Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 437 



this form of pastime has proven a source of pleasant exercise to 

 many a man. and woman who needed just such a tonic. 



After this foundation of the breed had been laid, there came 

 the period of transition which extended from the beginning of the 

 Civil war to the re-establishment of peace and prosperity in the 

 south and border country. Even during the period of reconstruc- 

 tion a few saddle mares which had either been left as worn-out by 

 soldiers or had been left to the inhabitants through pity, proved 

 themselves valuable. In these days of the reconstruction they 

 helped to grow crops, and in many other ways to produce a liveli- 

 hood for people who needed them. As prosperity again developed 

 in the country, so did improvement in the horses grow, and it is 

 since the Civil war that the American saddle horse has assumed a 

 national, and even world-wide position, as a breed of horses. 



With the earliest settlers west of the Mississippi river, particu- 

 larly in Missouri, came a few of the best saddle horses of Kentucky. 

 The majority of the early settlers in Missouri came from Kentucky, 

 Tennesse and Virginia, and hence it was but natural that they 

 should bring with them this type of horse. So that at the present 

 time the district for the production of saddle horses is much larger 

 than it was in the years gone by. 



To follow the saddle horse from his beginning to his present 

 state is but to follow the "ups and downs" of the human race in the 

 districts in which this type of horse has abounded. He has been 

 close to man at all times, has often stood between man and death, 

 and in more than one case has been the means of the saving of 

 a life. 



At the present time the saddle horse still maintains his close 

 relationship and companionship with man. His field of usefulness 

 has been, broadened, his reputation has grown, and at the present 

 time he stands the most admired equine specimen that the world 

 has ever produced. He bespeaks the personality of the people who 

 have improved him; he is a living description of their ideals and 

 ideas, of their temperament and their passion, and a study of the 

 saddle horse from this standpoint gives us a clean and clear-cut 

 insight into the characters of men and women. It is because of this 

 close proximity that the saddle horse stands second to a human 

 being in the hearts of those who know him. 



At the present time, as in the beginning, the primary function 

 of the saddle horse is service as a saddle horse. He is ridden on 

 the farms and on the road by men in the transaction of their busi- 



