The United States as a government has never until now conducted any horse-breeding experiments. Army officers have frequently tried to induce the War Department to start a breeding establishment so that remounts of a proper kind could be supplied to the cavalry. But the idea has never appealed to Congress, and in this particular direction nothing has been done. Dr. D. E. Salmon, the accomplished chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Agricultural Department, has inserted what may be the “entering-wedge” for at the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station a few mares and stallions have been assembled, and an effort will be made to breed a type of carriage horses, a type badly needed. Of this experiment Dr. Salmon says:

“In the countries of the world where horse breeding has been encouraged by government assistance the foundation has been native stock, and the key to successful work has been selection according to a certain type. Furthermore, with all due respect to Godolphin Arabian, the Darley Arabian and their contemporaries, the great factor in developing the Thoroughbred horse was the method of the English breeder, and more credit is due to native English stock and to environment than has generally been acknowledged. The Thoroughbred has been the great leavening power in developing English breeds of light horses; the trotter may bear the same relation to the horse stock of America.

“The trotter is found throughout the country wherever horses are raised, and any improvement in this breed affects in time the entire horse industry. The light harness classes can be supplied from this source, and there is no more effective way to provide a supply of suitable cavalry horses for the United States army than by showing how the native horse may be improved.

“That the trotter has faults no one will deny, and that the speed idea has been responsible for many of these faults and has caused many a man to become bankrupt are equally certain. If a horse can trot 2.10 or better it is reasonably certain that he will make money for his owner, and it matters not how homely or unsound he may be; but if the horse has bad looks and unsoundness, and also lacks speed, he will be unprofitable on the track, and can not be sold at a profitable price on the market, while, if used in the stud, his undesirable qualities are perpetuated. On the other hand, if the horse has a moderate speed, but is sound, handsome and stylish, with a shapely head and neck, a straight, strong back, straight croup, muscular quarters and stifles, well-set legs, possesses good all-round true action and has abundant endurance, he is almost certainly a profitable investment. This is the kind of light horse which the market wants and will pay for. If of the roadster type, he sells well as a driver; if more on the heavy harness order, as a carriage horse.

“The occurrence of trotting bred horses of the finest conformation is by no means uncommon; it is so frequent, indeed, that these animals supply not only the demand for roadsters, but the principal part of the fine city trade in carriage horses, and are conspicuous winners at the horse shows. The demand for such horses has been so keen that dealers have resorted to the pernicious practice of buying mature stallions, many of them valuable breeders, and castrating them to be sold later as carriage horses. The famous Lord Brilliant, three times winner of the Waldorf-Astoria gig cup at Madison Square Garden, is a notable instance of this practice; Lonzie, a noted Chicago show horse, is another, and the horse purchased for the department experiments (Carmon) narrowly escaped the same fate. This practice can not be too strongly condemned. There is reason to believe that if these stallions were used as the nucleus of a breed the type would in time become fixed and their blood be saved to the country. On the other hand, if steps are not taken to mould the blood of these horses into one breed, and preserve the blood lines which produce them, an irreparable loss to the industry will result. The first step should be to select foundation stock strictly according to type; the next to study the lines of breeding which produce these horses. To a certain extent they are accidents of breeding, but there is little doubt that certain families show a greater tendency in this direction than others. For example, the descendants of Alexander’s Abdallah, Harrison Chief, the Morgans and the Clay family have been more or less notable in this respect. Further, certain sires are known to produce handsome and marketable horses with regularity.

“In view of these facts, the department decided to undertake the development of a breed of carriage horses on an American foundation as an interesting and important problem for solution. If successful it will show that we can develop our own breeding stock of horses in this country; it will make light horse breeding less a lottery than it is at present, and will at the same time provide breeding animals which can be used profitably on the lighter horses of the country.

“After a thorough search the department has purchased as foundation stock eighteen mares and one stallion. In addition, it can command the services of additional stallions if desired. The instructions of the purchasing board allowed considerable latitude, but it was required to select strictly according to type. Hereditary unsoundness was regarded as a disqualification. Pedigree was not considered, so far as registration was concerned, but the board required evidence to be submitted showing that the animals purchased were from parents and ancestors of like type, thus insuring blood lines that would breed reasonably true. Speed, while not ignored, was not made an essential. Life, spirit, and energy, with moderate speed, were considered, and, while conformation was not sacrificed to speed, speed with conformation and good action was regarded as an advantage.

“The type for mares was one standing about 15.3 hands, weighing 1100 to 1150 pounds, bay, brown or chestnut in color, with stylish head and neck, full made body, deep ribs, straight back, strong loin, straight, full croup, muscular forearms, quarters and lower thighs; good all-round was insisted upon. Any tendency to pace or mix gaits was regarded as grounds for disqualification. In some cases mares of more than 15.3 hands were purchased and in others they were less than this. All, however, conformed closely to type. Some of the mares are in foal; the rest will be bred this spring.

“The ancestors of six mares purchased in Wyoming have been bred for five or six generations in that state, the band having been started by means of an importation of horses from the Central West which was largely Morgan stock. On this stock Thoroughbred and Standard sires have been used, and the herd has been developed more to produce a horse suitable for carriage purposes than one which had speed characteristics. Some of the six have been exhibited at the New York Horse Show, and the owner of the ranch maintains a stable near New York City, where he sends his surplus from year to year to be finished for the fine city trade.

“The search for a stallion to head the stud was the most difficult of all. An almost unlimited number of trotting horses suitable to get good carriage horses were recommended to the department, but on investigation it would be found that they were deficient in some respect and could not be considered. A horse was finally selected which was among the first suggested—Carmon 32907, American Trotting Horse Register, 16 hands, weighing 1200 pounds in fair condition, bay with black points and no white markings, bred by Norman J. Coleman, of St. Louis.

“The points of Carmon’s conformation which deserve special mention are his head and neck and hind quarters. His forehead is broad and full, with a straight nose and face; full, expressive eyes and well-carried ears. The neck is clean, muscular, and well arched. In the hind quarters special attention should be directed to the straight, broad croup and the muscular quarters and lower thighs. The horse has an abundance of bone and substance, but ample quality at the same time. His action is excellent.

“A study of Carmon’s pedigree shows that it is not a particularly fashionable one from the standpoint of the man who is breeding solely for speed. This is a pedigree from which one might expect a horse of excellent conformation. Robert McGregor, for example, was a horse with especially well-developed hind quarters and this characteristic is seen in his sons and grandsons, as shown by Cresceus and Carmon. Abdallah XV was a horse with a particularly attractive head and neck. The frequency with which the Abdallah cross appears in Carmon’s pedigree and the presence of Morgan, Mambrino Chief and Clay blood readily explains where this horse gets his handsome head and neck and his full quarters and stifles. These families have produced some of our handsomest horses. Their blood makes up nineteen-sixty-fourths of Carmon’s pedigree.

“The small percentage of pacing blood is worthy of particular notice. Further, the prominent trotting sires in it have produced more trotters than pacers, and Robert McGregor, Abdallah XV, and Ethan Allen are noteworthy for the small number of pacers sired by them or produced by their sons and daughters. This is so small that they may be regarded strictly as sires of trotters. Abdallah XV and Ethan Allen sired no pacers, and of the immediate get of Robert McGregor less than ten per cent are pacers.”^[8]

I need not explain to readers of this book that I do not entirely agree with Dr. Salmon in his views of the American trotting horse. But in the main I do agree with him in the selection of his mares. The stallion used to be known in the horse-show rings as Lawson’s Glorious Thunder Cloud. He never struck me as anything at all out of the common and I am astonished at his selection. He was a good wheeler in a four-in-hand, but that was all. In single harness he never won in any ordinary class at any important show. He seemed to me to lack quality and to be lacking in many of the things for which Dr. Salmon gives him praise. I trust, however, he will prove a better sire than he was a show horse, for the need for carriage horses is great; then it would be a great pity for this first official experiment to turn out badly. It will be watched with peculiar interest. But I wish Dr. Salmon had selected as his stallion a horse that was in blood and conformation similar to Clay-Kismet.