436 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



tained his place in the affections of his man and master, intelli- 

 gence, courage, good cheer and ability to place at his daily task 

 must be his inborn attributes. 



The beginning of what has since come to be a recognized breed 

 of horses, with fairly well-established standards and manifold 

 duties and functions, occurred in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. 

 Not only was this territory that through which the frontier line 

 of civilization has passed, but it was a section of the world which 

 early in its civilized history developed a permanent and prosperous 

 system of agriculture. It was in just these stables that some of 

 the best blood of England had settled and was living prosperously 

 at the middle of the nineteenth century. Broad minds and well- 

 developed intellect, based upon a foundation stock of men and 

 women with a high degree of intelligence, tenacity of purpose and 

 love of the "world beautiful and plentiful," and assisted by the 

 custom of slavery in its humanest form, here had at an early day 

 developed a race of people with honor, chivalry and hospitality such 

 as the world had not theretofore seen and probably will not see 

 again until a series of conditions establish themselves and make 

 possible its development. 



Here was a race of men who spent much time in the saddle 

 looking after lands and property; who lived among not the best 

 of roads at all times; who rode long distances to travel in the 

 transactions of their business. Here was a race of men who loved 

 their families and enjoyed the companionship of neighbors and 

 friends. They were men who loved God's out-of-doors, his green 

 earth, fresh air and running water, and all that goes to make 

 nature beautiful and inspiring. And still here was a race of men 

 in whom courage was predominant, and in whom flowed good "red 

 blood," and who later proved themselves to be men in the true 

 sense of the word. 



It was among such a class of people and under such conditions 

 that the American saddle horse had his birth. No wonder that he 

 still remains close to the heart of men, and it does not seem strange 

 that men even "fall out" occasionally over the merits of each other's 

 horses. 



While the prime function of the early saddle horse was that 

 of an. economic riding horse, yet he did many other things and 

 was looked upon as one of the mainstays of the farm, either under 

 the saddle, in the plow or to the cart. It did not take long for people 

 to discover the enjoyment of horseback riding and in later days 



