THE TYPES AND CLASSES 135 



is considered unsightly, and they are too susceptible, 

 in their gait, to the various kinds of footing. 



156. The speed horse may be either a trotter or a pacer 

 possessed of sufficient speed, stamina and gameness, to 

 render him a successful race horse. Unfortunately speed 

 performance alone is about all that counts, although the 

 better class of speed horses conform very closely to the 

 road horse just described, possessing extreme speed in 

 addition. 



Road horses are hitched singly or in pairs to the Ameri- 

 can road wagon, while speed horses are hooked to sulkies 

 or speed wagons, depending upon whether or not amateur 

 rules obtain. 



Saddle Horse Division 



The saddle horse division embraces the race horse or 

 runner, the gaited saddle horse, the walk-trot-canter 

 saddle horse, the hunter and the combination horse. 



157. The race horse is of most extreme speed type, 

 but is used exclusively under saddle. He is a natural 

 galloper, having a wonderful reach and length of jump at 

 the run, but a low, pointing stride at the trot. Running 

 races are conducted on the flat or over the jumps of the 

 steeple-chase course, some horses showing a natural apti- 

 tude for the jumps, whereas others cannot even be schooled 

 to take them successfully. Runners are handicapped by 

 the weight which they are required to carry. 



158. The gaited saddle horse (Fig. 61) . — Since instinct 

 to go certain gaits is hereditary, and only those horses which 

 instinctively go certain gaits can be schooled to a satis- 

 factory performance at them, the majority of gaited saddle 

 horses are Saddle bred, and conform to the description of the 

 Saddle-bred horse given elsewhere. Performance, the 



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