No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 321 



THE MARKET TYPES OF HORSES. 



By Dr. Caui. W. Gay. Philadeljthia, Pa. 



Since this subject has been announced, there has been issued by 

 the Illinois Experiment Station a bulletin, which treats of this 

 subject so extensively that I almost hesitate to take it up. If you 

 are familiar with it, I will be able to tell you nothing new, and 

 if you are not familiar with it, I would commend it to you. It is on 

 the ''Market Types of Horses," and it is a very excellent thing. 



Perhaps some of you recall from your own experience, a horse that 

 was sold either by you, or in your neighborhood, at an ordinary 

 market price, and later came reports of the fabulous price at which 

 the horse was sold later. I have known cases of this kind, and have 

 in mind one case where a horse was put on the market and sold for 

 fl49, and re-sold later for $5,000; of another where a horse that 

 was sold for |200, originally, was re-sold afterwards for three times 

 that amount. In fact, there are men who make it their business 

 to buy horses at reduced prices, where the breeder is obliged to 

 sell them, and then sell them to the consumer at the best price. 

 And yet there is good reason for this; these men take tbese horses 

 out of the bush, bring them up to where they can obtain the price 

 for them, and they are entitled fairly to what they can make on 

 them. The man who breeds the horses is usually the man who 

 makes little out of them; the man who handles them is the man 

 who makes the margin on them, and T believe the reason is that the 

 men who breed these horses are not familiar with the details of 

 horses. Horses will often not make as much money within thirty 

 per cent, for the man who breeds them as they will for the man 

 who buys them. In fact, they may turn the money several times. 

 Now, the man who produces this class does not discriminate. He 

 goes on the principle, very often that "pigs is pigs." These are the 

 men that will pay four dollars service, and breed to any old mare. 

 They think all they have to do is to breed horses in order to sell 

 them. You know the fallacy of this course. If you want to make 

 money out of horses, you have got to breed what the people want. 



It seems to me that the reason for this state of affairs is lack 

 of appreciation of details in horses. Tbere is as great a difference 

 In the variety of market horses as there is in the horses themselves. 

 There are details that make horses adapted to different kinds of 

 work, and of these details the breeder is too often ignorant. That is 

 vvhy I have chosen this subject. 



The farmer is the producer, and the great supply of market horses 

 comes from the farm, so he is the man directly concerned. My idea 

 is to have him inform himself in regard to the market requirements, 

 so that he will not be obliged to sacrifice his horses to the middle- 

 man. The market is simply the medium for exchange of commodi- 

 ties, and in this case the horse is the commodity. The type of horse 

 is usually distinguished by certain characteristics, and it is the sum 



21—7—1908. 



