THE GERMAN COACHER. 207 



supplying good animals f oi- army use have been 

 made. Necessarily, owing to the number of 

 separate governments involved prior to the 

 consolidation of the empire, there was no fixed 

 single policy followed, for which reason there 

 are marked differences between the various 

 breeds or strains. The multiplicity of states 

 likewise renders it hard to reach very accurate 

 conclusions regarding the early history of 

 most of these strains, but there is no doubt 

 that in point of antiquity these horses rank 

 with any of their congeners. 



It does not appear that the Germans have 

 made extended use of the Thoroughbred in the 

 evolution of some strains of their coach horses, 

 though in others the trail of the blood is plainly 

 discernible. It is well known that the German 

 cavalryman with his kit weighs more than the 

 same soldier in any other army and hence it is 

 not to be wondered at that we find the German 

 horses possessing much substance. No effort 

 to inject speed at the trot has been made at any 

 time and hence the German Coach horse as we 

 know him is, so to speak, in a class by himself 

 and not comparable to or to be judged by the 

 same standards as his Gallic neighbor. 



The old Duchy of Oldenburg and the district 

 of East Friesland produce the most of the 

 German horses imported to the United States. 

 It is probable that consistent effort at improve- 

 ment has been carried on in this region for a 



