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VOL. I.XXVII. NMW YORK, MAY 2.",, 1!)1S. No. 148:5. 
Give Him Another Chance 
The Safe Family Horse 
O doubt a great many readers attended the fairs 
and liorse sliows during the last year, and ad¬ 
mired the iiandsome display of liorses in all classes, 
from i)onies to the heaviest draft stock. I'lie horse 
is man’s noblest friend and most useful helper in the 
entire animal kingdom, and the day will never come 
when he will not he known and appreciated by both 
country and city life. The motor car may hold a 
place of usefulness in city life, hut can never equal 
the horse in the varied activity of the farm. 
It seems ohviovis that the tyi)es of horses which 
should he given particular care on the farm are the 
heavy drafter and the lighter, general-i)urpose horse. 
The former is in a class by itself wherever hard work 
is to be done, and wherever heavy loads are to be 
moved. No one with a natural love for horses can 
see a well-matched draft team hauling a heavy load 
without being favorably imiu-essed with their match¬ 
less strength and endurance. 
If wo except the freakish prices occasionally paid 
for racing stock, there is no class of horses w'hich is 
as profitable to raise as drafters. We regard race 
horses as an unnecessary and useless branch of the 
horse family and unworthy of special attention from 
the farmer breeder. As an amusement for million¬ 
aires the race horse is more n.seful than the auto¬ 
mobile, and a great deal of knowledge and skill can 
be developed in breeding them. However, there is a 
wider held of usefulness, and more certain profit for 
the farmer in breeding draft horses. 
The second class of prohtable horses includes 
coach horses and general-purposes horses for use on 
the fai’ui. Well-matched coach teams of good hreed- 
Ing bring from .8000 to .^SOO, but such extreme ])rlces 
are the exception. The oniinary horse weighing 
j,200 to 1,:)00 pounds is a very useful type for gen¬ 
eral farm work. A team of this weight has sufli- 
cient size and strength to draw a plow all day at a 
rapid walk, and they arc not too heavy for road 
work in the carriage or market wagon. Moreover, as 
a rule they can be kept in good flesh with less feed 
than the heavier draft team. They are particularly 
fitted for the small farm, where more than two horses 
would be an unnecessary source of expense. A team 
of l,200-i)ound horses can easily do all the work on 
an 80-acre stock farm, and can also be used as 
drivers. 
There is another class of horses which has been 
almost forgotten in this rushing age of motor cars, 
and that is the quiet f;unily driving hor.se, wiiich any 
member of the family can drive. In these da.vs, 
when every country road contains more objects to 
frighten horses than the busiest city street of 20 
years ago, the horse that is always dependable and 
safe for the women and young folks to drive is the 
(.xceptlon, and not the rule. Such a horse may be 
entirely devoid of .style and speetl; lie might not 
bring a very imposing price if offered at public sale, 
but, neverthele.ss, he is one of the most valuable 
pieces of property on the farm. 
In general it may be said that women are not as 
strong and skillful in managing unruly horses as men. 
r>y this statement I do not wish to discourage women 
,from driving; on the contrary, I consider driving to 
be one of the most valuable and healthful arts of 
country life. But in the interest of safety one cannot 
be too certain of the quietness of the horses which 
are used for family driving. A great many high- 
.spiritod horses may be easily controlled under ordi¬ 
nary conditions, but wdien the unusual and unex¬ 
pected alarm comes, as it occasionally does to all 
driving horses, they become so badly frightened as 
to be unmanageable in the hands of man or woman, 
and a serious, perhaps fatal accident is the result. 
Only a short time ago the people of this neighborhood 
were startled by the neAvs of a runaway liorse, which, 
although a high-spirited animal, had been considered 
a safe family horse. In this case the horse became 
frightened at a passenger train, wrecked the buggy 
and caused the death of the lady driver, avIio Avas a 
skillful and practical horse wonuiu. It is only after 
immediate knoAvledge of such an accident that Ave 
awake lo the possible danger that may hapiien to 
women and young folks when driving alone. 
The man Avho posses.ses a (piiet, depmidable driA’-- 
mg horse, one Avhich can be trusted iu all circum¬ 
stances, .should think twice before .selling, even 
though the price otfered may he a great temptation 
to .sell. Although quietne.ss and gentlene-ss are qual¬ 
ities Avhich bring a generous price in the horse mar¬ 
ket, the purchaser of a horse will de Avell to pay more 
for a hor.se Avhich can be trusted, rather than to buy 
a cheaper animal that cannot he easily managed. It 
is Avorth a little more money to feel reasonably 
sure that the members of the family are not in con¬ 
tinual danger Avhen out driving. The motor car has 
been accepted as the family conveyance on most 
larms, but there are certain times and conditions of 
travel when a driving horses is indispensable. 
A Fine Pair for the Lad if to Drive 
