BREEDS OF HORSES 31 



more in bringing high prices in the carriage, road, and saddle 

 classes than action. In the other classes it does not count for BO 

 much, but every horse should have good action. He should be a 

 straight line mover, picking his front feet up and carrying them 

 straight forward, placing them down again without winging out or 

 in, or interfering. The hind feet should follow in the line of the 

 front feet, and work in unison without interfering, hitching, cross- 

 firing, or forging. The action should be strong, bold and full of 

 energy ; the form and height of action will depend upon the class to 

 which the horse belongs. This subject will be taken up more fully 

 under various classes. 



Age. Horses sell best from five to eight years old, depending 

 upon the class, maturity, and soundness. Heavy horses such as 

 draft and chunks sell best from five to seven years old, but a well 

 matured four-year-old in good condition will find ready sale. Car- 

 riage, saddle, and road horses sell better with a little more age be- 

 cause they do not mature so early and their education is not com- 

 pleted as young as with heavy horses. They are most desired from 

 five to eight years old. 



Color. As a rule the color of horses is not an important re- 

 quirement if they possess individual excellence. Almost any solid 

 color is not objected to on the market unless it is by a purchaser 

 who has a special order to fill. However, more discrimination is 

 made against color in light horses than in heavy horses. The rea- 

 son for this is that the one is for business and utility purposes, while 

 the other is principally for dress and pleasure. There is also more 

 discrimination made in color of animals that grade as choice than 

 there is in those that grade as medium and good. All solid colors 

 except white are in good demand, while a flea-bitten gray, a mealy 

 bay or one that will fade or wash out is not desirable. Choice steel 

 gray, dapple gray, and strawberry roan horses of the draft, eastern 

 chunk and wagon horse classes are in strong demand from show- 

 men, pnckers, brewers, wholesale mercantile houses, and firms who 

 want their teams to attract as much attention as possible and serve 

 as a walking advertisement. The demand is good for bays, browns, 

 blacks, chestnuts, sorrels, and roans; matched pairs sell better than 

 single horses. In the light horses, and especially in the carriage and 

 saddle classes, bays, browns, and chestnuts sell best, but a good 

 pair of well matched blacks or iron grays find ready sale. In the 

 fashionable trade a white horse is not wanted except for hearse pur- 

 poses and to fill an occasional demand for a cross match coaching 

 team. A more popular hearse horse is coal black with no white 

 markings, and he must also have a long flowing tail. Occasionally 

 they are accepted when slightly marked with white which is less 

 objectionable on the hind feet than in the face or on the front feet. 



Education and Disposition. Every class calls for a horse of good 

 disposition and well educated for his work. If it is a draft horse he 

 should be a^free worker and a good puller, free from vice and bad 

 habits. If it is a carriage horse the requirements are the same but 

 he should be much better educated and mannered, and should be 



