Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-24
THE BREEDING OF HORSES.
Senator Stanford Talks Of His Elk.
periences.


HOW HE BECAME FIRST IsrERxsrxD IN THE SUB
JEcr OF BREEDING rRorrEns--HIs SYSTEM OF
TRAINING DESCRIBED AT LKSarH-Hx u SAT
IsFIED WITH TIE PROGRESS MADE
From the New York Tfmes
Senator Leland Stanford OF California was
sitting in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel one
day last week talking to a representative of the
Times on the subject Of horses. He was en-
| thusiastic. as he always is when talking horse,
and he was telling Of his successes, both with
trotters and runners. The wonderful filly
Sunol had been q disappointment to him as =
four-year-old, but he had hopes that she would
como around all right again, now that she had
been taken back to California. The Senator is
a thorough believer in the GLORIOUS climate OF
California" as producer of horses ~ we'll a.
men and vegetables
lie was also interested in tho welfare Of that
fast sprinter Racine, the first horse to break
the iong-Btanding mile record of the famous
Ten Brock, and In the career Of the beautiful
are the property OF Senator Stanford. although
they have been trained in tho stables and run
in tho colors OF other men.
did you ever hear how became interested
in horses? suddenly asked the Senator. mo?
Well I'll tell you. 1t was several years ago md
fact, that my physician said that unless
took a rest would break down altogether.
My business interests were SO great and
so pressing at that time that could
told my physician that a rest from business
was impossible, and that he must prescribe
something else. He thought awhile, and then
said that the next best thing was to occupy my
mind In some other way, and to obtain the re-
lief and rest that is to be found in diversion He
I had nj hat time
good horse, q roadster, and followed his advice.
l quickly became SO Interested in the ami
NAL possessed that I bought another and q
better horse. / drove these and watched them
carefully. i soon found myself trying to de-
velop them into something better than they
were, and l succeeded 80 we'll that bought
others and developed them. Almost before l
realized IT had got together a fair stable and
was deeply interested in the development of
the horse. 1t was but quick and natural step
to breeding, and made it with enthusiasm.
''In the cid days when VIC washed gold in
the mines there was a certain sort of dust that
could not be separated from the sand except
with the use of a magnet We used to put the
magnet in the dirt and the gold would stick to
it. In my leisure moments from mining was
won't to amuso myself by experimenting with
my magnet. 1t was the common horseshoe
kind, aud l would dip it into a heap of iron
tacks and keep adding TO its burden until the
limit OF its strength was reached. Then would
strip a"ay TUG tackS ana Ioad up tho magnet
again. repeated this again and again until
found that the power of the magnet was seri-
ously Impaired. succeeded III reducing that
power to onc-third of what 1t was originally,
and think that i could have destroyed it al
together by simply overtaxing it, although
never experimental that far. When became
interested i'll the development OF the horse
recalled those idle moments with the magnet,
and reasoned that the power of horse could
be destroyed just as readily by over
taxing as that of the magnet At
that time il was the custom in train
ing horses to tax their endurance to the
utmost. They We're given miles of jogging and
were worked until they were exhausted. This
seemed to me to be all wrong. 1t was just
what had done with my old magnet and | was
convinced that it left the horse with impaired
strength and endurance each time it was done,
The more thought about the matter the more
became convinced that the proper way to de-
velop the horse was to keep every effort de-
manded of him well within his powers. He
should not be worked until he was exhausted,
but he should be trained to make one supreme
effort when his powers were at their best.
Il applied this theory, and have not only
had remarkable success myself, but l have
lived TO see the whole system of training trot-
ting horses revolutionized There was a time
when trotter was supposed to be immature
until ne was nine or ten years old. Now we
have three and four-ycar-olds trotting close
down to record time, and even yearlngs are
trained. Personally, am not n little proud of
holding the two. thrco and four-year- old rec
ords. and attribute that success entirely to the
system OF training suggested to me by the min
ing magnet and inaugurstod by mo as q relief
from business cares.
From developing the horse by training 1t
was but another step to developing him by
feeding, and my interest in the horse and my
love for him became so great that was
impelled to add breeding to training Now, I
had seen that the horse possessed a power
analogous to that Of the magnet / reasoned
that this was an unintelligent though active
force Amy kind of horse will trot until he is
urged to point beyond his trotting powers
aud then he will break into a gallop. This is
true OF anything from Perchcron to a thor
oughbred. concluded that il could develop
In tho horse tho intelligence necessary to mako
him trot instead of run / had the problem
solved. This had to be done by breeding as
well as training, and SO undertook the task
II bred thoroughbred mares to standard
bred trotters that might get tho speed and
gameness Of the one and the GOODNESS and en-
durance OF the other and then bred again
with view to developing the trot as natural
gait / am satisfied with the progress have
made SO far. and am convinced that event.
ualiy horses will be bred so that they will pre-
fer trotting to running. and that their greatest
speed will be brought out in trotting. In other
words, the horse will be 80 bred that tho trot
will be his natural gait and consequently the