No. 4. J TllK llOKSE FOR NEW ENGLAND. 123 



carried in the right place, and properly. This the hackney 

 has, and has always had, and is one of the few types that is 

 invariably good in this point. In the American trotting 

 inare we have the pacer type with sloping rumps, and the 

 ti'otter Avith its thin neck and badly carried tail, all of which 

 are unsatisfactory from a horse show point of view. 



Right here I want to })ay a tribute to the American trot- 

 ting marc, and the chances of Avhat she would produce when 

 pro})erly mated with the English hackney or other breeds. 

 When one stands in the show ring and watches twenty or 

 thirty horses go around, the first thing that catches his eye 

 is action, next speed, next conformation. The hackney has 

 the action and the trotting mare the speed, and what must 

 the combination be ? Once in a while, the desired type. 



After the horses have been slow^ed down to a walk, the 

 worst weeded out, then the rest brought into the ring and 

 looked over for conformation, you find the American type 

 of stallion — as I have stated before, there are almost no 

 mares shown — to have the one failing, namely, lightness 

 of bone. A oood hunter should be nine inches below the 

 knee, and many a blue ribbon w^inner does not span seven 

 and one-half inches. Sloping rumps and badly set-on tails 

 are the next most objectionable points ; badly carried heads 

 and lack of proper bitting are perhaps the next. 



Picking the hackney to pieces, he has a wonderfully well- 

 made head, although a trifle coarse, but broad between the 

 eyes ; generally of a good disposition ; the neck, especially 

 in the mares, is well cut about the throttle, and crest excep- 

 tionally good ; but the worst point is the thickness just in 

 front of the shoulders on the neck, — this no doubt comes 

 from the cart breeding. All hackneys are invariably of 

 good color, which is a desirable point. 



The majority of those I have seen have the best of feet, 

 broad heels ; and this is where many of the American trot- 

 ters are very lax. 



In the American mares we have intense virility, enthu- 

 siasm, dash and boundless energy, that carry you at a three- 

 minute gait up hill and down hill. 



I drove " Sky High," having Mrs. Smith with me, in a 



