122 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE, 
breeding, — altogether, a personage of great impor- 
tance. And yet not long ago, when a certain rustic 
youth reared in Vermont paid his first visit to St. 
Albans in that State, in company with his mother, 
he stood aghast before a bronze statue there which 
represented a two-legged animal, clad in human clothes, 
and having apparently the attributes of aman. Un- 
derneath in large letters were inscribed the words, 
“General Knox.” “By gosh, mother,” exclaimed the 
astounded youth, “I always thought General Knox 
was a horse!” And so he was, and a very good one 
too, as we shall presently see. 
The gait of the Morgan horse is highly characteristic. 
Though sure-footed, he is apt to carry his fore feet 
close to the ground, taking short elastic steps, which, 
even when quickened to a rapid trot, seem to cost him 
the least possible effort. There is no swaying of the 
hips, no shaking of the whole frame, no pounding 
with the fore feet or high lifting of the hocks, but a 
smooth, easy, gliding motion. The Morgan both trots 
and gallops with his limbs well under him. 
A longer, wider gait is commonly associated with 
the trotting horse. In fact, until within the past few 
years 1t was thought that the ideal trotter carried his 
hind feet so wide as to plant them outside of the track 
left by his fore feet. Many, perhaps most, fast horses 
do travel in this way; but, as a rule, the very fastest 
step no wider behind than in front. A long stride is 
however nearly, if not quite, essential to extreme 
speed; and many Morgan horses, when moving at 
their best pace, lengthen their gait very much, and go 
perceptibly nearer to the ground. The Morgan action 
in front is, as a rule, not big enough for superlatively 
