As this horse Denmark was by far the greatest of all saddle-horse progenitors, and as his superiority has been widely attributed to his “thoroughbred” sire Denmark, the son of imported Hedgford, I have taken some pains to examine his pedigree. His sire was thoroughbred, his dam and grandam were mongrels, and the remoter crosses were impossible fictions. The fact that he ran four miles cuts no figure as evidence of purity of blood, for horses were running four miles in this country before the first “thoroughbred” was born. Of the fourteen stallions that are inserted as “Foundation Stock,” it is unfortunate that the choice seems to be practically restricted to the State of Kentucky, while the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee, to say nothing of Illinois, Missouri, etc., have produced numbers of families and tribes that are much more prominent and valuable from the true saddle-horse standpoint than some that appear in the select list of fourteen. It is doubtless true, however, that more attention has been paid to symmetry and style, and to the correct development and culture of the true saddle gaits, in Kentucky than in any of the other States. With such horses as Gaines’ Denmark, John Dillard, Tom Hal, Brinker’s Drennon, Texas, Peters’ Halcorn, and Copperbottom the list is all right, but the other half-dozen are mostly young and have hardly been heard of outside of their own immediate neighborhoods. It is a notable fact that old Pacing Pilot does not appear as the progenitor of a saddle family. In considering the comparative merits of the leading foundation stallions we find that Denmark was not a success in any direction except as the sire of handsome and stylish saddle horses. John Dillard may not have been the equal of Denmark, in the elegance of his progeny, but he far surpassed him in his valuable relations to the trotter. His daughters became quite famous as the producers of trotters of a high order, and they have over twenty in the 2:30 list. The Tom Hals have developed phenomenal speed at the pace, and a great deal of it, interspersed with but few trotters. Of late years many owners of the very best material for saddle stock have given their whole attention to the development of speed, either at the lateral or diagonal motion, because it has been deemed more profitable. In thus selecting, breeding and developing for extreme speed, the adaptation to saddle purposes has been lost or bred out. While it is true that some colts come into the world endowed with all the saddle gaits, it is also true that skill and patience are requisite in teaching the saddle horse good manners. There is no imaginable use to which the horse can be put where he will show his beautiful form and thorough education to so great advantage as under the saddle. CHAPTER XVI. THE WILD HORSES OF AMERICA.