QUALITY IN WORK HORSES. 



(")ur judges arc inslniclcd imt to award liluc ribl)ons or first prizes to any 

 Iiiirsc, no matter how good his condition, unless he is a horse of good type and 

 tjuaUty. QuaHty, it need not be said, is just as important in a work horse as in 

 a race horse. QuaHty might perhaps be described as that fineness of texture 

 which good breeding produces. The bone in a well-ljred horse is more dense and 

 less brittle than the bone of a coarse l)red animal. It is true, of course, that well-bred 

 horses are sometimes deficient in (|ualit_\-, but no horse has qualit)' unless he is well- 

 bred. The horse with quality has more endurance, and he is less subject to dis- 

 ease and to unsoundness of feet and legs than is the low-bred horse. Conse- 

 quently it is more humane to use horses with quality than those without quality. 

 Quality and beauty are usually found together, and yet, as all horsemen know, 

 one may exist without the other. A horse may have quality without being in the 

 least beautiful. For example, he may have a yewe neck, a large head, long ears, 

 a Roman nose, a sway back, flat sides, slack loins, calf-knees, cow hocks and a 

 rat tail ; and yet if his coat is short and silk}-, if his head though large is bony 

 and well-cut. if his ears though long are well shaped, if his legs are flat and 

 clean, and if his hoofs are of iine, close texture, then the horse has quality. 

 Horses of the Shire and Clyde breeds often look coarse at first sight on account 

 of their Roman noses and hairy legs, but in the best specimens of these breeds 

 the long hair about the fetlocks is fine and silky, and their heads, though not 

 handsome, are clean-cut. 



Quality is thus described by Professor Rufus C. Obrecht of the University 

 of Illinois : '"Quality in a horse is of prime importance. This term when ap- 

 plied to horses has reference to their bones, skin, hair, and muscles. Its pres- 

 ence is shown by clean-cut features of the head ; firm, clean bone ; tendons well 

 defined ; close fitting, glove-like skin ; hair fine and silky ; an abundance of fin- 

 ish and absence of coarseness, but not necessarily small bone. When slightly ex- 

 erted the skin will show clearly an intricate net work of veins. Coarse hair is 

 usually associated with a coarse skin and a soft spongy bone which is weak and 

 subject to disease. With (|uality the muscles stand out prominently and are 

 clearly defined which aids in giving a horse finish. Quality is a strong indication 

 of the extent of a horse's endurance. These two characteristics are closelv as- 

 sociated, and a horse lacking in (|uality is comparativel}- a cheap animal." 



KM) 



