VOL. LII. No. 2251. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 18, 1S93. 
PRICE, THREE CENTS. 
$ 1.00 PER YEAR. 
HACKNEY HORSES. 
Through the courtesy of the editor of The Hackney, 
a new publication in the interest of the Hackney breed 
of horses, we are enabled to print a picture of the fine 
stallion Cadet, 1251. This stallion was imported last 
fall by Mr. A. J. Cassatt, of Philadelphia, and the fol¬ 
lowing mention of his quality is made : 
“ As a breeder of fine stock, Cadet ranks perhaps 
first in England, for all his foals show fine style and 
are remarkably well put together, the shoulders in all 
being well placed. It has been amply demonstrated 
that wherever a mare has by her breeding inherited a 
good style of going, that merit is almost of a certainty 
passed on to her 
progeny by 
Cadet. The 
horse may be 
said to be now 
in his prime, 
combining size, 
quality, power, 
action, and 
good temper. 
He is fully 15.3 
hands high, a 
rich dark chest¬ 
nut with white 
star in forehead 
and two white 
heels behind. 
He was foaled 
in 1884, and is 
therefore now 
i n his eighth 
year.” 
Tiie It. N.-Y. 
has often urged 
its readers 
to study the 
merits of the 
Hackneys. Too 
many farmers 
breed their 
mares to second 
rate trotting 
stallions in the 
hope of secur¬ 
ing a fast colt. 
The result too 
often is a poorly 
shaped;mongrel 
with enough 
speed to draw 
the boys to the 
local race-track 
but not enough 
to win a purse 
or command a 
price that will 
begin to pay for 
the money and 
time spent on 
him. Many such horses have hitherto found their 
level in front of a street car, but even that post of 
dishonor is being made vacant by cables and electric 
wires. In fact the low-grade trotter is now about as 
much of a damage maker as the scrub bull.' 
Pure and simple speed is a good cash product only 
when it is first-class. Nobody wants a trotter that is 
always behind, because all the beauty, grace and style 
have been bred out of it. It is safer to breed for 
stylish speed, because even if a horse has not the ability 
to cover a mile under 2:25, still he can move so proudly 
and handsomely that he will attract attention any¬ 
where. This is what the public want and those who 
are breeding horses to sell will make no mistake by 
catering to the public taste. 
Mr. Henry Fairfax, in The Hackney, thus describes 
many of the brood mares to be found in country 
neighborhoods. His description will be recognized as 
true by many of our readers : 
“These brood mares have their weak points: viz., 
narrow quarters, loosely coupled bodies, and legs too 
light to stand the hard city streets and park roads; they 
are lacking in style of carriage, notably about their 
heads and necks, and decidedly lacking in what is 
now absolutely needed in order to meet the require¬ 
ments of fashionable!.carriage horses, viz , action. In 
Hackney Stallion Cadet, 1251. Fio. 76 
speaking of action I mean that smart, snappy picking 
up and putting forward of the fore feet, done with the 
free use of the shoulders, bending the knee and fet¬ 
lock well while lifting it up, at the same time flexing 
the hock, keeping one hind foot well under the body, 
which takes much of the shock from the front legs 
and shoulders, and at the same time by its position 
under the center of gravity is in readiness to recover 
from a slip of another foot, so liable to happen to the 
horse while traveling the hard city streets. This 
action should be shown at all times while in motion, 
either at the walk going from two to four, or the trot 
from four to fifteen miles per hour both up hill and 
down, and should be well balanced, giving the animal 
the appearance of dancing along as his feet come 
lightly down, lift well up and carry forward for the 
onward stride.” 
After examining all the coach or carriage breeds of 
horses, Mr. Fairfax decided that the Hackney would 
give better returns when crossed on such mares than 
any other breed. In addition to the fact that Hackney 
grades are handsome and stylish he says : 
“The Hackney is a good feeder, very easily kept, 
and they develop and get their growth quicker than 
any class of horse I know. These points are all worthy 
of consideration, and particularly so with our farmers , 
who like to get 
their animals 
into their pock¬ 
ets as early as 
possible.” 
In fact, The 
R N.-Y. is cer¬ 
tain that many 
of our farmers 
would be well 
paid by breed¬ 
ing and train- 
i n g a few 
good Hackney 
grades. They 
will cost no 
more than so 
many scrubs, 
while the prices 
obtained for 
them will rep¬ 
resent the 'dif- 
f erenc e be¬ 
tween an arti¬ 
cle that the 
public call for 
and one that 
must be forced 
upon the mar¬ 
ket. The great 
danger is in 
patronizing a 
poor or half- 
bred stallion. 
Don’t do that 
or you may be 
worse off than 
before. Inin- 
troducing a 
new and popu¬ 
lar breed like 
this one, un¬ 
scrupulous 
dealers are 
often tempted 
to sell animals 
with bogus 
pedigrees. You 
cannot be too 
careful aooat starting right in Hackney breeding. 
The history of Cleveland Ray breeding in this country 
should be an eye-opener to Hackney breeders. The 
Cleveland Bay is an excellent breed, but because of 
the great demand for stallions, some unscrupulous 
breeders began selling animals that were not even 
good grades—many of them even with the blood of 
hea y draft horses. Of course, such breeding proved 
disappointing and unsatisfactory, and Cleveland Bay 
breeding has been seriously injured by^suchwork. The 
same thing is even more practicable .with Hackneys, 
unless the greatest care is taken to keep the stud book 
records clean and punish all attempts at bogus registry. 
