The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-12-19
THE HORSE.
ORIGIN of the Principal Breeds.

breed of horses was so late In being
given to the world9 When the trotting
sire. Rysdyk's Hambletonian, appeared
upon the scene, men were on the 0
out for trotters, and were about begin
ming to consider the problem OF now %
C them by breeding for the IKE;
and, this point reached, all subsequent
progress-all such progress in every
direction, affecting manklnd-ln the
product of the human brain; for with
out this thus proposed it would still be
as of old ard as in a state Of nature.
Not that there is wanting great differ
ence in the material here, for there
surely is, but only that the best of ma
terial- all material, indeed-Is unavaI-
ing, in either making or maintaining,
without the controlling idea.
md Hambletonlan was made, IN the
matter of his position as trottlng sire,
not by his owner who, for the most
part, was an ignorant old stud horse
keeper, but by the intelligent horsemen
about New York and throughout the
country in which Hambletonlan was
located-by men who were looking out
for trotters and who had gllmpses OF
what we now see clearly, and which ls
to the effect that there are laws gov
erning the production Of trotters. sub
stantially as there are in the case OF
runne .Hambletonian was bred won
derfullv we'll for his time; and he was
really better bred for the string OF trot-
tiers than any other sire up to his day.
1t is true that his pedigree could not
be traced many crosses back, and IN
this respect he was on the same footing
as the three chief foundation sires of
the running breed OF horses. A0dal
lab. tHambletonian's sire, was a mean
brute, and this both in disposition and
appearance; and, in addition to these
and some other di qualifying features,
he had a tail that was singularly want
ing in hair-a trait, so to say, that
every now and then makes its presence
felt in even his remote descendants
But for all that, Abdallah had merits
GlaG were rare, IL AOO OA'9OO' "0 /
the then trotters. He was a horse OF
strong and fiery will, and he could trot
was indeed, when TRAINED at TOUR
years old, considered the fastest young
horse of his day-and, besides getting
HambletOnian, he got trotters, two OF
them, but for their sire, ~pedigreeless,
that earned records of miles IN two
minutes and thirty seconds or faster,
this giving them a plate in the stand
ard or 2:3O list. Abdallah was by
Mambrino, son of imported Messenger,
thoroughbred; and it Is claimed tina
Abdallah's dam was also a daughter of
Messenger, the claim not being. though,
always allowed. If such was, aowever,
the fact. it makes Abdallah quite a
closely bre1 horse.
There are some able students OF trot
ting horse history who believe that
Hambletonian got more OF his trot
imparting quality from his dam, the
Charles Kent Mare, than he did from
his sire. This cannot be determined;
for here is a place where the law, that
like causes produce like effects, meets
with what seems q well supported
contradiction. But it is IN the seeming
only for condition of parentage, at the
time of conception, and other control
ling factOrs-all elements of varying
force and volume, and constantly sub
ject to notifications not possible of
detection by human intelligence-have
power to ultimate in the result that,
though the parents are the same, no
brothers and no sisters, not even twins,
are exact copies Of one another. In
deed 1t is quite often true that one
brother is a great man and the next a
simpleton. Of course the law of aver
ages comes in here, and very properly
and correctly assures us that like
causes produce. in a general way, like
effects, so that, if that be not a safe
rule of action in the case, there is no
safe rule.
The sire of the Charles Kent mare
was an English bred horse named Bell
founder; and be was brought to this
country in 1923. The clear fact about
him is that ne was representative of
the great stage horse fam lies of Eng
land, in the old coaching days, before
C6efe Wsre railroads, and when long
and fast Slips were regularly made,
and only the truly game sort could
stand up under the strain. Wherever
this blood appears in trotting pedigrees
it makes itself felt and heard FROM;
and certainly it Is here in Hambleton