XXXII 



THE chief value of school methods lies in the application 

 of the simplest of them to plain road-riding. The term 

 " saddle-horse " threatens to be lost. Any man who owns 

 a horse which will allow itself to be ridden, will quietly 

 walk and trot along the road more or less easily, and has 

 endurance and good -temper, says that he has a saddle- 

 horse, and really thinks so. Every second man will tell 

 you he owns " the best saddle-horse in the State." The 

 hunting-man calls his hunter a saddle-horse ; the scrubbiest 

 polo -pony with any sort of manners is so dubbed, and 

 nearly every carriage-horse, too. Now this is all wrong ; 

 the saddle - horse is a creature and a creation per se he 

 must be bred and trained as such. Not that it does him 

 any harm to work in light harness now and then all my 

 saddle -beasts do but this must be a subsidiary thing. 

 His saddle qualities must be first considered, and every- 

 thing done to conserve them. 



It is in this that our friends of the Southern States ex- 

 cel. They have distinct breeds of saddle-horses, which for 

 generations they have been improving for this purpose 

 alone, and they have made the strain as nearly perfect as 

 can be. On the whole, the Southern " combined " horse, 

 which, in addition to perfect saddle gaits and manners, 

 will work true in harness, is the best general horse in ex- 

 istence. A pair of such, well mated, are beyond price. I 

 have owned a few such pairs, but they are rare, and the 

 difficulty of bringing them East and acclimating them 

 enhances their value and rarity. 



