The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-05-29

QlVlduaIS. AT the beginning ~ our
horse show development the Eglish
hackney horse made his appeaance,
and, as things English are Always
popular in this country, he was we'll
exploited, and men of means inter-
ested in this subject, that q the
heavy harness horse. began to make
importations and establish stufs of
selected individuals. Prior to tbs
few American-bred trotting stations
had been taken 10 England, and we're
registered in the English hackney
stud book as hackneys. This WOULD
prove that the term hackney referred
more to a type than to recognized
family. AS the type desired and low
well known as hackney became IN
derstood, our dealers proceeded to
haekneyize our trotters.
"The late John S. Bratton was one
of the first to start this movement
He gathered together number d
trotters and taking them to England
won unqualified success in the show
lAAEO JAClC, anu IACu O1OpOoG0 OH
them as hackneys. This he repeated
number of times, and his success
in the show rings in England and
in this country started others in the
same line. Generally the horses that
were most successful in this were
unsexed trotting stations called
stays Chicago became the dis
tributing point for such horses; from
there buyers and dealers secured the
country, and to that point came buy
ers from every foreign country
Thousands upon thousands of the best
types of our trotters, both stations
and mares, passed through this mar
ket and were lost to our breeding in
terests, the majority of them being
exported. AS many of these stations
were old, and as emasculation was
necessary, they lost their name, iden-
tity and breeding, so it became the
fashion to trade in the individual,
whether stallion, mare or gelding,
without thought of history or pedi-
gree
while we were busily depicting
ourselves of our birthright, the for
eigners, encouraged by home govern
ment in breeding to type and quality,
and, aided by our industrious i'm
porters and dealers, were, and are
now, sending into this country by
thousands their product of coach bred
stock. While our country has pro-
duced and acquired a worlds repu-
tation for the best light and heavy
harness horses known, it has not been
through any aid from our Govern
ment in the way of education or 9th
erwise, nor has there been any organ
ization or means of education among
our breeders themselves. The de-
velopment of our horses has come
about altogether haphazard, and is so
the more surprising. With foreign
governments paying so much atten-
tion to the development of their
horses of different types and kinds,
and with their large expenditures in
accomplishing this work, the United
States must beware, or we will lose
larger part of our heritage, and be
compelled to buy abroad what we
should produce better at home.
Whether it be for track, road, car
riage, saddle, or army, the versatility
of the American trotter is what gives
him his peculiar value His blood
lines can be used to produce not only
the fast track horse, but the horse for
pleasure, and, what is more of in
terest to our Government, the horse
for army uses. Trained for genera
lions for contests of speed requiring
above all else good temper and per-
feet balance, he becomes singularly
capable and valuable when put to
other uses.
The Trotter as Race Horse.
"The trotter as a developed race
horse must have the elasticity of mus
Gle of the thoroughbred, and while
he must also have the highly deveI-
oped nervous power of that horse, it
must be under perfect control and
balance. His endurance must also be
of the highest order. These require
ments are what make him so valu-
able, This development has been
brought about by contest in racing,
and so to our trotting associations
and tracks we must look for the con-
tinued development of this horse, and
anything that affects their interests