220 THE HORSE BOOK. 



THE SADDLE HORSE.— THE AMERICAN 

 FIVE-GAITED SADDLER. 



United States breeders can lay claim to hav- 

 ing developed two breeds of horses — the stand- 

 ard-bred and the five-gaited or so-called Ken- 

 tucky or American saddler. Both are essentially 

 American products and both distinctive in the 

 great realm of horse breeding. Development of 

 the gaited horse was born of necessity. In the 

 new country pioneered by the old Virginia 

 families distances were long and roads almost 

 unknown. Journeys had to be made in the 

 saddle over mountain and vale, through forest 

 and over stream, and the mind of the rider was 

 bent to the production of gaits which would 

 rid himself of the discomfort of the everlasting 

 jolt of the trot and his horse of the hardship 

 imposed by the canter or hand-gallop. The net 

 result was a broken step which enabled the rider 

 to sit at his ease in the saddle and get over 

 the ground comfortably and quickly. 



While the history of the formation of this 

 breed dates back a comparatively she time 

 and lies an open book before us, it is unneces- 

 sary to go farther than to state that its main 

 original factors were the Thoroughbred and 

 the pacer. The true pace is an objectionable 

 gait under saddle. The modifications of it, 

 which have been achieved, form the apotheosis 

 of equine locomotion under the saddle. Den- 



