambletonians,"
''full blooded Hambletonians, the great
trotting family of Hambletonians?
They came by union of the blood of
imported Messenger (Arabian blood
with that of imported Bellfounder, of un-
known blood, the names or the breeding
of whose sire and dam have never been
ascertained. He may have been Cleve-
land bay, an English hunter, "Cob,"
a coach horse or mongrelization of any
of them.
Wallace says of him: ''Though he left
many colts it is not believed that any of
them attained speed without an infusion
of Messenger bood;" thus, according to
Wallace. the speed producing qualities in
Rysdyk's Hambletonian came from Mes
senger, although greatly diluted by pass
ing through some cold blooded mares
before reaching Rysdyks Hambletonian :;
being thus diluted, it may account for
the no record" of the Hero Ct Chester,
or for his inability to make one. But
when his blood was united with the trot-
ting blood of american STAR of Henry
Clay, of Ethan Allen, of Pilot, Jr., and
other trotting strains, that came from the
thoroughbred or Arabian, then the prog
ery became trotters of note, and consti-
tute the so-called full blooded Hambe-
tonians, that have obtained such noto-
riety. By common consent the descend
ants of Rysdyk's Hambletonian are
called Hambletonians, and Hambletonan
trotters in the sixth and seventh genera
ton, while in reality they contain less
than one one-hundredth of his blood. If
we extend the same courtesy to the Ara
ban. we shall have Arabian trotters more
numerous than the Hambletonans and
much stronger in Arabian blood than the
IIambletonians are in the blood of the
founder of that family. And here we
may safely assert, without fear of sue
cessful contradiction, that there is not a
strain or family of horses in England or
America, noted for speed, either at the
run or trot, that is not directly traceable
to the Arabian so that it is the veriest
nonsense for any man to decry the Ara
bian horse as a non-producer of speed
at both the run and trot.
The learned writer asserts "that we
don't want any new types of horses,
plainly intimating that the Arab bred to
our present strains of blood would pro.
duce "new types of horses. There we
should disagree with him as all these
strains contain Arab blood, it would only
increase this valuable quality in the of:
spring without creating new type OF
horse. He says we have already the
, trotter, the runner, the light harnes:
horse, the coacher and draft horse, anC
prove all these kinds. Here we should
certainly agree with him. To the runner
we would add the constitution, the vigor
the sound feet, the perfect sinewy supple
Arab, with his impetuous, easy ant
graceful action at the gallop, together
with his endurance, deep chest, sounC
lungs and unobstructed throttle, which
qualities are often lacking in both the
English and American bred race horse.
through the universal tendency to patro
niZe the horse with the fastest record al
short distances without regard to hi,
faults and usefulness in other respects
To the light harness horse we would ado
the fine intelligent head, eye and ear o.
the Arabian, the invincible courage tina
will face perambulating troupe of per
forming bears or a steaming, screech
ing locomotive without flinching; tn,
proud carriage, the perfect easy gait, thu
ability to go long distances rapidly with
out firing, and the disposition and ability
to eat and digest a good square mea
after his work is done; these valuabl,
qualities which the Arabian has we would
, engraft on our several breeds of ligh
harness or road horses, in which so many
of them are deficient. TO the coacher W,
would add the same as to the road horse
,, coupled with judicious mating to retain
the required size. To the sow-movin.
draft horse we should have little to ado
-? from the Arabian except sound feet ant
: increased activity, which might be, as ha
: already been done, by proper selections
for few generations.
But to the trotter and gentleman's fas
road horse we would devote the mos
: careful attention and improvements. |
must be apparent to any horseman tina
it does not require the size and weight o
: the Percheron or Clydesdale, to pull
. one hundred and fifty pound man in