SADDLE HORSES. 149 
It is usually thought that high-stepping horses are 
less likely to fall than low steppers or “daisy-cut- 
ters,” but this I believe to be an error. Some horses 
occasionally fall, but otherwise never stumble, whereas 
a low-stepping horse may stumble frequently, but 
never come down, always saving himself with the 
other leg. It is a matter chiefly of legs and feet, and 
of courage; but a nag who puts his toe down first is 
almost sure to be a stumbler. 
I need not say that the saddle horse, above all 
others, being necessarily an intimate companion of hig 
master, should possess intelligence and good temper; 
he should have fine, well-bred ears, a large, expressive 
eye, a tapering nose, and nicely cut, expansive nos- 
trils. To bestride a lop-eared, coarse-headed beast 
would give little satisfaction to a person of proper 
equine susceptibilities. But it is astonishing what 
small importance professional horsemen commonly 
attach to this vital matter of intelligence, the reason 
perhaps being that they take the purely mechanical 
view of the horse, considering him merely as a crea- 
ture who is able, or unable, as the case may be,:to get 
over the ground and to carry a weight. I have known 
many instances where jockeys or dealers, being em- 
ployed to buy a horse for a customer, have picked 
out an animal which had all the requisites except the 
saving one of good sense. 
I remember one case in particular where a keen 
judge of horseflesh was sent to Kentucky for a saddle 
horse. The man paid a large price and came back 
with an admirable beast, young, sound, thoroughly 
taught, good in harness as well as under saddle, fast, 
and, except for the shape of his head, very handsome. 
