THOROUGHBRED VS. KENTUCKY HORSE 47 



On the Kentucky horse the rider has no length of 

 rein in front of him; he is, owing to the straight shoulder 

 and general form of the horse, perched away in front 

 of the centre of gravity, very much in the way that 

 he would be seated if riding a hackney. As we have 

 already seen in the last chapter, the straight shoulder 

 is far less apt to produce smooth and easy gaits than 

 the oblique shoulder. In fact, the gaits of the Ken- 

 tucky horse would, owing to this formation, be almost 

 as hard and stilty as the harness horse were they not 

 softened and rendered more springy by his extremely 

 long and sloping pasterns, which undoubtedly lessen 

 the concussion of his trot. It is, however, impossible 

 to discuss the moot question as to whether the Ken- 

 tucky or the thoroughbred type of horse has the 

 most comfortable gaits without first differentiating 

 between the five-gailed and the three-gaited Kentucky 

 saddler. 



Originally the Kentucky horse was bred chiefly as 

 a five-gaited animal. Life on the Southern plantation 

 demanded that a man be in the saddle all day and 

 every day, and an animal with easy, comfortable, and 

 swift gaits was more than merely a luxury; he was an 

 economic necessity. Without going too deeply into 

 the history of the breed, suffice it to say that in 1850 

 by the crossing of thoroughbred stallions and pacing 

 mares (who in their turn are also descended from the 

 thoroughbred) the Kentucky-bred saddler originated. 

 The "pace," pure and simple, was artificially turned 

 into the running walk and the rack or single-foot. 

 The rack is known as the single-foot for the reason that 

 in this gait no two feet strike the ground at the same 

 time, and as the majority of horses do not like to 

 travel' at this gait it is one that is difficult to teach. 



