88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tain sort of magnetic force running, ■which he recognizes just 

 as quickly as you do, and which will keep him about his busi- 

 ness exactly in accordance with the wants of his driver. 



Now, I say, this horse, which has grown up here, and which 

 you find everywhere in New England, alike in Vermont and 

 New Hampshire, in Maine and Massachusetts, — the American 

 horse of all work, — has been produced here until he has all 

 the spirit of American institutions. He has inherited a cer- 

 tain sort of common- sense, and knows what he is about. You 

 can harness him when he is a yearlins;, and he will behave 

 pretty w^ell. He has not only inherited the form which makes 

 him a good-shaped horse, but he has also inherited this moral 

 sense, so to speak, which makes him a good horse, so that you 

 can harness him and set him at work upon his inherited in- 

 stincts almost. He is superior to a thoroughbred, because he 

 has been born to a business life. He is a good business-horse, 

 superior to all others, because he has inherited from his father 

 and mother a capacity to draw at the plough, and knows 

 what the plough is; to pull on the wagon, and knows what 

 the wagon is ; and when the harness is put upon him, he feels 

 as much at home in that harness as the American boy does 

 when he puts on his first pair of pantaloons ; and this horse 

 knows this as much better than the thoroughbred does, as this 

 American boy starting out for school knows and feels his duty 

 and responsibility better than does the sou of an Indian. He 

 has inherited all those qualities which are useful and valuable 

 iu every-day life. I draw that distinction because you do not 

 find these qualities in a thoroughbred horse. The most impa- 

 tient, wild, unreasonable, stilted, daisy-cutting animal in the 

 W'Orld is the English thoroughbred. I should as soon expect 

 to get a good house-dog from a family of wolves, as a good, 

 substantial family horse from a family of thoroughbreds. This 

 thing has not yet been done, because the business of a thor- 

 oughbred is to contend, and not to submit. There is no pa- 

 tience in him. His ancestors had none, and he has none. 

 The whole business of life with horses known as thorough- 

 bred is to be brought up to the stand by twice as many boys 

 as there are horses, held firmly by the head, while they are 

 rushing and kicking and struggling so that the riders can hardly 

 keep their seats, until the word is given, when ofl' they go. 



