Il6 MY HORSE; MY LOVE 



' If fine trotting mares are sent from America, the Czar 

 may after all get the best of the bargain, or, as a Russian 

 saying goes, " He will have the hatchet, and we shall get 

 the handle.'" 



Are the Orloffs trotters ? 



'Yes, madam, but their gait is very different from that 

 of the American trotter. When the Orloff trots he leaves 

 always a certain distance between his hind and fore-legs. 

 The American trotter throws his hind-legs ahead of his 

 fore-legs at every step, his hind-legs being of abnormal 

 length. The step of the Orloff is more graceful, in- 

 herited directly from the best of the Turcoman horses. 



' In Russia, as in Arabia, are no geldings, the fiercest 

 stallions being driven fearlessly, three abreast, at a rapid 

 trot, and frequently on a dead run. The middle horse, 

 with a high collar surmounting his head, usually trots ; 

 while the outside horses, with their heads turned to the 

 right and left, away from him, gallop. Harnessed thus 

 to the troika (or sleigh), one beholds the national 

 equipage. The horses are exceptionally handsome, tall, 

 with long legs and slender bodies. The habit of turning 

 the head to one side becomes so pronounced that it is 

 never cured, even when a second horse is attached to 

 one in single harness — the second horse being ' hitched 

 on at the side, in case of necessity. 



The Russian government sent to the World's Fair at 

 Chicago an exhibit of Orloff and Russian Arab horses 

 which was considered by the judges to be by far the best 

 and most remarkable there. The Russian Arab is almost 

 a pure Arab, the famous Orloff horse being founded 

 upon Arabian stock, and reinvigorated every twenty-five 

 years by a fresh infusion of the supreme blood cause. 



