INTRODUCTION.



think I should never haye undertaken to write regarding them. I
will not speak lightly of the horse literature of the day in this con-
nection; it has been of value to me, but that which has taught me
most, was my mingling with and close study of the animals.
  I am not a journalist, and have no interest in one. I never wrote
an article in my life for pecuniary recompense. In my sketches of
the vanrons trotting stallions I have at all times declined recompense,
being unwilling to be placed under any obligations to the owners-
other than that which I owed tw the reading public-to be fair and
faithful in portraying -xcellences or in delineating faults. In some
instances the owners of protminent stallions have tendered me the
compliment of the gratuitous service of a stallion-which, as a breeder
I have felt at all times at liberty to accept-but in no case at the
expense of an unfair or unfaithful expression of opinion with reference
to the particular animal or any other.
  My readers have the assurance that the opinions herein expressed
are my own-so far as they purport to he-and io one else is to be
held accountable for them or accredited with them. Whether they
be approved or assailed, as they have in each case, in the past, makes
no difference with me. Such is the privilege of every one in this
country.
  That my methods of studying and describing horses have been
novel to some of the writing genitlenien. is not singular. They never
studied horses in that way, and it may also be said, that from their
descriptions in many cases, their realers never derived much informna-
tion. Superficiality has never been one of my standards in the inves-
tigation of any subject, and if my delineations of the composition,
blood traits, conformation and charweteristics of horses have differed
from the stereotyped foni long in use, it has been the result of the
difference in my methods of study and investigation pursued.
  Some regard it as a matter of delicacy to write or speak of the
respective merits of other people's stock-and it is said that this stal-
lion business is a sensitive spot: I have no such feeling. All breed-
ers have a common interest in the general improvement of stock in this
country, and information relative to the subject is the property of all
who can fairly obtain it.
  If a stallion posesses qualities unknown to the public, they look,
in'great part, to the stock journals to learn his value; and if a rank
has been given to or claimed for an animal which is not justiied by
his merits, any one desiring to read, has a just right to correct infor-



vi