Live Stock Breeders' Association. 



275 



ket and had left the farmers and horse breeders with only a com- 

 paratively small number of horses on hand. This condition was ex- 

 aggerated greatly by the demoralized condition of the finances of 

 the nation. 



Then came the reaction. As the panic began to clear away 

 business sprang up, and the horse market became active in propor- 

 tion. But the demand increased at a much greater rate than did the 

 supply, and prices rose rapidly. The exportation of American 

 bred horses began shortly after the Columbian Exposition of 1893, 

 and served to strengthen the market greatly. The great mass of 

 horse breeders of the country, who had only a short time before 

 sold at a sacrifice their likely young brood mares, as well as the 

 older ones, now found themselves looking about for animals with 

 which to again start into the business. To regain the breeding 

 stock necessarily took three or four years, and to get horses to a 

 marketable age and condition took three or four more years. Dur- 

 ing that period of time the demand has been constantly growing be- 

 cause of the advancement and improvement in all parts of the coun- 



Rex McDonald, perhaps the greatest living saddle horse. Bred by Joseph McDonald, 

 Mexico, Mo. Now owned and kept in Columbia. 



try which can not be carried on successfully without vast numbers 

 of horses and mules, and we find the prices for these animals higher 

 than ever before. 



From the experiences of tjie past and the outlook for the future 

 there should be for the man of good judgment a profit far above 



