Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 429 



beauty was established. These horses are taught five or more distinct 

 gaits, and as a result of years of selection and breeding, there is today 

 a natural inclination on the part of the American Saddle Horse to show 

 these gaits, which include not only the walk, trot, and canter, but also 

 the rack, running walk, fox trot, and slow pace. 



The general -purpose horse. — When the railway displaced the 

 Conestoga horse, many farmers attempted to produce what was styled 

 "the horse of all work." By this was meant a general-purpose horse 

 useful to wagon, plow, or under saddle. The early agricultural papers 

 were full of advice to farmers that such a type be bred, and fair associa- 

 tions encouraged the movement by offering prizes for this class of 

 horses. From 1840 to 1850 the "horse of all work" was the horse of 

 the day. About 1850, the first draft stallions were imported from 

 Europe, but they were not brought over with the idea of producing 

 draft horses in this country, but to breed to the small native mares, 

 with which this country was well supplied, in order to produce a general- 

 purpose horse. Prior to this there were some attempts to produce 

 such a horse by crossing the Thoroughbred and the Conestoga, but the 

 progeny possessed most of the defects of both parents and were utterly 

 unsuited for farm use or anything else. By 1870, breeders had come 

 to realize that there is more profit in producing specialized types of 

 horses useful for special purposes, rather than a single general-purpose 

 type not capable of doing anything well. Thus, although articles still 

 appear occasionally in farm papers advising the production of a general- 

 purpose horse, and although some county fair associations persist in 

 offering prizes for this ancient type, the general-purpose horse died a 

 natural death a half-century ago. Let him rest in peace. 



The draft type in America.— About 1870, there arose a strong 

 demand from cities for a heavy horse, and since that date large numbers 

 of Percheron, Belgian, Shire, and Clydesdale stallions and mares have 

 been imported to America for the purpose of breeding heavy horses 

 fitted for the work of moving heavy loads over city streets — in other 

 words, draft horses. America developed no draft breed of her own. 

 After the Conestoga disappeared we had no heavy horses to use as a 

 foundation for such a breed, and when the demand arose in this country 

 several European countries had draft breeds ready formed which we 

 borrowed from them. 



The carriage horse in America. — In America, as in England, the 

 modem carriage horse is a recent addition to our types of horses. The 

 more wealthy families among the early settlers of the Carolinas and 

 Virginia kept coaches for use on state and social occasions, but the so- 

 called roads were so miserable that driving was in no wise a pleasure. 

 Most of the carriages in use in the early days were stage coaches which 



