Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-08-03
JOSEPH BATTELL,
MiddleburY, VT.
JOHN A. LOGAN, JR'S, MUCHTAlk-
ED.OE HACKNEY STALLION.

~
EO-OF HACKNEY STALLION.
Bonfire. John A. Logan, Jr.'s much
talked-of Hackney stallion, sold for Sl4-
$50. 1t is a pleasure TO note that the
cash of an English breeder goes into this
animal and that no citizen of the United
States was so foolish as to bid any great
sum on hIm.-Clark's Horse Review.
The publication from which the fore
going paragraph is copied sets itself up
as representative of the American trot-
ting horse world. If its assumption in
that regard be based upon fact, we blush
with shame for those who must be class
ed as among its constituents. Was ever
clan or tribe of barbarous race more pent
up and limited of ideas than must be the
readers of that paper if it reflect their
views And we certainly cannot deny
that it does so, otherwise it would expire
for want of circulation. And yet, adj
hitting that the sheet has perusal, does
it, after all, seem possible that any in
tegral part of the intelligent, broad
minded, liberal-spirited American pub
lie could subscribe to such grossly ig-
nOrant, narrow and unreasonable senti-
mentS? In our opinion the real animus
of the paragraph lies in the fact that
Bonfire is an English Hackney. This
should not be cause for prejudice, as any
well-informed horseman knows that the
Hackney has record which IN its way
if,I 10 . hof %
horse in the world. If for no other
reason, furthermore, than that the
purest of selected blood flows through
his veins, this animal ought to be adj
if;fed and respected. Should it be the
case thar he is hated because he is Eng
lish, then why is not the thoroughbred
inally from English stock, as indeed did
the foundation of our trotters, be equally
despised? The truth is that our untu-
tored contemporary, like some other
periodicals of its kind, panders to the
"cabined, cribbed and confined" instincts
of an element that has succeeded In al
most driving all the better classes of
society out of the uottng-horse field,
and, therefore, cannot look on with
tolerance at the adoption of a new
fayorite by those whom it has alienated.
The Hackney has undoubtedly become
the pet of the aesthetic in horsoflesh.
Bonfire, with others like himself, has
thrilled and enthraled thousands of
spectators, at numberless horse shows.
by his sensational style of going, his
superb conformation and his winsome
doclity of disposition. Are we to be-
leve that these tluongs of citizens, men,
women and children of wealth and cul-
ture, were arrant fools ana stepped in
utter darkness of intellect? That is the
only inference TO be drawn from the
statement of Clark's Horse Review
Bonfire has never been paraded as
race horse, with slab sides, reaching
neck, spreading hooks, scrambling gaits
and booted, weighted and hooded for a
lightning flash of speed. Had he been
able ITO show a two-minute gait" he
he would have been acceptable to the
single-minded Clark's Horse Review.
We much regret that this wild striving
for an equine racing machine-heedless
of beauty, substance or endurance so
necessary for park or road wOrk-has
been the most potential element in rele-
eating the light-harness horse to the
tout and the track. The importation of
the Hackney has thus been made not
only possible, but absolutely necessary.
Ladies and gentlemen do not care to be
whipped through the AIR by an animated
skeleton aTticulated with quarter boots,
knee boots and straps, They have, con-
sequently, turned to the smOOthly-round-
ed Hackney as they would turn from
locomotive to a yacht when in search of
comfort and pleasure. The racing ma
chine is all right on the race track; let
the engine be perfected in the line of its
until time may be entirely
annihilated. But, meanwhile, whittier
shall we turn for our road horses? The
''princes of the road brigade"-the Kips,
Boomers, Works, Halls, Kerners, Ham
monds, Lawrences. Houstons, Darlngs,
DicknsOns and Dickermans must
needs search for weeks to obtain them a
horse that will speed without the Junk
shop adjunctives of boots and weights.
VIII they always continue to hunt fou
this rare species, the task being expen-'
sive and ofttimes disappointing? A