St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-07-09
THE IDEAL ROADSTER.

AS to the points by which to deter
mine the ideal roadster, 1t is one
thing to define them, and quite an
other to find the animal that con-
forms to the requirements. 1t IS
amusing to note the frequent at
tempts of writer's on the subject
TO define what Mr.. Murray calls
"the perfect horse The man who
Possesses an Unborn love Of the
horse will seldom fail to know when
he finds one that will serve his Pur-
pose, and an ounce OF practical
knowledge is better than a ton OF
advice and theory. There may be
physical defects which require an ex-
pert to discover, so it IS always ad-
visable to call in professional skill,
which can be had readily. 1t is no
uncommon thing for the best veter1-
nary surgeons to disagree as to an
ailment or blemish.
Without going into such minute
details as to how long the horses
head should be, what the shape OF
the ears and how far apart, or as
to the width between the eyes, the
shortness Of the body, and at what
angle the tail should depend from
the hips, there are one or two quail
tiles which may be referred to as
speciallv desirable For instance,
the greatest fight of speed is OF little
value if the trotter cannot sustain 1t
for at least a mile. Lack of lung
mower is a certain indicat ton that
the horse will soon get distressed II
urged to his limit, and this is deter
mined by the simple law which holds
that in order to have good lungs
there must be room for them. The
oblioue shoulder and the broad
chest are natures proof that there is
lung capacity, so that, given a
healthy windpipe and earpassage
from the nostrils to admit the ar,
the horse is pretty sure to go the
distance"
AS to physical conformation, about
which so much has been said and
written, there are a myriad eXcep-
tons to every rule. If a colt with
trotting ancestry has pronounced
rake, or descent from hip to wlthers,
he should learn to go fast, but there
have been such that could not make
mile in four minutes. The failure
was not due to this popularity, how
ever and any youngster with TINS
downward slope OF body IS well
worth trying by development; I'M
ported Messenger, whose blood is SO
largely represented in the fast har'
ness performers of the present
measured thirty-nine inches from UP
to hook, while imported Bellfounder
whose perfect trotting action made
him a valuable sire for this country
was about an inch longer IN this
respect. Rysdvk's Hambletonlan
who combined these two strains
was fortv-one inches between these
two Joints, and his get inherited Thu:
same physical advantage, which ha:
made them so superior to other fam
lilies at the trot. Lady Thorn, thu
greatest Of the immediate descendant
of Mambrino Chief, had a tremendous
length of limb, with the hook forty
two inches from the hip. This mar
had wonderful stride, with gar
as steady and even as could be desired
while, what was equally important
she kept her hind legs in line witt
her BODY, and got the full benefit
each step with little or no VAST
action, 1t IS tlllS Sdit w ti~'
ers now aim to produce, Sunol, Guy
Axtell, and Nancy Hanks being eS
cellent examples ofthis close, straight
line way Of going. :,
Knee action, which certainly add
to the grace of trotting, cannot we
be obtained without a sacrltlce
speed, and very low gait torwar
has also it's drawbacks. A front lie
with a short forearm and a lon
cannon-bone causes the horse to II
the knee high and bend 1t so niue
that the stride is shortened, and tt
foot pounds hard on the groun'
Vice versa, the short cannon-bor
and long forearm induce to a 10
step, with knee stiff. The Morga
and Clay strains are noted for HI {
action forward, while trotters vii
strong infusion Of thorough-br'
tend to keep the front feet close
ground The union of Hambletoms
and Mambrino Chief blood has I
suited in a happy medium betwe'
the two excuses, and produced
more uniform gait than most OF t
old-time trotters possessed He
per's Weekly.