Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-11-14
BREEDING HORSES.
SENATOR STANFORD SPEAKS OF
HIS EXPERIENCES.
How He Became Interested i'm the
Subject ofTrotters--His System
of Training Described
Developing Speed.

cess DOln WIFI tfOtttlo dhh luhuCio' Il hO
filly, Suuol, had been a disappointment
to him as a four -year-old, but he had
hopes that she would come around all
right again now that she had been taken
back to California. The Senator is
thorough believer in the glorious climate
of California" as producer of horses as
well as men and vegetables.
He was also interested in the welfare
of that fast sprinter Racine, the first
horse to break the ong-standing mile
record OF the famous Ten Brock, and in
the career of the beautiful and high
class Gorgo. Both OF those horses are
the property of Senator Stanford, al
they have been trained in the stables and
run in the colors of other men.
''Did you ever hear how became in
terested in horsesl" suddenly asked the
Senator. ''No3 Well, I'll tell you. 1t
was several years ago, and l had been
working very hard-so hard, in fact,
that my physician said that unless took
arest would break down altogether
Ny business interests were so great and
50 pressing at that time that could no
,hink Of following this advice told
my physician that rest from business
was y ossible, and that he must pre-
scribe y, nething else. He thought
awhile. AMI then said that the next best
thing was to occupy my mind in some
other way, au< TO obtain the relief and
rest that is to be ,ound in diversion. He
suggested driving. had at that time
one pretty good horse. a roadster, and |
followed his advice quickly became
so interested in the animal l possessed
that Ibou1ht another and a better horse.
drove these and watched them care
fully. l soon found myself trying to de-
velop them into something better than
they were, and / succeeded so well that
] bought Others and developed them.
Almost before I realized it had got to-
gether fair stable and was deeply in
terested in the development Of the horse.
It was but quick and natural step to
breeding, and luade it with enthusiasm.
ain the old days when we washed gold
in the mines there was certain sort Of
dust that could not be separated from
the sand except with the use cf a mag
net. We used to put the magnet in the
dirt and the gold would stick to it. In
my leisure moments from mining | was
wont to amusc myself by experimenting
with my magnet. It was the common
horseshoe kind, and 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 away
the tacks and load up the magnet again.
l repeated this again and again until
found that the power OF the magnet was
seriously impaired. l succeeded in re-
ducing that power to one-third Of what
it was originally, and [ think that
could have destroyed it altogether by
SIMPLY overtaxing il, although never
experimental that far. When became
interes.oi in the development of the
horse I recalled these idle moments with
the magnet, aud l reason that the power
of horse could be destroyed just as
readily by oyertaxing as that of the
magnet. At that time it was the custom
in training horses to tax their endurance
to the utmost They were given miles
of jogging, and were worked until
they were exhausted. This
seemed to me to be all .
wrong. 1t was just what 1 had done T
with my old magnet, and was con-
vinced that it left the horse with i'm
paired strength aud endurance every
time it was done. The more | thought
about the matter the more became con-
vinced that the proper way to develop
the horse was 10 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 pow
ers were at their best.
II applied this theory, and | have not
or'y had remarkable success myself, but
I have lived to see the whole system Of
training trotting horses revolutionized.
There was time when trotter was sup
posed to be immature until he was nine
or ten years old. Now we have three
and four year olds trotting close down
to record tine, and even yearlings are
trained. Personally, am not little
proud Of holding the two, three and
forr. year old records, and ] attribute. that
success entirely to the system of training
suggested to me by the mining magnet
and inaugurated by Inc as a relief from
business cares.
"From developing the horse by train
ing il was but another stepto developing
him by feeding, and myinteresi in the
horse and my love for him became so
great that I was impelIed to add breed
ing to training. Now, had seen that
the horse possessed power analogous to
that Of the magnet. ] reasoned that this
was an unintelligent though active force.
ANY kind Of horse will trot until he Is