The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-04-22
Instinct I'm the Horse,

A school bow once said 1.-THE chief
end of man il the one with the head
on" So also with the horse. SenR-
tor Stanford says horse trots with
his head. In other words he believes
he must have the instinct to trot, and
he believes that that instinct Is worth
more than mere muscular power, or
the capacity to trOt true and smooth,
! or physical conformation, or any 9TH
er physical requirement..
The truth of this is very obvious,
and without a good head the horse Is
| nothing more than an Irregular
cratic machine; as liable to go as not
| to, aud as liable to bI eak into run
as to trOt or pace.
When Mr.. salisbury, owner OF
Direct, was asked if he would sell the
little black piece Of pacing machi=
nism, he replied, mo, sir; need that
head of his in my business;" refer
ing to the fact that Direct had never
been known to break in his life.
1t is true that a horse must not be
deficient i'm physical conformation
nor do we mean to be understood as
saying that horse can trOt or pace
in any kind of a form so long as he
has the head the natural, strong in
herent mental capacity to do 30; but
what we wish to emphasize IL, that
everything else being equal, the horse
with that instinct, combined with
| level head aud determination, Will
! far Outstrip his less sensible brother.
Here are thousands OF mares to-
day that have as good III not better
forms than SunOl or Maud s. There
are many stations standing at
country CROSSROADS the peer of AL
Ierton or Axtell in physical confor-
nation. And who, living in this
| mt n nf old
Tom Hal who appeared more pleas
ing to look at than the long and aDgu-
lar Hal Pointer?
No doubt there are as good horses
physically az Pointer or better
mares than SunOl or Maud s or bet
stations than Palo Alto. In fact IL is
ell known, 10 ths credit of Hal
Pointer be it said) that during one
season he was 80 lame as TO excite the
sympathy of the spectators that saw
him Jogging; but When IL came to the
fight OF the race, and lie felt the touch
UT his old friends hand in the reins
urging him on, his strong pacing in
stiuet overcome his physical pain,
even a. the great gelding left behind
I'm his flying fliVht the struggling
crowd that saw only the rear OF his
sulky wheels.
The plain question then is, that, II
|
physical form and with an intense
desire to trot or pace, as the case may
be desire that Overconles all other
instincts, under any and all condi-
! tions-he will be a race-hoTse. And
| to breed that horse-ay, there Is the
rub. But when he is bred, he must
be bred for the head first. To specu-
late on how to breed that kind OF an
| intellect is merely to speculate on
why we have not had more WebsteTs,
! CIays, Jacksons; more Agassizs
HuXleys, NewtoDs; more Caesars aud
Napoleons. We can only try tho
plan of breeding along line OF
natural instinct and general physical
excellence and trust that we may get
an equine Minerva coming from the
/ brain OF Jupiter.
When we consider the matter in
this light, how foolish appear the
haphRzard breeding Of those who
breed merely to get fOur-legged ami
NAL with a name and tail-a trotter
or a pAcer-an HyPerIaD or a Satyr,
dunghill or a diamond!