Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-11-07
The Horses Back.


concerned, is tire length Of 1t. "A
long back is a weak back the world
over, and in every instance. BY SUI
perior excellence of structure in other
respects, the weakness of the back
may be, in some measure, made up;
but the horse can never be the horse
he would have been had bis back been
a shorter one. We do not care how
short a horses back is; for it is sure
evidence that he can carry or drag a
heavy weight a great distance, and not
tire out neither, ifhe be speedy, will
two or three seasons Of turf expert
ence break him down, as is the case
with so many of our speedy, long
backed horses.
Old Morrill, aud Flora Temple are
Instances IN the past and the famous
grandson of Old Morrill,, Fearnaught,
and Taggarts Abdallah, are good IL
Illustrations among later horses. This
conformation OF the back was, in our
opinion, grave objections against
Young Morrill, and Rysdyk's Handle
tonian. In spite ofall their excellence
both of them would have been decid-
edIy better horses had they been
coupled shorter and more strongly on
the back. Ii Young Morrill, had had
the back of his sire-one OF the most
marvellous specimens of perfect bone
structure and muscular power ever
bred-he would never have gotten so
many swayed-backed colts as now
stand to his charge. The same was
the case in even greater measure with
Rysdyks Hambletonian, We know
what he did in TIE stud. We know
that. crossed on mares OF 4 certain
pattern end blood, especially on the
daughters Of American Star. the son
of the great Henry, he gave us trct'ers
of the highest speed, and second to
none in endurance. But all this was
true in spite OF his back, not because
of it and where he sired one colt
closely and strongly coupled up IN the
back and loins Gas every colt should
be) he sent forth five or ten without
the admirable construction, nay,
representatives OF the other form.
One may attend the fairs Of the
country, and eight out of every ten OF
the Hambletonian stations exhibited
will present to the eye this unfortun-
ate popularity. In reply it will be
urged tina, these long backed horses
have an "enormous stride We
grant they do stride great distance,
but we also notice that their feet stay
under the sulky long time. The
power to ''twi.ch their feet out from
under the wagon rs an old driver
once expressed it, does not belong to
them. One never finds it IN connec-
ton with a long back. We wish to
breed colts with an enormous stride
as earnestly as any one ) but we wish
that these colts blessed with an "enor.
NOUS stride" should have the knack
also Of gathering quickly.
But, in respect to the length Of the
stride, we have this to say-thst it is
not in any way the result ofthe length
of back, bat the position Of the pas.
terms, the slope of the shoulders, and
the position of the great bones OF the
hind,legs. There must be length
somewhere, of course, or else the horse
cannot stride far; or, if he attempts
it, will be forever "over-reaching," or
forging" as the phrase goes. But
where should the length be located ?
That is the question to be answered 1;
and we say, the length should be To-
Gated below, and not above. The
length should be put in between the
shoulder ;oint 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
animal and there, too, Is where you
find it in Dexter, Fearnaught, and
Taggart's Abdallah, whose stride on a
sandy track we have measured and
found to be twenty feet If that is
not an enormous stride enough to
satisfy any one, we should be pleased
to know what is and yet Abdallah
had a short, muscular, Morgan-like
back, as his sire, Farmers Beauty,
and his grandsire, Clifford Morgan,
had before him.
There never was a falser theory, or
one calculated to beget more mischief
among breeders, than this-that we
must breed long-backed colts, III Or
der to get length of stride. We have
a1vays noticed that the horses 1Ono