134 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



rather long-legged, with small head and pointed nozzle, light wiry neck, 

 narrow chest, well-sprung ribs, a fine strong back and loin, and long hind 

 quarters. The mane and tail of the thoroughbred are usually light, their 

 hair fine, and skin thin. Always high spirited — too spirited for quiet work — 

 their great energy, endurance, and fineness of texture, have made them 

 invaluable for improving coarse dull breeds. Of course their gait unfits them 

 for harness work. The name tliorouglihred belongs to this class by common 

 usage, and should not be applied to any other breed. 



The trotter is entirely an American institution, usually an American plaything ; 

 (the whole institution is the American millionaire behind a 2:20 span at a 

 2:20 gait) and, although of no established form, color, size, or weight, is 

 entitled to be called a distinct breed. Trotting horses vary from J4 to 17 

 hands in hight, from 700 to 1,400 pounds in weight, from the slight form of 

 the runner to the chunky form of the draft horse, and from a dirty gray, 

 dingy, dim, flea-bitten roan or calico, to the most fashionable bay, brown, 

 black, and chestnut. On the track they seem thin, slim, and long-legged. 

 Like Oassius, " they have a lean and hungry look," but many of them are 

 powerfully muscled, and have sufficient size and force for any ordinary work. 

 The mental organization, instincts, and physical conformation of the trotter, 

 as developed at present, form so extended a topic that they cannot with pro- 

 priety be explained in this paper. This breed is descended from thorough- 

 bred stock on both sides, with frequent crosses of pacing blood, but the run- 

 ning ancestry may be very remote. The families are very numerous — 

 Messenger, Mambrino, Abdallah, Hambletonian, Bashaw, Clay, and Morgan, 

 with their branches, being the most noted. These are families, let it be 

 understood, and not distinct breeds. If a horse can trot or pace in 2 :30 or 

 better he is a trotter or pacer; if not, or if at this gait he is not used in 

 public races, he is called a roadster. 



There are several distinct families of pacers, but their origin is not easily 

 traced. Many trotting horses pace very fast; and many pacers trot very fast; 

 so, some of the highest authorities begin to think they should be 'Considered the 

 same breed. The common outward characteristics of the pacer are rather 

 small size, long head, and short, straight neck, tendency to roach back, long 

 sloping rump, long slanting hips, v/ell bent hind legs, and long heels, slant- 

 ing under the hoof. Common families are : Narragansetts, Hiatogas, Blue 

 Bulls, and Pilots. 



The roadster is not a distinct breed, unless we make the name synonymous 

 with trotter. The name is given generally to those animals which are used 

 in the light wagon, for business purposes or pleasure, and consists mostly of 

 trotting bred horses, too slow to be valuable, and various animals in which 

 trotting crosses predominate. This is the nearest approach we have to a 

 "general purpose horse." He is called on to do the farmer's work, pull the 

 butcher's, baker's and grocer's wagon, take the doctor twelve or fifteen miles 

 an hour, on the country road, drag a hack or omnibus all day on the stony 

 pavement, gallop under the saddle, and plod in the tread-mill. 



From this classification and description, it is seen that there is not only no 

 well established breed of farm horses, but no horse that meets the farmer's 

 wants for everp kind of work, unless it is the almost extinct Cleveland Bay. 

 Wordsworth, when asked which was the best of his poems, answered ; " Sir, 

 they are all the best." And so we should have to say of the breeds of horses 

 if we consulted different breeders^ "They are all the best," from the 800 



