i.312 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



of this class hiive been sired by the standard-bred stallion, and in fact 

 many prize-winning carriage horses are standard-bred. At the same 

 time, I do not think it wise to breed standard-breds with the hopes of 

 producing carriage horses. Horses of this class have been bred for 

 many generations with the sole idea of producing extreme speed at the 

 trotting or pacing gait, and as a rule they lack the conformation and 

 style demanded in the carriage horse, and seldom have the desired 

 action, and while we occasionally find one that fills the bill, it is the 

 rare exception. And we do not wonder at this, as he has not been 

 produced with this idea. At the same time there are many big, clever, 

 stylish, high-actionod standard-bred stallions in the country that are 

 well qualified to produce carriage stock if intelligently mated. The 

 mares to be bred to these stallions with this idea must be of fair size 

 and qualified with the characteristics of a carriage horse well marked. 

 If we are breeding to the standard-bred with the hopes of producing 

 speed, we will, of course, select a stallion that can trot or pace fast, not 

 paying so much attention to size, quality, etc. But if breeding for car- 

 riage purposes, speed is not at all essential. One danger in this line of 

 breeding is the fact that standard-breds, even though true, natural trot- 

 ters, are liable to produce pacers, and of course this is a gait that 

 cannot be allowed in a carriage horse. Many good carriage horses have 

 been sired to the thoroughbred. We can breed a coarse mare with 

 good action to this horse with greater prospects of success than to any 

 other sire. He will impart to the progeny the necessary quality and 

 ambition, and the dam will impart the necessary action; but. in order 

 that we may get the desired action for carriage purposes in this line of 

 breeding, we must have the action in the dam. As the action of the 

 thoroughbred, while very elastic, is naturally rather close to the ground, 

 and, as he has such great prepotency, it requires extreme action in the 

 dam to overcome this characteristic. 



XIV. Saddle Horses and Hunters. 

 Suitable horses of this class are, with few exceptions, the progeny 

 of the thoroughbred. I might here make a few remarks about the 

 term "thoroughbred." There is but one animal in the world that 

 is entitled to the term, and that is the English runninof horse and 

 his pure descendants. The term is often misapplied, both in print 

 and conversation. We read of thoroughbred cattle, thoroughbred 

 sheep, pigs, fowls, dogs, etc., etc. It should not be; we should use 

 terra "pure-bred." We have pure- bred cattle, pure-bred sheep, etc., 

 etc., and in horses we have pure-bred Clydesdales, pure-bred Shires, 

 standard-bred horses, etc., but the term "thoroughbred" needs no 



