THE HORSE AND HIS MASTER 5 



sacking with the combined reaper and thrasher drawn by- 

 horses. 



The horse as a pleasure animal. — Not only is the horse 

 of service to us in conserving our energies, but he pro- 

 vides us with health-giving pleasure. There can be no 

 doubt that the horse was used in war and sport many 

 centuries before he began to take up our burdens. This 

 is fully attested' by our earliest written history. In fact, 

 the first improvement attempted was to increase the 

 horse's efficiency in war and sport and not in economic 



FIG. 5.— A SIX-HORSE TEAM DELIVERING COAL 



industry. Breeding horses for sport and fashion consti- 

 tutes a very large part of the industry at the present time, 

 though this work has been affected to some extent 

 by the automobile. 



Number and value of horse stock in the United States. 

 -^According to the Thirteenth Census there are 27,618,- 

 242 horses, mules and asses in the United States, valued 

 at $3,085,460,483. This value is twenty-eight per cent 

 greater than that of cattle, swine, sheep and goats com- 

 bined. At least one-half of this horse stock is capable 

 of doing work, which is equal to more than one hundred 

 million hand laborers. This illustrates the vast addition 

 to the wealth and productive power of the nation that we 



