AS A BUSINESS HORSE 13 



fidence in asserting, will prove admirably adapted to all ordinary kinds of 

 service. When used upon the road, he moves off easily, quietly, and freely, with- 

 out the least disposition to fret, at a lively pace, on a pleasant rein ; but when 

 roused a trifle by an increased pull upon the bit, and an urging word, his 

 head raises higher, his eye dilates, and he is at once a full hand for the best 

 horseman. The taller, more open-built, and longer horse, with a long, reach- 

 ing stride, may easily dash by him at the first start in the morning, but if 

 their course is the same, and the journey be continued for a day or a week, 

 he will have ample opportunity to renew the acquaintance. Such horses 

 will be hardy, rarely affected with any complaint, easily kept in good condi- 

 tion, will be always ready for use, and easily taught to perform almost any kind 

 of service with ease to themselves and pleasure to their owners". 



In his fourth chapter, which is entitled, " Peculiar Adaptation of the 

 Morgan Horse to the Road and General Use", Mr. Linsley says : 



" In the foregoing chapter we have endeavored to describe what we con- 

 sidered should be the form and characteristics of the business horse, or 

 horse of all work. Assuming that the reader is satisfied with the general 

 soundness of the views there expressed, we now proceed to compare the 

 Morgan horse with the standard of excellence we have there set up. First, 

 as to compactness of form : This we have considered a primary and indis- 

 pensable requisite in the business horse, and in this respect the Morgan par- 

 ticularly excels ; his body is not remarkably long, but round and deep at the 

 chest, the quarters large and full, the shoulders and hips well shaped, the loins 

 wide and muscular, the flanks deep, and the whole form swelling with muscle 

 and life. 



"There is not a single feature of his frame but gives unmistakable evi- 

 dence of his vigorous health and iron constitution ; and though he has been, 

 and is still, principally bred in the States of Vermont and New Hampshire 

 States that are notoriously hilly and mountainous, and where consequently 

 every description of work to which he is put is more than ordinarily labor- 

 ious yet he is remarkably long-lived, and in his age retains his spirit and vigor. 



" Still another evidence of the soundness of his constitution is found in 

 his almost universal freedom from every species of disease. Before railroads 

 had taken the place of the stages, a great many of these horses could be 

 found in various parte of New England that had been running for several 

 years before a mail-coach, yet were perfectly sound, in vigorous health, and 

 still as free in spirit as when first broken to harness. We have seen 

 them running daily in the stage in fine condition when twenty years old, 

 making daily trips of sixteen miles each in two hours, over a broken and 

 mountainous country. 



" A single instance will illustrate both their endurance and style of going. 

 A few years since, late in the month of September, in company with several 

 gentlemen, we made a trip to the White Mountains. Having made the cus- 

 tomary examinations in the orthodox way, we arrived late one evening at the 

 Franconia Notch House. Here we learned that the stage would leave for St. 



