50 



ments is a testimonial to our native enterprise 

 beyond that of any other country. Thirty years 

 ago, a horse that could trot a mile in three min- 

 utes was eonsidered a remarkable animal. That 

 three minutes has been gradually reduced from 

 year to year, until, in 1875, the mare Goldsmith 

 Maid, at eighteen years of age, made her mile In 

 2 minutes and 14 seconds, and repeated it in the 

 present year, 1876, in the same time. We now 

 have scores of horses which make their mile in 

 less than 2J4 minutes on the trotting courses of 

 the country, as well as hundreds of them who 

 easily do their mile in 3 minutes speed. Thus 

 the American trotter stands at the head of his 

 class over all others in t e civilized world, as yet 

 discovered. 



If it be inquired in what remarkable manner 

 the rapid speed and high qualities of the trotter 

 have benefited the ordinary horse stock of the 

 country, the answer is readily given in the fact 

 that our better class of driving horses has been 

 wonderfully improved in action, as well as in 

 quicker movement, sureness of step, higher 

 pleasure to all who either drive or ride after 

 them, and in the increased marketable price 

 they obtain for their breeders. 



Next in order we may remark, in the absence 

 of a more appropriate name, upon 



THE HORSE OF ALL WORK, equally adapted to 

 family use, the labors of the farm, or other pur- 

 poses. I doubt if any part of the world* climate 

 and soil considered, can show a better class of 

 horses than those bred in the United States and 

 the neighboring province of Canada. Made up 

 of no particular breed, but an infusion of differ- 

 ent bloods, they answer an admirable purpose 

 for almost all uses, so far as size, endurance, 

 muscular action, and longevity are concerned. 

 A composite breed they may be called, if such a 

 miscellaneous admixture can be called a breed 

 at all. They are of all colors and all sizes, from 

 fourteen and a half to sixteen and a half hands 

 high, and weigh nine to twelve or thirteen hun- 

 dred pounds in fair condition of flesh. They are 

 bred and reared by all good farmers who make 

 horse-rearing a branch of their industry, and are 

 bought and distributed all over the country, in 

 village, town and city, where, aside from mere 

 fancy use, the horse is needed. Good stallions 

 are kept for service in almost every neighborhood 

 of the land, and of these the horse-breeder takes 

 his choice for service to his mares, and succeeds 

 in their production as his skill and care may de- 

 termine. There is another example of the value 

 of our horse of all work in Great Britain, which 

 can boast as good horses, of their kind, as any 

 part of Europe. Since the street rail-car has 

 been introduced into Great Britain, within the 

 past year or two, it has been found that they 

 had no class of horses especially fitted for that 

 work. It required the sinewy, elastic move- 

 ment, coupled with the medium size and endur- 

 ance in our all- work horse. As a consequence, 

 many hundreds of American horses have been 

 purchased in our Northern States and Canada 

 for export to Britain, for other purposes as well 

 as for street railways, and the trade is still con- 

 tinued to the mutual advantage of both coun- 

 tries. 



Another class demanded for exclusive pur- 

 poses is 



THE DRAUGHT-HORSE, PROPER, needed for 

 heavy farm labors, and drawing the weighty 

 loads in our commercial and manufacturing 

 cities and towns, for which the ordinary horse 

 of our farmers is incompetent. Of this class, if 

 we have any which may be called "ancient" 

 among us say a hundred years or more first 

 in order stands the Conestoga, of Pennsylvania. 

 The name is a local one, taken from a river of 

 the central part of that state. He is supposed 

 to be a native of Flanders, and to have been in- 

 troduced by the German immigrants soon after 

 they settled in Pennsylvania some time in the 



last century. This horse is still reared in Penn- 

 sylvania, but in smaller numbers than formerly, 

 and in several other states, and is a decided fa- 

 vorite with those who breed and use them. 

 Nearly or quite a hundred years ago, when the set- 

 tlements of that state had extended westward 

 over the Alleghany mountains, when towns be- 

 gan to spring up, and heavy transportation be- 

 ween them and the seaboard became necessary, 

 the huge canvas-covered wagons, carrying six 

 tons and upwards of merchandise, were drawn by 

 spans of four to eight hoi-ses, with sometimes a 

 ninth one in single harness as a leader. Those 

 horses ranged from sixteen and a half to seven- 

 teen and a half hands high, with bodies solid and 

 bulky in proportion. Long before canals and 

 railroads were known in our country, caravans 

 of those teams were daily seen at all seasons of 

 the year traversing the roads over the mountains 

 between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and with 

 bear skin housings upon the hames, and an arch 

 of bells above them, with the driver seated on 

 the near wheel-horse ; a more picturesque spec- 

 tacle of the kind could rarely be imagined. Their 

 usual rate of travel was about twelve to four- 

 teen miles a day. But those caravans, since the 

 construction of railways, have mostly passed 

 away, aud the descendants of the stately teams 

 are now devoted chiefly to agricultural uses, and 

 the drays and wagons in the cities. It is doubt- 

 ful if a better class of heavy draught horses than 

 they have ever existed. It is claimed by some 

 writers that the Conestoga has been bred to his 

 high degree of excellence by crosses of the thor- 

 oughbred English horse, but without sufficient 

 evidence of the fact, as for the last seventy years 

 he has developed no trait of the blood-horse in 

 his composition, and in his characteristics has ad- 

 hered solely to the type of his original progeni- 

 tors. 



Other foreign breeds of the draught horse of 

 decided excellence have in later years been in- 

 troduced among us, and are much approved. 

 Among these may be named, in the order of in- 

 troduction, the Clydesdale. This horse is of Scot- 

 tish descent, of the largest size, seventeen to 

 eighteen hands high, with a ponderous body, 

 stout limbs, hairy at the fetlocks, of high and 

 noble carriage, and unsurpassed in weight and 

 strength. They occasionally reach a weight of 

 seventeen, even eighteen hundred pounds. They 

 were first introduced by the Scottish farmers in 

 to Upper Canada, where they have been bred in 

 considerable numbers and are still annually im - 

 ported. There have been also some direct im- 

 portations from Scotland to the United States. 

 Many of the Canadian importations have found 

 their way into several of our states, where, for 

 heavy agricultural and other draught, they serve 

 a valuable purpose. 



The Suffolk Punch, so called, is a draught horse 

 of English breeding and descent. He is of large 

 size, but smaller in bulk and stature than the 

 Clydesdale, somewhat similar in style of body 

 and limb, but without the hairy fetlock. A few 

 of them have been imported into Canada, and the 

 United States, but have not yet acquired the 

 popularity of the Clydes, although of decided 

 excellence and a model of their kind. 



There are two other classes of draught horse 

 introduced into our country, somewhat similar 

 in character and probable descent, and may be 

 classed in nearly a parallel category. 



The Normans may first be named as earliest in 

 importation. They are natives of France, not of 

 like style altogether with the draught horses al- 

 ready named, as they embody more speed in ac- 

 tion, with great strength of limb and power of 

 locomotion. They are largely worked in the 

 heavy diligence traveling carriages of France, 

 which they move at five to eight miles an hour 

 on the roads, holding a good trotting gait. They 

 are also used for drawing heavy loads in the 

 cities and towns and in agricultural labor. Their 



