Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-02-14

in them. For the past twenty years |
very few thoroughbred mares have been
bred to trotting stations outside of Pa
10 Alto. This covers the period when
the best results could have been obtain
ed from the past, that better stations
could have been used. The prominence
of the thoroughbred as a factor in the
speed of our fastest horses is entirely
due to their own merit. They can no
longer be ignored and ridiculed out of
public esteem.
"Woodburn's experience has been
very fortunate with the use of thor
oughbreds. The highest priced horses
we have ever sold, the fastest and gam
est we have ever bred, all had the thor
oughbred in the first, second or third
generation, and most of the horses we
now breed have the thoroughbred in
direct or collateral crosses.
"In looking over the experience of
the past, | believe that progress has
been materially retarded by giving the
PAGER the prominence he has had for
the last twenty years, and by an almost
total disuse of the thoroughbred for
that time. The public has been educat-
ed by influential writers into the be-
lief that the PAGER is the only source of
speed, and that the thoroughbred had
been experimental with by all the older
breeders with great financial loss, and
absolute failure to produce speed from
its use. The story has been so plausi-
bly, and persistently kept before the
public that many breeders have accepted
it as fixed principle sustained by facts
and experience. Too much pace could
not be injected into pedigree but one
cross of thoroughbred would throw all
back into chaos. The result of giving
one element the preponderance in our
pedigrees is that it has gained control,
and from our trottng pedigrees the
PAGER is produced with alarming uni
formty. This is the dilemma INTO which
we have been led by too much pacing
wisdom and the only way out is through
little thoroughbred fooishness.
zone of the great advantages to be
derived from Il cross of the thorough
bred III the future is to control the
action of trotting-bred PAGERS and make
their progeny trot. The thoroughbred
is the purest-gaited trotter imaginable
The trot is one of his natural modes of
locomotion, and he will not leave it eX-
cept on compulsion; there is no mix in
his gait, toe-weights and hobbies are
not Il necessity to him. His ancestors
haye been trotters for generations, and
trolling element. Just in this particular
great error has been inculcated II
has been argued that Pilot Jr. was al
action controlling horse, and that wher
= crossed on the thoroughbred he contro
0 led the action and made the produce
trot, when the fact is that the thorough
: bred in Pilot Jr.s dam controlled the
0 action of old black pacing Pilot, ant
. the produce, Pilot Jr., was Il na,ura
q trotter, and never got Il PAGER that
have known, except out of a pacing
mare.
. "If the PAGER were the action-control
4 ling element he is supposed to be, hi
progeny would lower his gait and pace
Il whereas, he is what is called plasti,
= element, and his gait is easily converted
/ into a trot by cross of thoroughbred
C What has been returned to the thorough
: bred for generations asserts itself in thu
| progeny, and trots instead of PAGES
: One not personally acquainted with tn,
action of the thoroughbred would judg,
from the arguments of his enemies tina
e he had been trained for generations t,
/ run, and could do nothing else. Thi
Il is falacy, and comes from Ignorance
| of its characteristics. He is a perfect,
pure-gaited trotter, and in many instan
, ces has considerable speed.
d "In what | have written it has no
been my intention to detract from TIN
~ PAGER, OF fail to give him full credit TO
II the invaluable service he has RENDERED
% as speed-giving element. merel
t. wish to call public attention to tn
fact that we are in much greater DANCE
. from the pace of the PAGER than frou
n the run of the thoroughbred. The pace
l. has been used SO freely and for SO lon
IN that an infusion of the thoroughbred
j. qualities is necessity in some of GU
l. trotting pedigrces, whether it is obtain
ed from direct cross of thoroughbred
d or pure trotters. That, however,
a matter for each breeder to determin
. for himself.
Yours, l.. BRoDHEAD."
CLAnEI AMI