The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-12
EVOLUTION OF THE TROTTER.
Prof. Brewer Expects to See Many
TvO-Minute Harness Horses

4
says that not only will the trotting
record be lowered to two minutes for the
mile. but that large number of horses
will be bred which viii be able to cover
the distance in that time.
Twenty years ago." said Prof. Brewer
yesterday, II went on record as stating
that by the end of the nineteenth century
| there would be a two-minute light har-
ness record l did not specify whether
ii would be for trotting or for pacing. At
the time / made my prediction indications
were that it would be in trotting, but
later developments proved that pacing
was to develop more rapidly than trot-
ting.
THE problem of lowering the record to
its finest point is not, however, primarily
one of gait but of breeding. Whether
the pace or the trot will eventually prove
the faster cannot be speculated upon with
any degree of certainty. When the breed
ing of race horses is carried to its per-
lection the light harness records will
touch their lowest possible mark. But
this is somewhat distant, and incidental
calculations of gait, track, and carriage
| are to be reckoned upon before it is
| reached. PAGERS and trotters are being
| bred together and there is no indication,
therefore. that the pacing record will go
much lower than that of the trot; neither
is the reverse certain.
Il said twenty years ago that 1 would
| leave 1t to the mathematician to deter
mine how fast horses would ultimately
trot and how long before that maximum
would be reached. Two mathematician,
/ Pickering of the Institute of Technology,
and Knifer of the University of St. Louis.
have written papers attacking the theory.
| but / refer to recent reductions in
| records to support the claims advanced
/ then.
| zone reason why 1t is logical to suppose
| that the trotting record has not reached
| its lowest figure is that at no time in the
! history of trotting have there been doz-
en- horses who have come within five sec
onds of the best time on record. On the
| contrary, more than 200 horses had run
within five and a quarter seconds of the
running record of :39A when / made out
my table covering nineteen years of per-
/ formances on the turf. That statement
means that the thoroughbred, which has
! been bred for speed on the run for more
/ than two centuries, has reached the limit
/ of his speed in breeding The statement
| that few PAGERS or trotters have at any
| time approached the record, whatever it
has been, shows that the speed limit for
| trotters has not been approached in
| breeding.
! Il will make one statement In general
| on this point: In the course of time a
large number of horses will be bred to
/ trot as fast as the fastest time and that
time will be less than two minutes.
1T is a matter of interest to US in Con-
necticut in recalling the record-breaking
performances of Cresceus, to remember
tI.t
trotter was in this State. This was in
17Ss. when Game Leg was advertised for
sale in North Guiford by William Fowler.
1t is only in late years that stations have
been fast. All the record-breakers have
been mares or geldings.
As far as | can learn, the word PAGER
originated in Connecticut. The pace is
closely allied to the amble. which was the
form of racing most popular for long
time. An amble is partial but not
square pace. When horses were trained
for amblng it might have been a pace
or it might not have been.
Nearly all the writers dismissed the
trot with few words. but devoted much
to the amble. In fact, the trot is usual
ly spoken of with positive contempt. In
old French ballad. lie Lai du Trot'
ii is said that ladies who are Sind to their
husbands in this world may IN the next
ride on beautiful ambling palfreys. but
that those who are wicked will in the
next world have to ride trotting nags.
The American trotting horse is a very
modern production. Our ancestors did
not have the trotter, and what is more,
they did not want him. The horse has
been an essential factor in our civiliza-
ton. What kind of civilization we might
have attained without horses | cannot
say but II would not and could not have
been anything like that we have today
The higher the enlightenment of a people
the greater the variety of uses TO which
horses are applied. and the American
trottlng horse is a special product of the
highest. civilization the world has ever
seen.
What role the trotting horse has
played in the history of mankind can
along with nations. Take the history of
Mohammedanism. Mohammed and his
followers swept wherever the Arabian
horse and his armed rider could tread and |
no farther. The horse was the real stand |
ard-bearer of the Crescent. and where the
oriental war-horse was stopped the spirit |
OF Mohammedanism was stayed. The |
Moors went through Spain on their barbs |
and when they were driven back after |
centuries of occupation, It was the man |
ana not the horse who went back. Their |
blood remained and made the Spanish |
horse the most noted of Europe. When |
the Spanish horse was at its best Spain !
was at her height among nations and as |
her horses declined her CORY waned.
The Spanish Adventures brought their |
horses to America and played a pictur- |
esque part in the history of Peru and |
Me Nico. The Spanish horses We're the an |,
cestors Of those wild horses on the pla- |
teaus of Patagonia. The native Califor- |
MA horses of today show their barb orr |
gln. The spanish horses were carried to |
England to improve the breed of war |
horses and were an important element in |
the rise of British power They went TO
Holland and France and there helped to |
increase the national power and national
wealth.
But all this about horse to ride. a
horse that would walk when in no hurry,
or trot amble, rack or canter on the /
tired muscles, on the run sweep down
on the enemy like a whrwind and then |
retreat as swiftly as possible. Only run
ming horse is fit for such work
The trot is the gait for the carriage.
and so the history of the trotter is re-
lated to that Of the carriage. The great
est use of trotters is for light wagons
The present buggy with steel springs be-
gan to be used between 1920 and 1890 A
Roman Emperor in his triumphal chariot
must have been riding about as COM
fortably as he would have been in a mod
ern ox-cart. No one Travelled for pleas
ure in light carriages till steel springs !
came. Until then there was no need for
fast trotters. Such, wagons began to be
of general use when we had the go trut-
tiers.
The almost universal testimony of writ
ers VINO visited this country before the
present century is that the horses de-
generate in size. II they lost in size they
gained in hardness and endurance After
the War of independence pastures be-
came better roads better, there was more
wealth, more travel. and demand for
better horses. The English thoroughbreds, |
the best race horse in the world, was
then abundantly brought in, partly for
racing purposes and partly for the gem
eral Improvement OF horse stock, and
this blood, crossed with the hardy stock