A Country Reader (Volume 1); Book 1- (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3principally for galloping, they are bad trotters and walkers they do not lift their legs well off the ground and are seldom used for hunting or carriage work. The Trotter The trotting horse is purely an American development, although the animals from which TROTTING 1IOR8E. this breed it. is now generally recognized as a breed was originated, were English horses. The trotting gait is the result of most carefultraining. But in order to attain the trotting gait it is necessary that the animal have certain tendencies or instincts the trotting instincts, as they are called. The trotting instinct is secured by the most careful breeding. The trotter is a lineal descend- TROTTING HORSE IN ACTION. ant of the English thoroughbred. From the thoroughbred the courage and stamina of the Oriental blood are obtained, and from selected individuals the energy and speed of the racer, combined with a decided talent or instinct to acquire easily the trotting gait. The resultis the remarkable combination of qualities which has made the American trotter a possibility. It is a pity that so much notoriety and scandal have become attached to horse-racing. The excitement incident upon a contest of speed and endurance between well-bred and well-trained animals is natural, and it is likely that love of excitement and sport has been honestly inherited by the human race. But how few are able to attend a horse-race, as conducted nowadays, and witness the exciting sport without adding to it the unnatural and debasing excitement of the betting ring. Too often the shouts of the multitude at a great race are due more to the exultation of the "winners" than to the plaudits of a sport-loving crowd given to the victor of a hard-fought contest. This is not as it should be. Would that our race-courses...