122 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



breeding, — altogether, a personage of great impor- 

 tance. And yet not long ago, when a certain rustic 

 youth reared in Vermont paid his first visit to St. 

 Albans in that State, in company with his mother, 

 he stood aghast before a bronze statue there which 

 represented a two-legged animal, clad in human clothes, 

 and having apparently the attributes of a man. Un- 

 derneath in large letters were inscribed the words, 

 " General Knox." " By gosh, mother," exclaimed the 

 astounded youth, "I always thought General Knox 

 was a horse !" And so he was, and a very good one 

 too, as we shall presently see. 



The gait of the Morgan horse is highly characteristic. 

 Though sure-footed, he is apt to carry his fore feet 

 close to the ground, taking short elastic steps, which, 

 even when quickened to a rapid trot, seem to cost him 

 the least possible effort. There is no swaying of the 

 hips, no shaking of the whole frame, no pounding 

 with the fore feet or high lifting of the hocks, but a 

 smooth, easy, gliding motion. The Morgan both trots 

 and gallops with his limbs well under him. 



A longer, wider gait is commonly associated with 

 the trotting horse. In fact, until within the past few 

 years it was thought that the ideal trotter carried his 

 hind feet so wide as to plant them outside of the track 

 left by his fore feet. Many, perhaps most, fast horses 

 do travel in this way ; but, as a rule, the very fastest 

 step no wider behind than in front. A long stride is 

 however nearly, if not quite, essential to extreme 

 speed; and many Morgan horses, when moving at 

 their best pace, lengthen their gait very much, and go 

 perceptibly nearer to the ground. The Morgan action 

 in front is, as a rule, not big enough for superlatively 



