1907.] THE HORSE. 235 



out by the halter, and walk it up and down the yard, trying 

 to show it off in that way, but a prospective purchaser can 

 get no adequate idea of the action and style of that horse from 

 any such showing. Then they will let that horse trot. A good 

 walker is always able to trot fast enough for ordinary purposes. 

 But when the owner of a horse lets the horse start from you, 

 let him come back, toward you, so that you can see how he 

 acts both ways. If you are going to buy a horse on that kind 

 of an examination you want to see how the machine works. 

 If that horse springs out or springs in, just let some other man 

 buy that horse, and let some other man breed from that horse, 

 for, if its feet are not set right, or its head does not set right 

 on its body, it will never be a satisfactory horse to you. A 

 horse should lift its feet high enough so that they will always 

 well clear the ground. When you take a horse out you do not 

 want one that is shuffling through the dirt or sand. You 

 want a horse that lifts its feet well, with good style and good 

 action, and that steps off as though it felt strong and lively. 



Then when that horse trots don't go to Madison Square 

 Garden for your ideals of action. It seems to me that the 

 marked tendency of the market is to demand horses of too 

 high action. I want a horse to lift his feet up so that he can 

 travel easily and freely, but I do not want a horse to step so 

 high that, according to my way of thinking, it spoils the 

 general appearance of his action. So I recommend selecting 

 a type which has a medium high action. 



Then always be sure in the selection of a horse of another 

 thing, and that is, that the horse has brains, and that it is free 

 from any vices. There is no animal under the sun into whose 

 keeping we place our own lives and the lives of our families 

 as we do into the keeping of a horse, and the horse that is bred 

 from vicious parentage is apt to bolt at any time, and is apt, 

 in some trying time, although he may have been good for 

 years, to do something which may cost us our lives, or may 

 cause serious injury either to ourselves or to the members of 

 our families. So be sure of the parentage of the horse, and 

 make sure that it comes from good gentle, manageable stock. 

 You can breed vices as well as you can breed good points. 

 Get a horse of a good cool temperament with plenty of brain, 

 with good feet, good legs, and action, and then it does not 



