Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-03-28
THEHORsEs OF AMERICA.
Their Present Value, with Some
Suggestions as to Breeding
for Speed for the Road
and Track.

Among the great industrial interests
of this country the horse may be con-
sidered as standing in the foremost rank
of animal productions For many years
he has been constantly increasing in
numbers and value so rapidly and with
such constant accretiOns that the number
of the horses now in the United States will
fall little short of 100000 in the ag-
gregate, and representing in money value
the enormous sum ofupwards of $780,,
00e,0o0, nearly equal to the whole
amount of our national indebtedness,
and more than the whole gross amount
of the gold product of California, and
probably of the world, during the time
which has been occupied in raising these
animals. Few who read this article
have ever imagined that the annual
value of any animal product in this
country should so nearly approximate
the vaunted resources Of our gold fields,
which politicians are ever parading be-
fore the public as the means of paying
our national debt.
Fifty years ago the standard price of
horses was very low, one hundred dol
lars being considered as much as a first
class animal was worth, unless in excep-
tional cases, notwithstanding we had
very much the same quality of horse
then as now. Subsequent breeding has
developed his powers in a different direc-
ton, and the galloping saddle nag of
that day has been transformed into the
trotting horse of the present We had
at that time in this country some of the
highest blood that had ever been i'm
ported from foreign parts. 1t was then
rich and fresh and became widely dis
seminated throughout the country by
such horses as Diomede, the winner of
the first English Derby in 1880; his de-
seendants, Sir Archy and Duroc, Mes
senger, and that most capital horse, Old
Medley, to say nothing of others that
have left favorable impression on the
horse Of the present day. The descend
ants of Diomede to this day are the rul-
ing spirits of the race course, as they
have been principally bred for that spec
ialty, in the same way as those of Mes
senger have been bred for trotting. The
Southerner, having no trotting vehicle,
and the roads being universally Of infe
rior description, did the. best he could
under the circumstances and trained his
morse for saddle purposes. The North,
where good roads and greater mechan-
zeal talent prevailed, soon possessed it.
self of fine road vehicles, and the horse,
instead of being taught to gallop and to
amble was encouraged in his trOt until
he became as conversant with that gait
as he had been with other PAGES. Now,
had the relative positions of Messenger
and Diomede been reversed, the descend
ants Of Messenger would have become
gallopers and those of Diomede trot-
ters, and the name of Messenger would
have been heard of among trotting cir
cles as little as that of Diomede is at the
present day. A further impetus was
given to trotting blood by the importa-
ton of the Arabian, Grand Bashaw, who
was a natural trotter himself and i'm
parted that popularity in an eminent de-
gree to his descendants, and, in addition,
communicating a graceful movement to
a gait that had previously been con-
sidered not very elegant.
For long time it was considered ad-
vantageous to cross a well-bred horse on
the Kanuck, or Canadian, as he is indif-
ferently termed, with the view of get
ting that knee action which is deemed
essential in the trotter The result of
that description Of breeding was, as
might have been anticipated, too much
action in front and deficiency Of pro-
pelling power, accompanied by that lack
of endurance consequent on low breed
ing and great expenditure of muscular
action. Another great objection to this
cross was found in the deterioration of
general appearance visible in horses of
that class. However, as time progressed,
and these evils became more palpable,
attempts were: made by breeders to cor
rect the mistake into which they had
fallen, and recourse was had to horses of
higher blood and superior excellence,
and with such success that many of the
trotters Of the present day so closely re-
sembled the running horse in general ap-
pearance as to deceive the uninitiated
With the creation, aswe may term it, Of
a superior trotting horse, at once beau
tiful speedy and graceful, and the great
accumulation of wealth in the COM
munity, the value Of the trotting horse
has advanced eorrespondingly until now
the prices paid for particularly fine
horses are such as would never have
been dreamed of twenty years ago.
We may say that the value of every
other class of horse has appreciated with
the exception Of the French Canadian
for whom there is very little demand-in
fact none at the prices it would cost tC
import them from Canada. As the de-
mand in this country has decreased they
are not so numerousfy 4sed as formerly
as here was the great market for tha
description Of horse until few years
ago, when it was discovered that he wa;
found unequal to the business require
ments of the community. The abolition
of the Reciprocity treaty with Canad;
had also something to do with lessenins
the demand as it imposed heavy tarit
on his importation and increased his eos
in this market about 100 per cent, or t.
about Sl6O through the gold premium
and duty combined, which is more thai
no is ever worth for any purpose. w
shall see very few of these horses i
future, and very glad we ought to be Q
it, as his introduction into this eountr,