THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE

From: THE HORSE in The Stable and The Field: His Management in Health and Disease. By J.11. Walsh, F.R.C.S. from the Last London Edition.  With Copious Notes and Additions, By Robert McClure, M.D.,V.S., Author of "Diseases in the American Stable, Field, and Farmyard."  And an essay on the American Trotting Horse, and Suggestions on The Breeding and Training of Trotters.  By Ellwood Harvey, M.D.

1869 Stonehenge, McClure, and Harvey on the Horse. 

page 474

Canada has added something to our trotting stock.  In Lower Canada, where the earliest settlers were French, and brought with them a breed of horses now known in France as Normans, they have a breed of hardy, spirited, compactly built horses, descended from the larger French horse, inheriting much of this form and general appearance, but greatly diminished in size.  These Canadian horses are often called Cannucks, and by some are known as French horses, a designation likely to lead to misapprehension.  They are of all colors, with thick, long manes, heavy tails, and hairy legs.  Their heads are generally very good in size and form, faces dished, indicating gamy dispositions: necks well arched, often heavy in the crest but carried well up: backs short, rumps steep, particularly in those that pace: bodies round and roomy, the ribs sometimes projecting from the backbone nearly horizontally, giving a peculiar, flat appearance to the back.  Their legs are generally good, but somewhat inclined to spring in the knees: feet often narrow and mulish, but very durable.  In trotting they are usually short, quick steppers with very high knee action, and are spirited, trappy harness horses, and long-lived.  Theses horses are often said to be degenerated from their Norman ancestry by reason of the coldness of the climate, the long winters and scanty fare.  There have been numerous importations from France to this country of the choicest specimens of Norman horses, and an impartial comparison shows that the Canadian has gained in spirit and speed more than enough to compensate for all he has lost in size.

The best of the Canadians that ever came to the States was, probably, Pilot, a black pacing and trotting horse whose descendants inherited trotting speed.  He was often distinguished as Old Pacer Pilot.  Wallace's American Stud Book says of him: "Foaled about 1826.  Nothing is known of his pedigree.  He was called a Canadian horse, and both trotted and paced: at the latter gait, it is said, he went in 2m. 26s. with 165lbs. on his back.  He was bought about 1832 by Major O. Dubois, from a Yankee peddler in New Orleans, for $1000.  He was afterwards sold to D.Heinsohn of Louisville, Ky., and was kept in that vicinity until he died about 1855.  His stock were very stout and fast."  As nothing is known of his pedigree, and as he was in all appearance a genuine Cannuck, it is likely that he did not owe anything to Messenger.  One of his get, Alexander's Pilot, Jr., out of Nancy Pope by Havoc, was the sire of many fast trotters, the fastest of which was John Morgan, out of a mare by Medoc and he by American Eclipse.  The dam of Mambrino Pilot was also by Pilot, Jr., and, like John Morgan, was of Messenger descent on the dam's side.  Though the best of the descendants of Old Pilot are part Messenger, there is none of that blood in Pilot, Jr., and it must be confessed that Old Pilot sired some very good horses that took the trotting all from himself. 

Another horse of Canadian origin, though not a Cannuck, deserves notice in this connection.  Royal George, called Warrior before he came to the States, the sire of the fast stallion Toronto Chief, and several other good trotters, was a native of Canada and probably out of a Cannuck mare, but his sire was Black Warrior, and he by an imported English horse.

Some very good colts have been bred out of Cannucks by good trotting stallions.  Thus the celebrated sons of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, Bruno and the Brother of Bruno, and their full sister Brunette, are out of a Canadian mare.  At three years old Bruno made the astonishing time of 2m. 39s. in harness.  At four years old, 2m. 30s. and 2m. 34s.  At six years old he trotted to the pole with Brunette, seven years old, on the Fashion Course in 2m. 35 1/4s.

Gift a chestnut gelding by Mambrino Pilot, was out of a small pacing Cannuck.  At our years old he received five forfeits, and challenged, through the Spirit of the Times, any colt of the same age to trot in harness or to wagon for $1000, without being accepted.  Though these colts are out of Canadian mares, it must be considered that the mares themselves were not very fast, and the Rysdyk's Hambletonian and Mambrino Pilot are the best two trotting foal getters in the world.  The bay stallion St.Lawrence, the sire of several fast trotters, was a Canadian, and one of the best of his breed.  He died at Kalamazoo in 1858. 

Ellwood Harvey