Trotting

Trotting, as a specially-cultivated pace, is more in vogue in America than in Great Britain or in Europe, though the best strain of American blood comes from trotting-horses introduced from the English county of Norfolk. Russia, too, has cultivated trotting. A horse is trained to trot by the use of toe-weights, and is worth in America and Canada from £50 to £20,000, according to his breed and degree of excellence in performance. The best blood is descended from a gray stallion called Messenger, who was imported from England in 1788; and his descendant Hambletonian (champion trotter of 1849) had also a strain of Bell-founder, who came from Norfolk. At Haarlem in 1806 a speed of one mile in 2 min, 50 sec. was attained, but in 1891 the mile was covered in 2 min. 8-1/4 sec. In 1894, however, this record was beaten, the distance being covered in 2 min. 3-3/4 sec.; while a pacing mile was covered in 1896 in 2 min. O-1/2 sec.