Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-05-04
JOSEPH BATTELL,
Middlebury, VT.
DOES "sPEED BEeET sPEED9"

DOES SPEED BEGET SPEED?"
zone of the turf papers is still cling
ing to the delusion that speed does not
produce speed says Iconoclast in the
Kentucky Stock Farm, and further along
in the same article he says: 1.-The faster
a horse is. other things being equal, the
greater are the chances of his transmit
ing speed" Now, if the object of the
breeder is to produce speed, and the
possessor of speed can and does mpart
it to progeny, why should 'other things"
be taken into account? One of his
sentences is fiat contradiction of the
other. If speed begets speed, no "other
things" need be considered III the pro-
duction of fast horses, but if you admit
the clause "other things being equal,
it is an admission that some other quail
ties are absolutely necessary.
Trotting and pacing are natural gaits,
but great speed at either of the gaits can
only be acquired through intelligent,
persistent trainlng. Speed at the trot or
pace is not inherited, but acquired, and al
though acquired traits or habits of the
parents occasionally appear in their
offspring, they are not transmitted as
a rule. If they were, 1t would be an
easy matter to build up a family of
trick horses. or horses that would per-
form all the "high school, saddle gaits
without training, and the $40 trotting
stallion would impart that rate of speed
10 the foal, which age alone would devel-
Op.
Il is said that fast trotters, like great
men, are born, not made. which in one
sense is true. Children mot all chlldren)
are born with the capacity to become
great through education, and colts are
foaled with a formation, or an instinct
(if that term is admissable), that is sus-
ceptible of the development of extreme
speed with training. This peculiar for
nation is an Inheritance, but extreme
speed is an requirement no more likely
TO be transmitted than any other part OF
horses education.
Iconoclast says "there was time
when the trotting horse did not have
speed" Very true, and that was at d
time when there were no trotting horse
trainers. The elements from which
speed could be produced were in exist
ence and transmissabe as they are now
but the cultivation necessary to devel
OPP speed was lacking. Had there beer
as many and as competent trOtting' horse
trainers, as great improvements II
vehicles, harness, boots and race tracks
and as many horses trained, a hundred
years ago, that generation would have
possessed as many Nancy IIankses
Flying Jibs and Mascots as we haYe, anC
the two-minute trotter would have Ions
since appeared IN public as result o
breeding in a line that would perpetual
the hereditary formation and disposition
from which the skill of man is enabled
to develop extraordinary speed.
"Why is it that it (speed) is pecuia
to some breeds and is not found in all
as all horses have had common origin,
asks the kentucky writer. Can he tel
why it is that some nations of the cart
are superior to others mentally an
physically? All mankind have a CON
mon origin. Why are Jerseys create
mixers and butter producers than an
other breed? All cattle have had
common origin. Why is the capacity t
take on flesh rapidly and with sma
amount of feed peculiar to some breed
of hogs and not to others? All porker
have had common origin.
Speed has been increased to its preser
rate not by son or daughter inher
ing qualities which the ancestors ha
acquired, but by sons and daughters IL
heriting mental and physical element
that are susceptible of greater spec
development through improved facilitit
and advancement of the trainers ar
The thoroughbred is the fastest runnC
in the world, not because his ancestor
were trained to run, but because Il
natural characteristics peculiar to hi
have been retained and intensified b
intelligent selection and in-brecdini
II Randall's Horse Register.