QUALITY IN WORK-HORSES 



Our judges are instructed not to award 

 blue ribbons or first prizes to any horse, no 

 matter how good his condition, unless he is 

 a horse of good type and quality. Quality, 

 it need not be said, is just as important in 

 a work-horse as in a race-horse. Quality 

 might perhaps be described as that fineness 

 of texture which good breeding produces. 

 The bone in a well-bred horse is more 

 dense and less brittle than the bone of a 

 coarse-bred animal. It is true, of course, 

 that well-bred horses are sometimes defi- 

 cient in quality, but no horse has quality 

 unless he is well-bred. The horse with 

 quality has more endurance, and he is less 

 subject to disease and to unsoundness of 

 feet and legs than is the low-bred horse. 

 Consequently 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 ewe 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 silky, 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 fine, 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 fetlock 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 applied to 

 horses has reference to their bones, skin, 

 hair and muscles. Its presence is shown 

 by clean-cut features of the head; firm, 

 clean bone; tendons well defined; close fit- 

 ting, glove-like skin; hair fine and silky, 

 an abundance of finish and absence of 

 coarseness, but not necessarily small bone. 

 When slightly exerted the skin will show 

 clearly an intricate network of veins. 

 Coarse hair is usually associated with a 

 coarse skin and a soft, spongy bone which 

 is weak and subject to disease. With qual- 

 ity the muscles stand out prominently and 

 are clearly defined, which aids in giving a 

 horse finish. Quality is a strong indica- 

 tion of the extent of a horse's endurance. 

 These two characteristics are closely asso- 

 ciated, and a horse lacking in quality is 

 comparatively a cheap animal." 



This Association has always maintained 

 that it is highly important, from the 

 humane point of view, to encourage the use 

 of horses of good quality, and the long 

 experience that we have had in the 

 inspection of stables has confirmed this 

 opinion. In many large stables, where 

 horses have been bought without much 

 judgment, all the horses may be divided 

 into two distinct types: first, the well-bred, 

 smooth-hipped, fine-coated type; and sec- 

 ond, the low-bred, ragged-hipped, coarse- 

 haired type. The horses of the first class 

 will look fat and sleek, whereas the horses 

 of the second type will look thin and jaded, 

 although all the horses do the same amount 

 of work. The Old Horse Class is another 

 illustration. The veteran steeds shown in 

 that class are almost invariably horses of 

 quality. They represent the survival of 

 the fittest ; and the fittest are the well-bred 



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