10 FOREIGN MARKETS FOR AMERICAN HORSES. 



their own use, and the demand is only for such animals as are the 

 best of their class. There appears, however, to be an exception to 

 this in the case of Denmark, which imported, in 1896, somewhat over 

 6,000 horses, mostly from Russia and Finland, valued at $80 per head, 

 and exported nearly 16,000, valued at $172 per head. 



That the larger part of the horses offered for sale in the principal 

 horse market of the United States are not to be rated as first-class is 

 shown in a report * of a Government inspector at the Chicago stock 

 yards, who writes: 



There were sold from this market in 1896 86,506 horses, 80 per cent of which 

 I find, by reference to the daily sale sheets, were plugs and common horses, leav- 

 ing in round numbers about 18,000 desirable horses, 60 per cent of these being 

 purchased by foreign buyers. During the first six months of the present year (1897) 

 53,436 have been sold, and less than 25 per cent are of the classification I have 

 previously mentioned as being available for exportation, and practically all of 

 these have been purchased for that purpose. The extent of business at present 

 being done, and its susceptibility of increase, is limited only by the number of 

 desirable horses that can be obtained. Country buyers and shippers report a 

 scarcity of desirable animals of the type mentioned. 



Europe wants good horses of all breeds, just as America does, but 

 there are some conditions which are not the same. Therefore, a good 

 horse which would be just the thing for the purpose of the buyer in 

 America might be unsuited to the work of the prospective European 

 purchaser; and the reverse is also equally true. As the foreign 

 demand is the "life of the trade," taking off the market a large num- 

 ber of horses and thus increasing the value of those that remain, as 

 shown by the large increase in the price of horses since this outlet 

 was created, it is good policy for horse breeders to study the taste 

 and desires of this large number of purchasers and endeavor to 

 produce as many horses as possible that comply with these demands. 



THE ARMY HORSE. 



Besides the usual demand for horses for draft, carriage, and other 

 business purposes of civil life, common to this country and Europe, 

 in the latter there is a considerable annual requirement for horses to 

 remount the cavalry and haul the artillery and baggage trains of their 

 large armies. 



While written descriptions of the horses required for the United 

 States Army and those of the European armies are practically the 

 same, nevertheless the animals themselves differ materially in many 

 important particulars, according to the different needs and ideas of 

 the countries. Our horses are weight carriers, with large barrels to 

 stand hard work and to become hustlers when forage gives out. The 

 European horses receive more careful treatment, have much smaller 

 barrels, and are more lightly and gracefully built. Ours may be the 

 more serviceable, but if we desire to sell we must cater to the taste 

 and idea of the purchaser. It pays to do so. 



*See Appendix, p. 87. 



