THE HORSE 



103 



and though the animals 

 may not be forced to 

 scratch up the snow in 

 winter to get at the 

 grass, the straw, often 

 rotten, on which the 

 peasants feed them is 

 certainly no better. The 

 poor animals share the 

 pitiful fate of the Rus- 

 sian peasants, — hunger, 

 thirst, and misery. 



The racers, next in 

 rank after the American 

 trotting horse, are the 

 creation of Count Orloff, 



Oldenburg Coach Horse (M.^re) 

 Two and a half years old 



and they are named Orloffs after him. In con- 

 sequence of continual admixture of Oriental, 

 English, and Dutch blood the Orloff stock has 

 become what it is to-day, — a beautiful and 

 noble animal, sometimes a little narrow and 

 leggy, not deep enough in the chest, 

 the croup dome shaped, sloping down 

 on all sides, but revealing his East- 

 ern origin by the shape of his head, 

 the expression of his eyes, the fine 

 form of the neck and shoulders, the 

 strength of his sinewy legs, and by 

 other qualities. Though there may 

 be in their exterior something not 

 wholly satisfactory to the eye of a 

 connoisseur, these horses should be 

 judged when at work. The equable 

 cadence of their movements, their 

 incredible swiftness, their carriage, 

 their endurance, have passed into 

 a proverb. The principal colors are 

 gray and black, in which the Orloffs 

 themselves have remained faithful to 

 their Frisian ancestors. 



In the Old World, after Russia, 

 Germany has the largest number of 

 horses ; they are particularly numer- 

 ous on the plains in the northern part 

 of the country. Yet that country is 

 not rich in original races. On the 

 contrary, its famous black horse of 

 the days of chivalry, when brute force 



was the one thing neces- 

 sary, has been super- 

 seded by crossbred 

 animals employed for 

 nobler purposes. In 

 general, the Germans of 

 the Middle Ages used 

 heavy horses, whereas 

 small horses or ponies 

 abounded along the 

 coasts of the Baltic and 

 in Prussia. But all these 

 have long since given 

 way to half-blooded ani- 

 mals raised all over the 

 country with various 

 modifications, but coming chiefly from a mixture 

 of pure-blooded Oriental and English horses, 

 and also from importations of cool-blooded ani- 

 mals from Belgium and England. It may be 

 said, in general, that in northern Germany we 



S.AME House Trotting 



