Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-12-13
The General Purpose Horse.

The various uses for which the horse
Is employed would seem to require al
most corresponding variety Of conform
alton, and with each new decade comes
new use for the horse. Not only is
this true, but each new employment
coins new method of accomplishing il
each recurring year So that the farm
horse OF twenty years ago would hardly
do for the present. Then we stirred our
ground in spring and fall with twelve
inch pillow, plowed corn with bull
tongue and single shovel pillow, moved
grass with scythe, harvested grain with
a cradle; went TO mill and TO market and
TO church on horseback.
The car horse of the last generation
will hardly do for this. When the cars
were only sixteen feet in length horse
weighing 1000 pounds would do very
well; but now that the car is thirty-two
feet long and has a seating capacity of
fifty persons, nothing less than l, 100
pound horse will answer for street car,
and it takes two of them to draw the
load. The horse that twenty years ago
would do the draying of some of the dry
goods houses of the large cities, would
fast-increasing business and new modes
of conducting it.
The livery-horse, with his four to six
mile gait, would make poor appear
ance on the boulevard and avenue now
And it would seem, too, that the farm
horse, the dray horse, the express horse
and the coupe horse must each have
distinct size and formation.
But take the position and venture
the assertion, that horse can be pro.
duced of uniform size, style, action and
conformation that will be adapted to, and
profitably and safely used for any and
all of these purposes, and thus be the
horse of practical value and worth. And
so the old axiom is true in this instance
that there is nothing good or bad but
thinking makes it so. But thinking a
horse good for a given purpose never
made him so, and man must know q
hawk from hand-saw before he is COM
petent to select one for any business.
But am asked what ought to be his
characteristics: First of all he ought to
be possessed of kind intelligence; in
telligence which embraces unflinching
courage; a courage which takes no
thought of the bruises of his own body;
kind and mild disposition and temper
ament that will allow him to be con-
trolled by you, without resorting to harsh
or severe punishment. Such Drained
horses are seldom or never skittish or
nervous, or become frightened at the
sight of spooky objects. A horse with
this kind of brain is, as rule, re-
liable, faithful, and useful servant.
AS to his conformation, much needs
to be said. Although have notions of
my own regarding it, yet l find the old
maxim still true, that "horses draw
loads, trot and run in all shapes, and
having all sorts of conformations.
But he should inherit good stomach.
Unless he has a good appetite and di-
gestive organs to make the best use OF
the food he eats, with ever so good a
brain, limbs, back, hips, shoulders, neck
and color, he loses half his usefulness.
He should also inherit good and
wiry constitution. He should have a
medium-sized bony head, wide between
eyes, small sharp ears, full bright eyes
of a hazel color; shoulders thick at the
point, thin at the top, oblique and long;
high in the withers, strong in the loins,
long and broad quarters, supported by
broad, flat, clean legs of bone as dense
as ivory; sin ews like Eliminated steel, and
hoofs that shine like polished ebony. He
must be free from blemish, of course,
and weigh from l, 100 to 400 pounds.
He should inherit kind, gentle dispo-
sition and temperament, sagacious and
intelligent shining black, bay, brown
or roam color. Finding your horse in
possession of these qualities, you may
rest assured you have an animal that will
do you good service at any kind of work.
Then if he makes a fine appearance in
harness and has fair amount of speed,
he is valuable animal.
We recently heard gentleman in
quiring for just such horse, but he
found it difficult to get one even at
pretty large price. Dealers and train
ers find good market for them, for the
demands always larger than the supply.
Here in the West, such horses, when
they can be found, are bought up and
taken to the East, to the large cities and
country towns, where they are readily
disposed of at rates much larger than
are received for them by the breeders
here.
The next question is how to produces
this horse of the most practical value and
worth. We answer: BY careful, sys-
tematic and persistent course of inbreed-
ing and crossing of those families, breeds
and individuals that will be most likely
to transmit to their offspring the uni
formity of conformation and character
that we have heretofore described