FARM ANIMALS 9 



mand one or the other of at least five gaits, in- 

 cluding walk, trot, canter, running walk, and rack, 

 slow pace or fox trot. 



The horse market also makes a considerable 

 demand for standard bred trotters, wagon horses, 

 polo ponies, hunters, fire horses, police horses, 

 and horses for other special purposes. As already 

 indicated, however, the farmer who wishes to 

 make a reasonable profit in raising horses for 

 market must first study carefully the demands for 

 various classes of horses on his home market, 

 the exact standards required for these classes 

 and must then proceed to carry on his breeding 

 work so as to obtain the desired results. It is 

 useless to raise nondescript horses or horses 

 which do not fulfill the requirements of some 

 recognized class. This is self-evident since the 

 nondescript horse is so called because it cannot 

 be described, therefore cannot be entered in a 

 definite class and will obviously not be called 

 for by buyers. 



There are certain points in the conformation 

 of horses which it may be well to bear in mind. 

 In the thoroughbred or racing type the height 

 at the withers and also at the croup should be 

 the same and equal or greater than the length 

 of the body while the depth of the body at the 

 withers should be considerably less than half 

 the height. In saddle horses, hunters, steeple- 

 chasers or any other horse where speed is re- 

 quired the shoulders should be sloping. This 

 point in the conformation is necessary if the horse 

 is to take long or sustained strides. In horses 

 where the shoulder blade occupies an approxi- 

 mately vertical position the speed is necessarily 

 handicapped by this fact. In both the light 



