THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
5 
The New Type of the Range Horse 
It is as foolish to sigh for the good old horse 
as to sigh for the good old times. Neither of 
them was up to the present standard. Out this 
way we have been building up the size of our horses 
and improving their appearance without taking 
from their endurance and staying qualities. We 
can eifect the former things; so long as air and 
water and grass in the region remain as they are, 
we are not likely to detract from the latter. 
Listen to what one of the buyers said the other 
day. Mr. J. A. Scott remarked: "During the search 
for horses by the European buyers this year I was 
commissioned to go out as an advance scout and 
round up the stock to be inspected at various places 
on certain days. I have been in the horse game 
all my life, and the one thing that strikes me most 
nowadays is the uniformly great improvement that 
has come to the equine race here in the Rocky 
Mountain region." 
We take pride in this improvement. There was 
a time when we could sell our horses only to ped- 
dlers and saddle polishers. Neither the American 
nor any other government would have anything to 
do with our stuff. It finally dawned on the quarter- 
master general of our army that we had in our 
stock certain qualities and in our environment cer- 
tain advantages that might be made available for 
cavalry uses. Stallions were sent to us and sta- 
tioned at convenient points. We ourselves took 
the hint and imported the best we could buy. In 
some cases individuals did this; in other cases a 
band of our ranchers would go into partnership in 
the purchase of a stallion of the best breed. Right 
here in the Park where I live are sample experi- 
ments such as are going on in almost every valley 
and park in the intermountain region. 
One of my neighbors, an old-timer, has been in 
the horse business for thirty or more years. In 
good times and bad times he has steadily stuck to 
his last. He has a pasture comprising 3,000 acres. 
In addition he makes use of the hundreds of thou- 
sands of acres of free range adjoining his ranch. 
His bunch at the start consisted of one sore-footed 
mare he bought in Denver. To-day he has a bunch 
of more than five hundred. His mares at first were 
small; gradually he has increased their size. At 
the beginning he made use of stallions owned by 
neighbors, and sometimes these were grades. 
Then he purchased one Percheron stallion of 
pure blood. In time he added another of the same 
breed. To-day he owns half a dozen of them, each 
one with a pasture of his own, in which suitable 
mares are allowed to run. Sam turns off four and 
five-year-olds as saddle or matched pairs or car- 
loads, and seldom receives less than SlOO for an 
animal. His horses have brought him a fortune. 
The favorites with us are the Percherons. 
Coupled with our relatively small, nervy, intelli- 
gent, staunch, tireless mares, they give us saddlers 
of the best form and style and stride — chunks 
suited to both town and farm uses, polo ponies of 
the larger size that are winning honors both in 
this country and abroad. My nearest neighbor 
owns a fine gray Percheron stallion that is as light 
on his feet as a thoroughbred colt. He is to put in 
a black stallion of the same breed, so that we can 
have our choice of colors. Another neighbor said 
to me the other day: "I have twenty mares. I am 
in the market for the best Percheron stallion I can 
find. It will pay me to own my own horse." And 
just up the river resides another neighbor, who 
stopped us on the road last week to ask, "Have you 
any mares to sell.^ I want fifty of them. I have 
Western Bred Artillery Horse 
just purchased a Percheron stallion and intend to 
stay in the business." 
So it goes with us, and so it goes all over the 
mountain region. We have no fears that the horse 
will become in the near future a "museum exhibit." 
We go in for traction engines, but we have an idea 
the horse will not soon be displaced on the average 
farm; there is work for him to do. A good saddler 
with us now brings $150; a matched team of geld- 
ings up to $300; a matched team of good size mares 
can scarcely be bought for less than $400. Con- 
sidering the small expense we must meet in pre- 
paring a horse for the market, when we use to the 
full our free range and up-to-date methods, we look 
on the business as a good one and one that is likely 
to grow even better. The demand for the well- 
bred horse will doubtless continue to increase, 
regardless of the inroads made by the motor and 
the hue and cry made about the cost of feed. 
W. J. Harsha. 
By courtesy Western Farm Life. 
