California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



Shall We Encourage Walking Horses? 



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;T is hardly possible to take Tip a journal 

 during tlie Summer and Autumn, without 

 seeing either items or extended accounts 



. of what horses have accomplished in 

 Kg trotting or niuning. We scarcely ever 

 see accounts of their endurance in hauling 

 loads at a given pace, or the number of miles 

 they have accomplished in a given number of 

 hours at a walking gait; and yet this practic- 

 ice is of far more importance than their endur- 

 ance at sjieed. 



Agricultural fair managers, who might not 

 inaptly be called "Agricultural horse-trot 

 managers," advertise widely the large amount 

 devoted as premiums for trotting and running, 

 but not a word as to horses exhibiting the 

 greatest endurance and speed at a walking 

 gait. Why not? " Oh, it will not draw the 

 crowd." Vei-y well; if agricultural fairs are 

 simply intended to draw that class of human- 

 ity whose end and aim in life is trotting and 

 running horses, and betting thereon, well and 

 good. 



These is, however, now and then an indi- 

 vidual who, while he admires the noble ani- 

 mal at speed, very well knows that this 

 eternal pandering to mere speed is not only 

 vitiating the taste of the public, but is also 

 tending to breed out other valuable traits that 

 can ill be spared. 



A good walkiug horse should make, at that 

 gait, an average of four miles an hour. How 

 many can do it? Very few. Why so? The 

 walking gait has ceased to be cultivated. 



By the careful training of ambitious and 

 active horses, they may be made to walk five 

 miles an hour as easily as the ordinary horse 

 now walks three. There is no reason why an 

 average pace of four miles an hour should 

 not be kept up with ordinary loads through- 

 out the daj'. In the day's travel, this would 

 make a gain of ten miles, and the trained 

 would have accomplished forty miles against 

 the thirty for the untrained one, and this just 

 as easUy to the horse of spirit as to the one 

 with the slower gait. If the horse has not 

 mechanical structure for this gait, of course 

 he cannot do it. Having it, it may be brought 

 out just as easily as a trotting or running 

 gait; and if premiums were given for this 

 purpose at our agricultural fairs, it would be 

 found that individual horses would be able to 

 make, not only five miles an hour, but some 

 of them six. The naturally fast walker, when 

 trained, will even do a given amount of work 

 at the increased pace eiasier than at the slow 

 pace. This we know from experience. 



The energy displayed among all classes of 

 breeders has been directed constantly to re- 

 duce and degrade the walking gait, and as a 

 consequence, we find, each year, fewer and 

 fewer fast walking horses. This spirit has 

 pervaded our fair rings until now it is difficult 

 to find a premium oli'ered fur the fastest walk- 

 ing horse. In looking over the premium Usts 

 received by us for 1871, embracing nearly all 

 the Western States, we find only two premi- 

 ums offered for Walking horses, one by the 

 Kansas City, Missouri, Industrial Exposition, 

 and the other by Northeastern Iowa Agricul- 

 tural Society. We are glad to be able to 

 chronicle these two, and hope that the num- 

 bi-r may be yearly increased until the fast 

 walking horse shall at least be regarded on u 

 pur with other road and working horses. A 

 gri-at error has been made in ignoring this 

 most valn.ible of all the gaits of the horse. 

 Certainly, reform is needed in this direction. 

 — Wesleni, Mural. 



How TO Purchase a Hobse. — First. Exam- 

 ine the eyes in the stable, then in the light; 

 if they are in any degree defective, reject. 



2. Examine the teeth to determine the age. 



3. Examine the poll, or crowu of the head, 

 and the withers, or top of the shoulders, as 



the former is the seat of poll evil, and the 

 latter that of fistxila. 



4. Examine the front feet, and if the frog 

 has fallen, or settled down between the heels 

 of the shoe and the heels are contracted, reject 

 him ; as he, if not already lame, is liable to 

 become so at any moment. 



Next observe the knees and ankles of the 

 horse you desire to purchase, and if cooked, 

 yon may be sure that it is the result of the 

 displacement of the internal organs of the 

 foot, a consequence of neglect of the form of 

 the foot and injudicious shoeing. 



5. Examine for interfering, from the ankle 

 to the knees, and if it proves that he cuts the 

 knee, or the leg between the knee and the 

 ankle, or the latter badly, reject. 



"Speedy cut" of the knee and leg are most 

 serious in their effects. 



Many trotting horses, which would be of 

 great value were it not for this single defect, 

 are by it rendered valueless. 



6. Cai'efully examine the hoofs for cracks, 

 as jockeys have acquired great skill in con- 

 cealing cracks in the hoofs. 



If cracks are observable im any degree, re- 

 ject. 



Also, both look and feel for ringbones, 

 which are callouses on the bones of the pas- 

 tern near the foot; if apparent, reject. 



7. Examine the hind feet for the same de- 

 fects of the foot and ankle that we have 

 named in connection with the front feet. 

 Then proceed to the hock, which is the seat 

 of curb and both bone and blood spavins. 



The former is a bony enlargement of the 

 posterior and lower portion of the hock-joint; 

 the second a bony excrescence on the lower, 

 inner, and rather anterior portion of the hock, 

 and the latter is a soft enlargement of the 

 synovial membrane on the inner and upper 

 portion of the hock. They are either of them 

 sufficient reason for rejecting. 



8. See that the horse stands with the frent 

 feet well under him, and observe both the 

 heels of the feet and shoes, to see if he "for- 

 ges" or over-reaches, and it case he does, and 

 the toes of the front feet are low, the heels 

 high, and the heels of the front shoes a good 

 thickness, and the toes of the hind feet are of 

 no proper length, reject him; for if he still 

 over-reaches with his feet in the couilition 

 described, he is ineui-able. If he props out 

 both front feet, or points them alternately, 

 reject. 



0. In testing the driving qualities, take the 

 reins while on the ground, invite the owner 

 to get into the vehicle first, then drive your- 

 self. Avoid the display or the use of the 

 whip, and if he has not sufficient spirit to ex- 

 hibit his best speed without it, reject. Should 

 he drive satisfactorily withoiit, it will then be 

 proper to test his amiability and the extent 

 of his training in the use of the whip. 



Thiiroughly text his loalking qualilivs first, as 

 ihdt gait is more hnportanl in the liorse of all 

 work than great trolling speed. The value of a 

 horse, safe for all purposes without blinds, is 

 gi-eatly enhanced thereby. 



10. Always purchase of the breeder of the 

 horse, if practicable; the reasons are obvious. 

 — Maryland Farmer. 



Mules and Houses at the South. — What- 

 ever may be said in favor of the horse as an 

 agriciiltural laborer above the mule at the 

 North, certain it is that the position of the 

 Arkansas correspondent of the Ammcan Farm 

 Journal is well taken, favoring the mule in 

 Southern agi-iculture : 



Mules, on an average, are more valuable 

 than horses, are easier raised, are not as sub- 

 ject to disease, are not likely to run away in 

 wagoning and plowing, are longer lived, will 

 do more work, and re(iuiro less feed and at- 

 tention; they are strongi'r, will draw heavier 

 loads and stan<l a great deal more hardship, 

 and are in every way iinferablu to the horse 

 for general farm use. Jlales come in earlier, 

 being ready for light work when three years 

 old. They will then do enough work on the 



farm te pay for their feed, and after having 

 attained the age of four years they are ready 

 for any kind of service. But the horse (colt) 

 must be kept until he is four j'ears old before 

 he is worked at all, and when he is four he 

 must be a first-rate colt to bring as much as 

 the mule will at two years old. But assume 

 the animals are both required for farm work, 

 see what a difference there is in favor of the 

 mule. 



The working life of the mule can be as 

 safely estimated at thirty years as that of a 

 horse at ten years. So while a mule is work- 

 ing its life out, three horses will be required 

 to do equal service. 



But these are not the only items. The sav- 

 ing of feed is at least one-fourth, or not less 

 than 047 bushels of corn and 327 tons of hay. 

 These amounts added to the original saving in 

 purchase of animals show an advantage in 

 favor in favor of the use of the mule over the 

 horse of over $1,000 during the ordinary life 

 of the animal. 



The mule is less dainty about food, un- 

 ground grain and dry feed being just the 

 things for him. There are still other advan- 

 tages in favor of the mule too numerous to 

 mention in a short article like this. 



BoNNEE AS A Hoese-Fanciee. — The New 

 York con'espondent of the Boston Times says 

 Bonner ows $250,000 worth of equine pro- 

 perty; spends five or six hours out of every 

 twenty-four in his stables or on the road. He 

 loves horses, thinks horses, talks horses. 

 Nevertheless, if he wants to drive to a neigh- 

 bor's house, or to a distant part of the city 

 in the evening, he always hires a carriage from 

 a livery stable. Dexter and the other noble 

 steeds are altogether too fine for ordinary 

 employment. IJonner's bill at livery is re- 

 ported to be $1,500 a year, while the interest 

 on the value of his horses at the legal rate is 

 $17,500 per annum. He paid $25,000 for 

 Dexter, and was pronounced profoundly fool- 

 ish therefor. He could have sold him again 

 for $.50,000, although he would not take 

 $100,000. It is one of his idiosyncracies 

 that he never sells anything; he is onlj' a 

 buyer. Of all the real estate he has pur- 

 chased he has never disposed of a single foot. 

 He keeps whatever he gets, and gets more. 

 It is said he has made up his mind to own 

 Goldsmith Maid; and doubtless he will do so, 

 if the mare can be got for money. Bonner 

 can afford to be extravagant. His entire 

 property to-day cannot be worth less than 

 $5,000,000; and yet it is only a few years 

 since he was a toiling printer, delighted to 

 earn $30 per week. 



Bonner did not make his money on fast 

 horses but on the New York Ledger. His 

 fancy for horses is simply an extravagance. 

 Where one man makes anything on race- 

 horses ten men lose, as at other gambling,and 

 become, in a sense, demoraUzed in the bar- 

 gain. A horse is in reality worth only what 

 of real service there is in him. 



A Gigantic Grain Elevytor.— The New 

 York Central and Hudson Kiver Railway 

 Company is now building at the foot of GOth 

 street, on the Hudson Kiver, in New York, a 

 grain elevator, capable of holding from 1,000,- 

 000 to 1,2(10,000 bushels of grain. This ele- 

 vator will be usi'd principally for storage 

 purposes for the grain brought on in the 

 Company's ears, and intended for tnmsfer- 

 ment to sea-going vessels and canal boats. 



The weiiilthy land owner has ever the poor 

 tenant at a disa<lvantnge, for the fiiumcinl 

 burdens of the Govcrnuieut fall mostly ui)on 

 the lattwr, and the former nianipulati's Legis- 

 latures and laws in his own behalf, as his light 

 taxation jiroves. It may be claimed that this 

 evil can never be in this country, since the 

 law of entail does not obtain here, but the 

 system, by whatever cause produced, is the 

 same. 



