166 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
The Kentucky horses are handsome and docile, and 
they jump well. Some of them are up to a great 
weight. I have seen one in particular that weighed 
about twelve hundred pounds, a smoothly turned, 
round built horse, of proud and lofty carriage, fit to 
carry a commander-in-chief; instructed in the move- 
ments of the haute école, and so thoroughly disciplined 
that his owner as he sat in the saddle was able to 
crack an enormous whip over the horse’s head with- 
out causing him to budge an inch. I have another in 
my stable at this moment, a coal-black fellow, standing 
about 16.1, and weighing at least twelve hundred 
pounds, with a powerful, sloping shoulder, high 
withers, and a short back, capable of sustaining the 
heaviest rider. This horse has a long, curved neck, 
finely cut ears, powerful hind quarters, and a gentleness 
and intelligence that I have never seen surpassed. 
Another type of the Kentucky saddle horse is ex- 
hibited in a beautiful little bay mare, called Pea 
Vine, bred by Colonel T. A. Dodge. She is a tough, 
ing humorous remarks, which I quote from a newspaper published 
in the heart of the Blue Grass region : — 
“ A new kind of saddler has come into fashion of late, known as 
the Parker, or New York saddler. A class of business men in 
the East want something to jolt up their livers and give them a 
deal of exercise on a short road or in the parks. The gait can 
scarcely be described, and should be seen to be appreciated. It 
requires a high degree of intelligence in the horse to enable him 
to acqnire it. He must cross his feet, take short, high steps, and 
come down hard; he must go backward as well as forward, side- 
wise, and obliquely. He must cut up all sorts of didos. The 
combination of a business man who doesn’t know anything about 
riding, a plug hat, and a trained ‘Parker’ would draw in any 
Kentucky town almost like a circus. But then we have them. 
Our horsemen can put up anything in their line that the trade 
demands.” 
