TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 381 



date hundreds of Percheron, Belgian, Shire, and Clydesdale 

 stallions and mares have been imported to America annually 

 for the purpose of breeding heavy horses fitted for the work of 

 moving heavy loads over city streets in other words, draft 

 horses. America developed no draft breed of her own. After 

 the Conestoga disappeared we had no heavy horses to use as 

 a foundation for such a breed, and when the demand arose in 

 this country several European countries had draft breeds ready 

 formed which we borrowed from them. 



The carriage horse in America. In America, as in Eng- 

 land, the modern carriage horse is a recent addition to our types 

 of horses. The more wealthy families among the early settlers 

 of the Carolinas and Virginia kept coaches for use on state and 

 social occasions, but the so-called roads were so miserable that 

 driving was in no wise a pleasure. Most of the carriages in use 

 in the early days were stage coaches which did the work now 

 done by railways. In 1812, the fare from Philadelphia to Pitts- 

 burg over the national turnpike, 297 miles, was $20 by coach, 

 and it required six days to cover the distance. Crosses of the 

 Flemish horse of New York and Pennsylvania with the little 

 saddle horse gave the well-knit, sizeable horses required on 

 these early coaches. With the growth of towns and cities, 

 carriages became common, but the horses used would not today 

 be classed as carriage horses although they were of a serviceable 

 kind. Driving for pleasure and pastime, which in later years 

 became so popular with city people, did not begin until after 

 the Civil War, in fact it was not until 1880 that the modern type 

 of carriage horse came into use. From that date forward, 

 there was a large and increasing demand for smoothly-turned, 

 high-stepping, well-mannered horses, weighing from 1,000 to 

 1,200 pounds. The animals which supplied this demand were 

 for the most part recruited from the ranks of the American 

 Trotter and American Saddle Horse, although our very choicest 

 carriage animals have been English Hackneys. Since 1900, the 

 automobile has displaced a great many carriage horses, especially 

 those of mediocre quality, but there still exists a demand for 

 animals of show-yard quality for which good prices are paid. 



Effects of mechanical inventions on horse types. The in- 

 vention of firearms resulted in a change in the type of the cavalry 

 horse from the old-time heavy war horse to a lighter animal 

 with more speed. The displaced type did not become extinct, 

 but was put to use in the fields. The invention of the railway 



