592 



AMERICAN HORSES. 



to convert a fast trotter into a pacer, unless forced to do 

 so ; but the number of pacers has increased so much that 

 they have had to be put into a separate class. Formerly, 

 pacing was regarded as a disgrace to a trotting horse, and 

 toe weights were used on the fore feet, with the object of 

 making a horse extend these feet well to the front, so as to 

 prevent over-reaching ; but now they are seldom employed, 

 on account of the increasing popularity of pacing. 



Photo by] [SOHREIBEE & SOKS, PHILADELPHIA. 



Fig. 574. — Pacing stallion, Joiin R. Gentry (2.oii). 



South American Horses. — The only South American 

 horses of which I have had any practical experience were 

 those of the Argentine Republic. Fig. 575 shows an Argen- 

 tine mare, by an imported English thorough-bred, which 

 was fast, a great stayer and clever jumper, and which 

 carried my wife in good style, out hunting in Leicestershire 

 and North Cheshire. Another xA.rgentine mare which we 

 had, won a couple of steeplechases in England. I have 



