Annual Meeting 1101 



At the very outset wc find a very serious objection to the 

 thoroughbred in the rellection that the farm horse necessarily is 

 and must be a harness horse, which the thoroughbred has not been 

 for over 200 years. For all of that long period, he has been 

 bred for one purpose and one only, and that is to run (and of late 

 years to run short distances) under light weight. 



Over 200 years of breeding the thoroughbred with a view to 

 enabling him to fly at the gallop, and the incessant grooming and 

 rubbing and polishing he has received to render him fit for the 

 greatest flights of speed ; have made him about the most fragile 

 article in the equine kingdom. No other horse has a skin so 

 thin and hair so soft, fine and smooth. There is rarely one that 

 has been trained for any considerable time that does not show 

 saddle marks and abrasions of the skin where he has chafed. 

 Put him in harness where his sensitive skin would be rubbed by 

 the leather in a dozen places, instead of one, and it would be but 

 a very short time before he would be sore from shoulder to rump. 



Another thing that disqualifies the thoroughbred for our con- 

 sideration as a farm horse is the fact that he is incapable of 

 undergoing ordeals requiring strength and rugged endurance. 

 Go to any track where racing is in progress and you will see more 

 broken do^vn and crippled horses than can be found anywhere 

 else. It is rare to see a thoroughbred racing at six years or over. 

 lie is as a rule either retired or broken down before he reaches 

 that age — generally tho latter. Our thoroughln-ed friends tell 

 us that this is because he is called upon to put forth so mucJi 

 supreme effort and perform so many prodigious feats in his racing 

 career, but any one who is familiar with the requirements of the 

 work on a farm will find it easy to realize that in comparison, 

 the tasks of the thoroughbred are merely play. He is a very bad 

 walker, and at the trot, going cither fast or slow, his gait is de- 

 fective, lacking the easy knee action of the trotter, and placing 

 him at a disadvantage on plowed ground and in snow or other 

 heavy going, ITe has very long pasterns, ankles almost round 

 and very small feet, rendering him difficult to keep sound. Still 

 another disqualification of our thoroughbred friend is his temper 

 and disposition. He is what is called in breeding parlance a 

 hot-blooded horse and his temperamental intensity has been ac- 



