142 THE HORSE 



view-point is unjust and usually arises from not 

 realizing the fact that the production of the best 

 of anything, whether road or draft horses, or 

 oxen or pigs, or fruits and vegetables, is never 

 easy. It cannot, of course, be denied that the 

 road horse is the higher type of the two. But his 

 production is also a matter of greater risk and 

 anxiety and more care and pains are required for 

 his proper breaking and training. Not all men 

 have the right qualifications for raising him suc- 

 cessfully. To a great many farmers the draft 

 horse, with his lesser liability to accident, his 

 more even disposition and temper, and the greater 

 ease with which he can be broken and fitted for 

 market, offers a more inviting field. 



I would not be fair to the draft horse if I did 

 not mention one matter in which he is very often 

 misjudged — his intelligence. A very common im- 

 pression among those who are not acquainted with 

 him is that his tractability and the ease with which 

 he is usually broken to harness are owing rather 

 to a sort of ox-like docility than to his ability to 

 understand what is required of him. But in a life- 

 long experience with horses of all kinds I could 

 never perceive that the draft horse was one whit 

 less intelligent than other equine types. 



Indeed, if there is any difference, it is the other 

 way, for the draft horse, being by temperament 



