122 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



and the fact is, that the best weight-pullers of the 

 country, since the first trotting-race was made, have 

 been horses of medium size, and, in many cases, even 

 under-sized. Many illustrations of this I might offer in 

 way of proof 



Now, if horses of this weight and size can do all that 

 any of the horse-kind can do, why should they not be 

 regarded as the model horse ; that is, the size and weight 

 with which the Creator has associated the greatest speed 

 and endurance? Nor, indeed, is excessive weight a 

 proof of strength. Old Justin Morgan, when weighing 

 less than nine hundred pounds, would pull a log heavier 

 than any twelve-hundred-pound horse that could be 

 found in the States of Maine and Vermont. He would 

 not only pull a log that these heavier horses could not 

 even start, but pull it with two heavy men sitting 

 astride of it. In view of these facts, is not all weight 

 above the standard suggested excessive weight ? Does 

 it not burden a horse, endanger his limbs, imperil his 

 feet, and detract materially from his general value? The 

 Hambletonian and Morrill stock, because of the speed 

 and general excellence of their get, set the fashion, and 

 caused large-sized horses to be eagerly sought for and 

 demanded, and the Morgan family of horses to be de- 

 spised as undersized. But this was only an accident, 

 and the fashion of an hour. After twenty years of breed- 

 ing and use, we know that heavy horses cannot stand 

 work on our paved avenues and stone-bedded roads ; 

 and we also know that they can neither trot faster, nor 



