St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-23
AMERICAN TRoTTING HORSE.
From Prof. w. III. Webber's Adj
dress Before the Board of Agri-
culture

From Prof w. III. Webber's Ad-
culture.
Modern society has need of the horse
and the breeding of horses is a subject
worthy the attention of farmers. l shall
present nothing showing Partially to
any particular strain or family, as that
requires more study than can be given
|. in making popular lecture, and there
is plenty of literature especially for
this. l propose to give some of the
methods used in breeding, and the rea-
sons for them.
Il, The horse is an essential factor In the
I world, and there can be no high clviliZa-
ton without it. The higher the civiliza-
ton the greater the number and divers
ity of breeds. This is the fact of history
as civilization has advanced. In proof
of this we find the Chinese almost
wholly without the horse, and the same
is true Of the East Indies and other
countries of similar degree of ciyiliza-
ton.
Perhaps the horse first appeared in
Syria and Egypt. The OK, ass and
sheep, however, are mentioned first in
history. According to what we may
learn from ancient pictures, the horse
was smaller then than now; tough,
Wiry and strong, but not fast, and his
fastest gait run, the tr0tting gait be-
ing seldom shown in ancient pictures.
Necessarily the gallOp was his gait. as
be was then rode without Stirrups. The
horse of the middle ages was broad
backed and round, and was bred and
trained for purposes of war, largely.
The horse painted in Sheridan's ride is
typical war horse, and all horses in
art representations are heavy horses.
In the breeding of horses there has
been greater variation in size than
that of any animal except the dog.
Fashion. and the uSageS of society, have
made this diversity. With the demand
for fast running horse on the English
turf, great speed had been developed by
the selection of winning sires for stock
purposes in that country. For this the
Arab and Barb horses have been the
foundation blood.
The English thorough bred is the only
finished breed. as results plainly show,
there being no preceptible lowering OF
records at present in that class of
horses.
For the past nineteen years 1900 win
nerS have not varied five and one quar-
ter seconds of the best time. On the
other hand, only six American trOtterS
have reached within the same number
of seconds Of the best record in the
nineteen years. This is proof that the
American trOtter has not reached its
best, and is not a finished breed. He
believed two minutes would be trotted
in the future as easily as a mile could
be run now i'll l: 80.
In many countries OF Europe horses
are still bred for war and ceremony.
Horses for riding Sb Guild have var
iety of gaits, which is restfuI to both
horse and rider. Riding and driving
are not TO be compared to each other,
as there is the greatest sympathy be-
tween horse and rider.
The Oriental horse was eminently
qualified for riding and for the camp
and march, and no one knows the at
tachment that will spring up between
horse and rider but one who has. taken
long Journeys on horseback. In good
riding the man, Centanr-like, almost be-
comes part of the horse, and the same
set of nerves seems TO pervade the two.
In examining files of old Connecticut
papers we find that there were both
trotters and PAGERS in 1897 or 1898. In
the latter part of the last century 2:5S
was the fastest time.
Sporting actually began about the
year 1918, and the English thorough
bred began to receive attention on ac-
count of the profits of racing. In cross
ing two races of animals no distinctive
breeds had been established, but a
combination of several.
The stud book of English thorough
BREEDS was established twenty-five years
before any other animals were regis
tered. Seeking improvement in breed
ing we want them to be like their
parents in all the good qualities and
unlike them in all the bad ones. From
1895 to 1915 laws were passed in several
states fOrbidding races. but the real
value OF the horse now, in our advanced
civilization, is in speed. Speed
saves time, and time is money. Frank
Forester says that racing began in 1918.
Since old Boston Blue, who trotted in
three minutes. there has been gradual
lowering of speed. Now that the trotter
goes forty feet in a second and a neck
wins, the difference Of twInkling of an
eye has added TO the value of horse.
Facts go to show that gambling, which
stimulated some of the worse passions
of men, had proved stimulus to excel
and means of Improvement.
When old Flora Temple made rec
ord of 2:20 the press, in comment, said
that she was phenomenal horse, and
that no other horse would be likely to
1SdCu IL. 1lOllluS IHoIs cNSIl, lldu HO
faith in what was to come, but now we
have hundreds that do it. Since 1922
what great Improvement. Now what is
the lesson?
The horse having had the first consid-
GRAFTON of careful breeders we may fairly
suppose similar principles will be car
ried into the breeding of all live stock.
twenty-five years ago, at a dairy con-
vention i'll Utica, Y. Y, advocated the
idea that the COW was machine and
the idea was reported as purely theoret-
zeal. Since that time we have moved
tremendously fast in improvement and
are destined to move still faster 1t was
thought that we had been hustled off
from horse breeding by the West, but
this is not necessarily so if the right
kind of horses are bred. The trotter is
a nervous horse and nice for the man
who can afford the luxury, but the
masses want horse somewhat heavier
with trotting action.
That kind of horse will De coming
up, here IN New Hampshire. Small
farmers cOnnoU afford to keep poor ami
mails CoIaot hacf and 1icoorJ N