KENTUCKY THE HOME OF THE SADDLER 89 



die path, and have been thoroughly trained in gaits 

 most comfortable to the rider and easy to the horse 

 the walk, trot, canter, running walk, fox trot and 

 slow pace. Many gentlemen lived a good deal in the 

 saddle, and gaits which the horse and rider could en- 

 dure all day were necessary. The abrupt trot of the 

 English hackney was not adapted to a warm climate, 

 since it was hard on both horse and rider, and, though 

 the "side wheeler" had an easy gait, he lacked in grace, 

 hence the special saddle gaits were evolved. 



During and following the civil war, Kentucky led 

 in the breeding of saddle-horses. The superiority of 

 the southern horse is shown by the fact that, for two 

 years during the war, the northern cavalry was far 

 inferior to that of the Confederates. Before and after 

 the war, many stallions went to Tennessee, Missouri 

 and Illinois. Missouri got the most, and is now nearly 

 equal to Kentucky in the number and quality of her 

 saddle horses, and many are now also being bred in 

 Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Texas. 



The first saddle-horse came by chance rather than 

 by design; but experience with runners and trotters 

 has taught the Kentuckians that to get an animal to 

 be relied on for a highly specialized use, it must be 

 bred for that use. This is a cardinal principle in sad- 

 dle-horse breeding now, and, without it, such breed 

 of gaited horses would be impossible. In 1891, the 

 National (now American) Saddle-Horse Breeders' Asso- 

 ciation was organized to recover from the debris of 

 the trotting wreck the good qualities of the saddle. 

 The president of the Association is General John 



