234 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



their trade in the east, bred on the lines that I recommend. During last 

 year Mr. Charles Halloway of New York purchased several horses in 

 the State of Missouri that were sired by thoroughbred stallions out of 

 common mares, and when put in the proper shape, were winners in their 

 respective classes at the dififerent shows in the east. 



Not only are these horses desired for the hunting field and pleas- 

 ure riding, but they are the very best material for road fours and for all 

 kinds of work in heavy harness where endurance is required. You take 

 a horse of this type, when he has action, and he will command the very 

 highest price for a harness horse. 



One other thing that I neglected to mention is that a great many 

 people think that the thoroughbred horse is a stiff-legged animal with no 

 action. This is a great mistake. The shoes that are used on thorough- 

 bred horses from their babyhood do not weigh more than an ounce and 

 a half, and it is a well-known fact among harness horsemen that extra 

 weight of the feet develops and strengthens the muscles that control the 

 action; therefore, I claim that I know from practical experience that 

 thoroughbreds that have been shod in the regular way from their two 

 and three-year-old form have as much action as an ordinary horse. 



I own at present a horse by a thoroughbred stallion out of a trotting 

 mare that can go very high and fast. I expect to win with him in heavy 

 harness classes. His conformation is very much better than any horse I 

 have ever owned, and I attribute that to the strong infusion of thor- 

 oughbred blood that flows in his veins. 



A great many thin horses, both on the draft and driving order, come 

 to market. The breeder or farmer makes a great mistake in not taking 

 more care of their horses before they put them on sale. There are not 

 less than fifty feeding stables around the National stock yards, East St. 

 Louis, Illinois, that are buying these horses, putting them in the feeding 

 pens and feeding them for at least 1 50 per cent more expense than they 

 can be fed in the country. They have to do this in order to make them 

 marketable in the eastern cities, where they are sold. If the breeders 

 and farmers were to pay a little more attention to these horses, keep then; 

 sheltered in the severe weather, and put more flesh on them, they would 

 receive the benefit that the middle man, or feeder, is now deriving. 



A man who feeds horses at our yards has to pay a great deal more 

 for his feed; he has to pay a big rent for his barn, and from $12.00 to 

 $15.00 a week for men to look after them. Still he can make a good 

 profit by feeding. At the same time, it is well known that he has a 

 great many of these horses who take sick with distemper and go wrong 

 in the wind, when they have to be sold for a loss. This very seldom, or 

 ever, occurs where horses are fed where they are raised. 



