THOROUGHBRED VS. KENTUCKY HORSE 49 



happen to conform to our idea of what a saddle horse 

 should be ; but I do, nevertheless, firmly believe that as 

 an acquired taste he will never grow in popularity in 

 the North, and will everywhere become less and less 

 of a favorite as people become interested in sport. 

 With his harnessy action and peacocky appearance he 

 is seldom apt to "take" in a sporting community. 

 Somehow it would seem almost as incongruous to see 

 a hunting woman perched up on a five-gaited Ken- 

 tucky saddler as it would be to see her appear on a 

 "milk-white palfrey," arrayed in the flowing skirt and 

 beplumed hat of Queen Elizabeth's time. 



So much for the five-gaited saddler; let us now con- 

 sider him in the form of a simple three-gaited hack. 

 As such he is no longer what might be termed a " fancy 

 breed," but enters into direct competition with the 

 thoroughbred type of horse. 



Being of the same breed as the five-gaited horse he, 

 of course, has the harnessy appearance and carriage 

 of body which we have already criticised. No longer 

 possessing the easy artificial gaits which make the 

 former comfortable as a hack, his remaining three 

 gaits, owing to his straight shoulders, are rarely as 

 comfortable as in a horse of the thoroughbred type. 

 Since he has been bred for decades for saddle work, 

 he is usually well-mannered and willing to walk quietly 

 in a flat-footed manner and, at the same time, less apt 

 to stub his toes than the lower-actioned thoroughbred; 

 but he is inclined to "paddle" or "wing" at the walk 

 as well as in the trot. At this latter gait his action is 

 hard with excessively high knee and hock action, and 

 is bound to give the rider far more work or exercise 

 than the smooth trot of the thoroughbred, which is 

 quite high enough to be graceful and in a few cases even 



