Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-10-10
The Horses Back.

The first thing TO observe in Judging o
horse, so far as his back is concerned, i,
he length of it. A long back is veal
)ack the world over and in every instance
BY superior excellence of structure in 9th
II respects, tho weakness of the back ma,
'e, IN some measure, made up; but th
orse can never be the horse he woul
ave been had his back been shorter one
We do not care how short Il horse back
IS; for it is sure evidence that he ca
AIRY or drag a heavy weight great dis
ancc, and not tire: neither, if he b,
peedy, will two or three Seasons of turf
Experience break him down, as is the cast
18th so many of our speedy, long backed
horses.
Old Morrill, and Flora Temple are in
stances in the past; and the famous grand
son Of Old Morrill,, Fearnaught, and Tag
CARTS Abdallah, are good illustration,
among later horses. This conformation
Of the back was, in our opinion, II grave
objection against Young Morrill, an
Rysdyk's llambletonian. In spite of all
their excellence both of them would have
been decidedly better horses had they been
coupled shorter and more strongly on the
back. If Young Morrill, had had the
back of his sre-one of the most marvel
lous specimens of perfect bone structure
and muscular power ever bred he would
never have gotten so many swayed- backed
colts rs now stand to his charge. The
same was the case in even greater meas
ure with Rysdyk's HambIetonian. We
know what he did in the stud. We know
that, crossed on mares of certain pattern
and blood, especially on the daughters OF
American Star, the son of the great Henry.
he gave us trotters of the highest speed
and second to none in endurance. But all
This was true in spite of his back, not be
cause Of il; and where he sired one colt
closely and strongly coupled up in the
back and loins Gus every colt should be),
he sent forth five or ten without this add
mlrabIe construction; nay, representatives
of the other form.
One may attend the fairs of the country.
and eight out of every ten of the Humble.
tonian stations exhibited will present to
the eye this unfortunate popularity. In
reply it will be urged that these lonr-
backed horses have an enormous stride. .
We grant that they do stride great dis
lance, but we also notice that their fee,
stay under the sulky long time. The
power to twitch their feet out from I'M
der the wagon" as IN old driver once cx-
pressed it, does not belong to them. One
never finds it in connection with lone
back. We wish to breed colts with an
" enormous stride" rs earnestly us any
one; but we wish that these colts blessed
with IN enormous stride" should have
the mack also of gathering quickly.
But, in respect to the length of the
stride, we have this to say,-that il is not
in any way the result of the length of
back, but the position of the pasterus, the
slope of the shoulders, and the position of
the great bones Of the hind. legs. There
must be length somewhere, of course or
the no Sc cannot stride far; or, if he at
temps it, will be forever cover reachinc.n
or forging" as the phrase goes. But
here should the length be located? That
is the question to be answered.: and we
say, the length should be located below,
and not above. The length should be put
in between the shoulder joint and the hams
of the horse. There is where it was put
in Flora Temple, and which gave her so
tremendous stride for so small an ami
NAL and there, too, is where you find il
in Dexter, Fearnaught, and Taggart's All,
daIlah, whose stride on sandy track we
have measured and found TO be twenty
feet! If that is not an enormous strile''
enough to suit anybo ly we should like to
know what is; and yet Abdallah had IL
short, muscular, Morgan-like back, as his
sire, Farmers Beauty. and his grandsre,
Clifford Morgan, had before him,
There never was a falser theory, nor one
calculated to beget more mischief amonc
than that we must breed lone.
backed colts in order to get length off
stride. We have always noticed that the
horses long in the back and loosely coup
ed in the hip, are the horses that ALWAYS |
:ome to the judges stand padded and
'wathed with pads" and shields" and
protectors" enough TO stock small
ized horse clothing establishment. The
'eason is, because there is too little
strength in the back and loins to deliver
heir strokes in astraight line, or to catch
quickly and handiy when they break.
t is at such II time-the supreme hour of
he animals life, perhaps-when fame
nd money hang evenly in the balance,
nd the horse is going at the top of his
peed, that formation and perfection of
rganie structure tell.-- Golden Ruic.