60 AMERICAN' SADDLE HORSES. 



The gaits recognized by the association, as stated in rule i, are 

 walk, trot, rack, canter, running walk, fox trot and slow pace. Of these 

 gaits, the running walk more commonly known as the "single-foot" 

 is by odds the most elegant saddle gait, combining the style and speed 

 of the trot and rack, or pace, with the comfort and stability in the saddle 

 of the easiest "lope" or canter. In the southern portion of the United 

 States, and especially in Texas, are the finest single-footing saddlers of 

 the world; and a goodly percentage of the number are able to go a 

 better than three-minute rate. The fox trot is as easy, but has not the 

 style or speed of the fleeter single-foot. The fox trot, the slow pace and 

 the fast walk will always remain the standard long-distance gaits of the 

 educated saddler, making five to seven miles per hour, and doing it 

 with ease to both horse and rider. 



DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



In appearance the typical Saddler is a combination of Thoroughbred 

 and Trotter, having the size, gameness, and easy, clean-going action of 

 the former, with the quiet, intelligent appreciation of education at the 

 trainer's hands, which we find so marked among the Trotters. All colors 

 are found bays, browns, blacks, chestnuts and grays, about in the order 

 named. Stallions weigh from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, mares proportion- 

 ately less. The head is fine ; neck slender, but well arched and muscular; 

 shoulders and girth deep and ample ; back short ; rump close and gener- 

 ally sloping ; quarters long and well muscled, and legs fine-boned, neat, 

 close-fleshed, and without feather. 



Our illustration represents one of the most noted of modern Ameri- 

 can saddle stallions. 



