130 LIVESTOCK ON THE FARM 



of such events are '' tacked on" to a race meet composed 

 primarily of trotting and pacing races, in which the horses are 

 hitched to sulkies. 



The gait of a thoroughbred in a race is the gallop. In this 

 one front foot is raised first and then the other in quick 

 succession, and, following this, the hind feet in a similar 

 manner. Part of the time all four feet are off the ground at 

 the same time. 



The thoroughbred breed was made by crosses of the Arabian 

 on the light horses of England, several centuries ago. This 

 horse is also used at present for breeding other horses of the 

 light harness type, as for instance, the American trotter. 



The word thoroughbred is very often misused. It is used 

 in place of the word pure bred. It should be remembered, 

 however, that a thoroughbred is the English running horse. 



American Trotter. — The American trotter is a product of 

 the United States. It was bred largely from the English 

 thoroughbred and American and other light horses. The 

 type of this horse in its ideal form is as described previously 

 in the roadster type. This horse is used for the trotting race 

 and for general road work for driving purposes. 



The saddle horse is the same in type and appearance as 

 the trotter but is trained to saddle work. These are bred 

 to have long sloping pasterns and an easy gait. They are 

 then trained to go easy under the saddle. 



Saddle horses have several gaits. Their walk and trot are 

 the same as for all horses but very easy so as not to jar the 

 rider. The canter is a modified gallop. This has been 

 softened down so as not to be so jerky. The horse also does 

 not throw itself so much but goes more like a rocking horse. 

 There is not so much time from the instant the hind feet leave 

 the ground till the front ones come down. And these do not 

 come down so hard. There are also several other easy gaits 

 to which these horses may be trained. 



Hackney. — The hackney is a good representative of the 

 coach type, already mentioned. It is an English-bred horse 

 but was bred for many years along a uniform line and accord- 

 ing to a given ideal. It is therefore a horse that will breed 

 true to tyi)e. l*'xtreme variations have been largely dimin- 



