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GRADUAL GROWTH OF HORSES Average Height Has Gone Up More Than a Hand in Fifty Years Dr J O Green one of the organizers of the jucciis County Drag Hounds back in 1877 is of the opinion that the average thoroughbred race horse has increased in height nearly or quite four inches since he began going to the races in the days of Jerome Park ParkContrary Contrary to common belief Unit races tend to produce small horses while short races develop large ones Leastways that is the apparent lesson of turf history both here and in England In the days of the Darley Arabian and Godolphin Arabian when nearly all races were at fourmile heats the average height of the winners was not far from fifteen hands In the second half of the eighteenth century it was about 131 hands and until the middle of the nineteenth century it was under 133 hands according to Hurchard von Oettingen Hend Or St Simon Ormonde and Persimmon repre ¬ sentative horses of the last years of that century were 10 hands and over and today when heat races and fourmile races are unknown and the average distance inn has dwindled down to less than one mile the average height of our sprinters is prob ¬ ably upward of Kil hands while very many are above K hands handsThe The celebrated English turfman Admiral Kims about tifty years ago maintained that the Hritish thoroughbred had risen in stature at the rate of one inch in twentylive years for more than a century and a half Dr Greens estimate for the last half century credits him witli a still more rapid increase in height heightIn In speaking of the changes lie has seen in Ameri ¬ can horses Dr Green said the other day that while the runners were growing larger the trotters had decreased perceptibly in size They an be ¬ coming more blood like all the time he thinks and a good many of them today have the long line necks of the thoroughbreds also the depth through the heart anil lungs Hut they are losing their oldtime substance in some measure and are in short growing more like the running horse in con ¬ formation and quality New York Herald
