It is not the purpose of this book to furnish statistical tables covering the great mass of trotting experiences, nor to consider the mysteries of the trainer’s art that have been so ably discussed by experienced and skillful men. But the real and only purpose is to place upon record the results of years devoted to historical research, at home and abroad; to dispel the illusions and humbugs that have clustered about the horse for many centuries; and to consider with some minuteness, which of necessity cannot be impersonal, the great industrial revolution that has been wrought in horse-breeding, and all growing out of a little unpretentious treatise written twenty-five years ago, which contained nothing more striking than a little bit of science and a little bit of sense intelligently commingled. The battle between the principles of this treatise and selfish prejudices and mental sterility, was long and bitter, but the truth prevailed, and in the production of the Driving Horse the teachings of that little paper have placed our country first among all the nations of the earth.
JOHN H. WALLACE.
New York: 40 West 93d Street.
September 1, 1897
CONTENTS.
| PAGES | |
| CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. | |
| General View of the Field Traversed | [1-23] |
| CHAPTER II. ORIGINAL HABITAT OF THE HORSE. | |
| No indications that the horse was originally wild—The steppes of High Asia and Arabia not tenable as his original home—Color not sufficient evidence —Impossibility of horses existing in Arabia in a wild state—No horses in Arabia until 356 A.D.—Large forces of Armenian, Median and Cappadocian cavalry employed more than one thousand seven hundred years B.C.—A breed of white race horses—Special adaptability of the Armenian country to the horse—Armenia a horse-exporting country before the Prophet Ezekiel—Devotion of the Armenian people to agricultural and pastoral pursuits through a period of four thousand years—All the evidences point to ancient Armenia as the center from which the horse was distributed | [24-35] |
| CHAPTER III. EARLY DISTRIBUTION OF HORSES. | |
| First evidences of horses in Egypt about 1700 B.C.—Supported by Egyptian records and history—The Patriarch Job had no horses—Solomon’s great cavalry force organized—Arabia as described by Strabo at the beginning of our era—No horses then in Arabia—Constantius sends two hundred Cappadocian horses into Arabia A.D. 356—Arabia the last country to be supplied with horses—The ancient Phœnician merchants and their colonies—Hannibal’s cavalry forces in the Punic Wars—Distant ramifications of Phœnician trade and colonization—Commerce reached as far as Britain and the Baltic—Probable source of Britain’s earliest horses | [36-50] |
| CHAPTER IV. THE ARABIAN HORSE. | |
| The Arabian, the horse of romance—The horse naturally foreign to Arabia —Superiority of the camel for all Arabian needs—Scarcity of horses in Arabia in Mohammed’s time—Various preposterous traditions of Arab horsemanship—The Prophet’s mythical mares—Mohammed not in any sense a horseman—Early English Arabians—the Markham Arabian—The alleged Royal Mares—The Darley Arabian—The Godolphin Arabian—The Prince of Wales’ Arabian race horses—Mr. Blunt’s pilgrimage to the Euphrates—His purchases of so-called Arabians—Deyr as a great horse market where everything is thoroughbred—Failure of Mr. Blunt’s experiments—Various Arabian horses brought to America —Horses sent to our Presidents—Disastrous experiments of A. Keene Richards—Tendency of Arab romancing from Ben Hur | [51-66] |
| CHAPTER V. THE ENGLISH RACE HORSE. | |
| The real origin of the English race horse in confusion—Full list of the “foundation stock” as given by Mr. Weatherby one hundred years ago—The list complete and embraces all of any note—Admiral Rous’ extravaganza—Godolphin Arabian’s origin wholly unknown—His history—Successful search for his true portrait—Stubbs’ picture a caricature—The true portrait alone supplies all that is known of his origin and blood | [67-78] |
| CHAPTER VI. THE ENGLISH RACE HORSE (Continued). | |
| England supplied with horses before the Christian era—Bred for different purposes—Markham on the speed of early native horses—Duke of Newcastle on Arabians—His choice of blood to propagate—Size of early English horses—Difficulties about pedigrees in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—Early accumulations very trashy—The Galloways and Irish Hobbies—Discrepancies in size—The old saddle stock—The pacers wiped out—Partial revision of the English Stud Book | [79-89] |
| CHAPTER VII. THE AMERICAN RACE HORSE. | |
| Antiquity of American racing—First race course at Hempstead Plain, 1665—Racing in Virginia, 1677—Conditions of early races—Early so-called Arabian importations—The marvelous tradition of Lindsay’s “Arabian”—English race horses first imported about 1750—The old colonial stock as a basis—First American turf literature—Skinner’s American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, 1829—Cadwallader R. Colden’s Sporting Magazine, short-lived but valuable—The original Spirit of the Times—Porter’s Spirit of the Times—Wilkes’ Spirit of the Times, 1859—Edgar’s Stud Book—Wallace’s Stud Book—Bruce’s Stud Book—Their history, methods and value—Summing up results, showing that success has followed breeding to individuals and families that could run and not to individuals and families that could not run, whatever their blood | [90-107] |
| CHAPTER VIII. COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY—VIRGINIA. | |
| Hardships of the colonists—First importations of horses—Racing prevalent in the seventeenth century—Exportations and then importations prohibited—Organized horse racing commenced 1677 and became very general—In 1704 there were many wild horses in Virginia and they were hunted as game—The Chincoteague ponies accounted for—Jones on life in Virginia, 1720—Fast early pacers, Galloways and Irish Hobbies—English race horses imported—Moreton’s Traveler probably the first—Quarter racing prevailed on the Carolina border—Average size and habits of action clearly established—The native pacer thrown in the shade by the imported runner—An Englishman’s prejudices | [108-119] |
| CHAPTER IX. COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY—NEW YORK. | |
| Settlement of New Amsterdam—Horses from Curaçoa—Prices of Dutch and English horses—Van der Donck’s description and size of horses—Horses to be branded—Stallions under fourteen hands not to run at large—Esopus horse—Surrender to the English, 1664—First organized racing—Dutch horses capable of improvement in speed—First advertised Subscription Plate—First restriction, contestants must “be bred in America”—Great racing and heavy betting—First importations of English running horses—Half-breds to the front—True foundation of American pedigrees—Half-bushel of dollars on a side—Resolutions of the Continental Congress against racing—Withdrawal of Mr. James De Lancey—Pacing and trotting contests everywhere—Rip Van Dam’s horse and his cost | [120-127] |
| CHAPTER X. COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY—NEW ENGLAND. | |
| First importations to Boston and to Salem—Importations from Holland brought high prices—They were not pacers and not over fourteen hands—In 1640 horses were exported to the West Indies—First American newspaper and first horse advertisement—Average sizes—The different gaits—Connecticut, first plantation, 1636—Post horses provided for by law—All horses branded—Sizes and Gaits—An Englishman’s experience with pacers—Lindsay’s Arabian—Rhode Island, Founded by Roger Williams, 1636—No direct importations ever made—Horses largely exported to other colonies 1690—Possibly some to Canada—Pacing races a common amusement—Prohibited, 1749—Size of the Narragansetts compared with the Virginians | [128-134] |
| CHAPTER XI. COLONIAL HORSE HISTORY—PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY, MARYLAND, CAROLINA. | |
| Penn’s arrival in 1682—Horse racing prohibited—Franklin’s newspaper—Conestoga horses—Sizes and gaits—Swedish origin—Acrelius’ statement—New Jersey—Branding—Increase of size—Racing, Pacing and Trotting restricted—Maryland—Racing and Pacing restricted 1747—Stallions of under size to be shot—North Carolina—First settler refugees—South Carolina—Size and gait in 1744—Challenges—No running blood in the colony, 1744—General view | [135-141] |
| CHAPTER XII. EARLY HORSE HISTORY—CANADA. | |
| Settlement and capture of Port Royal—Early plantations—First French horses brought over 1665—Possibly illicit trading—Sire of “Old Tippoo”—His history—“Scape Goat” and his descendants—Horses of the Maritime Provinces | [142-153] |
| CHAPTER XIII. ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF THE PACING HORSE. | |
| The mechanism of the different gaits—The Elgin Marbles—Britain becomes a Roman province—Pacers in the time of the Romans—Bronze horses of Venice—Fitz Stephen, the Monk of Canterbury—Evidence of the Great Seals—What Blundeville says—What Gervaise Markham says—What the Duke of Newcastle says—The amble and the pace one and the same—At the close of Elizabeth’s reign—The Galloways and Hobbies—Extinction of the pacer—The original pacer probably from the North—Polydore Virgil’s evidence—Samuel Purchas’ evidence—The process of wiping out the pacer—King James set the fashion—All foreign horses called “Arabians”—The foreigners larger and handsomer—Good roads and wheeled vehicles dispensed with the pacer—Result of prompting Mr. Euren—Mr. Youatt’s blunder—Other English gentlemen not convinced there ever were any pacers | [154-171] |
| CHAPTER XIV. THE AMERICAN PACER AND HIS RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN TROTTER. | |
| Regulations against stallions at large—American pacers taken to the West Indies—Narragansett pacers; many foolish and groundless theories about their origin—Dr. McSparran on the speed of the pacer—Mr. Updike’s testimony—Mr. Hazard and Mr. Enoch Lewis—Exchanging meetings with Virginia—Watson’s Annals—Matlack and Acrelius—Rip Van Dam’s horse—Cooper’s evidence—Cause of disappearance—Banished to the frontier—First intimation that the pace and the trot were essentially one gait—How it was received—Analysis of the two gaits—Pelham, Highland Maid, Jay-Eye-See, Blue Bull—The pacer forces himself into publicity—Higher rate of speed—Pacing races very early—Quietly and easily developed—Comes to his speed quickly—His present eminence not permanent—The gamblers carried him there—Will he return to his former obscurity? | [172-189] |
| CHAPTER XV. THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE. | |
| The saddle gaits come only from the pacer—Saddle gaits cultivated three hundred years ago—Markham on the saddle gaits—The military seat the best—The unity of the pace and trot—Gaits analyzed—Saddle Horse Register—Saddle horse progenitors—Denmark not a thoroughbred horse | [190-195] |
| CHAPTER XVI. THE WILD HORSES OF AMERICA. | |
| The romances of fifty years ago—Was the horse indigenous to this country?—The theories of the paleontologists not satisfactory—Pedigrees of over two millions of years too long—Outlines of horses on prehistoric ruins, evidently modern—The linguistic test among the oldest tribes of Indians fails to discover any word for “Horse”—The horses abandoned west of the Mississippi by the followers of De Soto about 1541 were the progenitors of the wild horses of the plains | [196-204] |
| CHAPTER XVII. MESSENGER AND HIS ANCESTORS. | |
| Messenger the greatest of all trotting progenitors—Record of pedigrees in English Stud Book—Pedigrees made from unreliable sources—Messenger’s right male line examined—Flying Childers’ “mile in a minute”—Blaze short of being thoroughbred—Sampson, a good race horse—His size; short in his breeding—Engineer short also—Mambrino was a race horse with at least two pacing crosses; distinguished as a progenitor of coach horses and fast trotters—Messenger’s dam cannot be traced nor identified—Among all the horses claiming to be thoroughbred he is the only one that founded a family of trotters—This fact conceded by eminent writers in attempting to find others | [205-221] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. HISTORY OF MESSENGER. | |
| Messenger’s racing in England—His breeder unknown—Popular uncertainty about the circumstances and date of his importation—The matter settled by his first advertisement—Uncertainty as to his importer—Description of Messenger by David W. Jones, of Long Island—Careful consensus of descriptions by many who had seen Messenger—His great and lasting popularity as a stock horse—Places and prices of his services for twenty years—Death and burial | [222-231] |
| CHAPTER XIX. MESSENGER’S SONS. | |
| Hambletonian (Bishop’s) pedigree not beyond doubt—Cadwallader R. Colden’s review of it—Ran successfully—Taken to Granville, N. Y.—Some of his descendants—Mambrino, large and coarse in appearance—Failure as a runner—Good natural trotter—His most famous sons were Abdallah, Almack, and Mambrino Paymaster—Winthrop or Maine Messenger and his pedigree and history—Engineer and the tricks of his owners—Certainly a son of Messenger—Commander—Bush Messenger, pedigree and description—Noted as the sire of coach horses and trotters—Potomac—Tippoo Saib—Sir Solomon—Ogden Messenger, dam thoroughbred—Mambrino (Grey)—Black Messenger—Whynot, Saratoga, Nestor, Delight—Mount Holly, Plato, Dover Messenger, Coriander, Fagdown, Bright Phœbus, Slasher, Shaftsbury, Hotspur, Hutchinson Messenger and Cooper’s Messenger—Abuse of the name “Messenger.” | [232-254] |
| CHAPTER XX. MESSENGER’S DESCENDANTS. | |
| History of Abdallah—Characteristics of his dam, Amazonia—Speculations as to her blood—Description of Abdallah—Almack, progenitor of the Champion line—Mambrino Paymaster, sire of Mambrino Chief—History and pedigree—Mambrino Messenger—Harris’ Hambletonian—Judson’s Hambletonian—Andrus’ Hambletonian, sire of the famous Princess, Happy Medium’s dam | [255-266] |
| CHAPTER XXI. HAMBLETONIAN AND HIS FAMILY. | |
| The greatest progenitor in Horse History—Mr. Kellogg’s description, and comments thereupon—An analysis of Hambletonian, structurally considered—His carriage and action—As a three-year-old trotter—Details of his stud service—Statistics of the Hambletonian family—History and ancestry of his dam, the Charles Kent Mare—Her grandson, Green’s Bashaw, and his dam | [267-283] |
| CHAPTER XXII. HAMBLETONIAN’S SONS AND GRANDSONS. | |
| Different opinions as to relative merits of Hambletonian’s greater sons—George Wilkes, his history and pedigree—His performing descendants—History and description of Electioneer—His family—Alexander’s Abdallah and his two greatest sons, Almont and Belmont—Dictator—Harold—Happy Medium and his dam—Jay Gould—Strathmore—Egbert—Aberdeen—Masterlode—Sweepstakes—Governor Sprague, grandson of Hambletonian | [284-314] |
| CHAPTER XXIII. MAMBRINO CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY. | |
| Description and history of Mambrino Chief—The pioneer trotting stallion of Kentucky—Matched against Pilot Jr.—His best sons—Mambrino Patchen, his opportunities and family—Woodford Mambrino, a notable trotter and sire—Princeps—Mambrino Pilot—Clark Chief—Fisk’s Mambrino Chief Jr.—Ericsson | [315-320] |
| CHAPTER XXIV. THE CLAYS AND BASHAWS. | |
| The imported Barb, Grand Bashaw—Young Bashaw, an inferior individual —His greatest son, Andrew Jackson—His dam a trotter and pacer—His history—His noted son, Kemble Jackson—Long Island Black Hawk—Henry Clay, founder of the Clay family—Cassius M. Clay—The various horses named Cassius M. Clay—George M. Patchen—His great turf career—George M. Patchen Jr.—Harry Clay—The Moor, and his son Sultan’s family | [321-337] |
| CHAPTER XXV. AMERICAN STAR, PILOT, CHAMPION, AND NORMAN FAMILIES. | |
| Seely’s American Star—His fictitious pedigree—Breeding really unknown—A trotter of some merit—His stud career—His daughters noted brood mares—Conklin’s American Star—Old Pacing Pilot—History and probable origin—Pilot Jr.—Pedigree—Training and races—Prepotency—Family statistics summarized—Grinnell’s Champion, son of Almack—His sons and performing descendants—Alexander’s Norman and his sire, the Morse Horse—Swigert and Blackwood | [338-351] |
| CHAPTER XXVI. THE BLUE BULL AND OTHER MINOR FAMILIES. | |
| Blue Bull, the once leading sire—His lineage and history—His family rank—The Cadmus family—Pocahontas—Smuggler—Tom Rolfe—Young Rolfe and Nelson—The Tom Hal Family—The various Tom Hals—Brown Hal—The Kentucky Hunters—Flora Temple—Edwin Forrest—The Drew Horse and his descendants—The Hiatogas | [352-365] |
| CHAPTER XXVII. THE BLACK HAWK, OR MORGAN FAMILY. | |
| Characteristics of the Morgans—History of the original Morgan—The fabled pedigree—The true Briton theory—Justin Morgan’s breeding hopelessly unknown—Sherman Morgan—Black Hawk—His disputed paternity—His dam called a Narragansett—Ethan Allen—His great beauty, speed, and popularity—The Flying Morgan claim baseless—His dam of unknown blood—His great race with Dexter—Daniel Lambert, the only successful sire of the Black Hawk line | [366-389] |
| CHAPTER XXVIII. THE ORLOFF TROTTER, BELLFOUNDER AND THE ENGLISH HACKNEY. | |
| Orloffs, the only foreign trotters of merit—Count Alexis Orloff, founder of the breed—Origin of the Orloff—Count Orloff began breeding in 1770—Smetanka, Polkan, and Polkan’s son, Barss, really the first Orloff trotting sire—The Russian pacers—Their great speed—Imported Bellfounder—His history and characteristics—Got little speed—His descendants—The English Hackney—Not a breed, but a mere type—The old Norfolk trotters—Hackney experiments in America—Superiority of the trotting-bred horse demonstrated in show ring contests | [390-408] |
| CHAPTER XXIX. INVESTIGATION OF DISPUTED PEDIGREES. | |
| Tendency to misrepresentation—The Bald Galloway and Darley Arabian—Godolphin Arabian—Early experiences with trotting pedigrees—Mr. Backman’s honest methods—Shanghai Mary—Capt. Rynders and Widow Machree—Woodburn Farm and its pedigree methods—Victimized by “horse sharps” and pedigree makers—Alleged pedigree of Pilot Jr. conclusively overthrown—Pedigrees of Edwin Forrest, Norman, Bay Chief and Black Rose—Maud S. pedigree exhaustively considered—Captain John W. Russell never owned the mare Maria Russell—The deadly parallel columns settle it | [409-431] |
| CHAPTER XXX. INVESTIGATION OF DISPUTED PEDIGREES (Continued). | |
| How Belle of Wabash got her pedigree—Specimen of pedigree making in that day and locality—Search for the dam of Thomas Jefferson—True origin and history of Belle of Wabash—Facts about the old-time gelding Prince—The truth about Waxy, the grandam of Sunol—Remarkable attempts to make a pedigree out of nothing—How “Jim” Eoff worked a “tenderfoot”—Pedigree of American Eclipse—Pedigree of Boston—Tom Bowling and Aaron Pennington—Chenery’s Grey Eagle—Pedigree of George Wilkes in doubt | [432-455] |
| CHAPTER XXXI. HOW THE TROTTING HORSE IS BRED. | |
| Early trotting and pacing races—Strains of blood in the first known trotters—The lesson of Maud S.—The genesis of trotting horse literature—The simple study of inheritance—The different forms of heredity—The famous quagga story not sustained—Illustrations in dogs—Heredity of acquired characters and instincts—Development of successive generations necessary—Unequaled collections of statistics—Acquired injuries and unsoundness transmitted | [456-479] |
| CHAPTER XXXII. HOW THE TROTTING HORSE IS BRED (Continued). | |
| Trotting speed first supposed to be an accident—Then, that it came from the runner—William Wheelan’s views—Test of powers of endurance—The term “thoroughbred” much abused—Definition of “thoroughbred”—How trotters may be made “thoroughly bred”—How to study pedigrees—Reward offered for the production of a thoroughbred horse that was a natural pacer—The trotter more lasting than the runner—The dam of Palo Alto—Arion as a two-year-old—Only three stallions have been able to get trotters from running-bred mares—“Structural incongruity”—The pacer and trotter inseparable—How to save the trot and reduce the ratio of pacers—Development a necessity—Table proving this proposition—The “tin cup” policy a failure—Woodburn at the wrong end of the procession | [480-507] |
| CHAPTER XXXIII. HOW THE TROTTING HORSE IS BRED (Continued). | |
| Breeding the trotter intelligently an industry of modern development—Plethora of turf papers, and their timidity of the truth—The accepted theories, old and new—Failure of the “thoroughbred blood in the trotter” idea—“Thoroughbred foundations,” and the Register—“Like begets like,” the great central truth—Long-continued efforts to breed trotters from runners—New York the original source of supply of trotting blood to all the States—Kentucky’s beginning in breeding trotters—R. A. Alexander, and the founding of Woodburn—The “infallibility” of Woodburn pedigrees—Refusal to enter fictitious crosses in the Register and the results—The genesis and history of the standard—Its objects, effects, and influence—Establishing the breed of trotters—The Kentucky or “Pinafore” standard—Its purposes analyzed—The “Breeders’ Trotting Stud Book” and how it was compiled—Failure and collapse of the Kentucky project—Another unsuccessful attempt to capture the Register—How honest administration of the Register made enemies—The National Breeders’ Association and the Chicago Convention—Detailed history of the sale and transfer of the Register, the events that led up to it, and the results—Personal satisfaction and benefits from the transfer, and the years of rest and congenial study in preparing this book—The end | [508-546] |
| APPENDIX. HISTORY OF THE WALLACE PUBLICATIONS. By a Friend of the Author. | |
| Mr. Wallace’s early life and education—Removal to Iowa, 1845—Secretary Iowa State Board of Agriculture—Begins work, 1856, on “Wallace’s American Stud Book,” published 1867—Method of gathering pedigrees—Trotting Supplement—Abandons Stud Book, 1870, and devotes exclusive attention to trotting literature—“American Trotting Register,” Vol. I., published in 1871—Vol. II. follows in 1874—The valuable essay on breeding the forerunner of present ideas—Standard adopted 1879—Its history—Battles for control of the “Register”—Wallace’s Monthly founded 1875—Its character, purposes, history, writers, and artists—“Wallace’s Year Book” founded 1885—Great popularity and value—Transfer of the Wallace publications, and their degeneration | [547-559] |