The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-06-06
The Best Horses.

IQ0 0cSt nOtScSs
IfIwcre called upon to name the two
requisites most necessary for q farmer
to possess. in addition to good farm, ]
should say agood wife and good team;
and when a young farmer becomes pos
sessed of these he has made good start
on the road to success. While no indus
try of the farm pays better than raising
good horses, none is more Improbable
than that of raising inferior ones. 1t
costs but little more to raise horse
which, when six years old, will command
a ready sale ut 800 or $500. than one
which can with difficulty be disposed Of
for 500; or than it does to raise heifer
or a steer which at maturity, is worth
$50 or $75. The best team for the
farmer is the one which will best an
swer all the purposes OF the farm
blowing, hauling. taking the farmer and
his family to town, or his boys and
their sweethearts for lively sleigh
ride; and, in addition to all this, will
give him a pair of colts every year,
which will earn their keep from the
time they are two years old untilthey
are sold for $500 or 81, 600 at five or
six. The team to do this is pair of
handsome bay mares sixteen hands
high, weighing LOCO to l,250 pounds
each, with small. bony heads. large
nostrils, broad forehead, large bright
eyes, small, tapering ears; long necks
nicely arched, deep as they spring
from the shoulders and small ut the
throat-latch; long, oblique shoulder
blades; moderately high withers; short
backs, and deep but not over-broad
chests, because q horse with Q very wide
breast, although usually of good consa-
tuition and great strength, is seldom .
graceful or rapid trotter; is apt to have
padding gait, and if used for road
work will generally give out in the fore
legs from the extra strain put upon them
by the weight of the broad chest Our
team must also have long, muscular
thighs, large knees and other joints;
short cannon (shin) bones; legs broad
below the knees. and hooks with tbs
sinews clearly defined; fetlocks free
from long hair; long. moderately OBJ
lique pasterns; rather small. though not
contracted feet; broad loins; wide,
smooth hips, and long, full tails. They
must have plenty of nervous energy
and good knee action; must be prompt,
free drivers, capable of trotting mile
in four minutes; be fast walkers, and
good. hearty eaters; must not Inter
fere," and must carry their heads well
up without checks when on the road.
1t will readily be seen that these
mares are neither Clydesdales, Nor
mans, Canadians, Arabians, thorough
breds, nor trotters; but they are team
which will pull the pillow through two
acres of land in day, will pull ton,
yes, two, if the roads are good. of prod
uce to the village four miles off in less
than an hour. and trot back with the
empty wagon in half that time without
distressing themselves or their driver.
Should the farmer have trip of twenty
miles to make on business or pleasure,
he can hitch them to his spring wagon,
takes his wife and children with him,
and they need not be away from home
more than three hours, or should he
choose to 90 on horseback, he can
mount one of the mares and enjoy ride
on very fair saddle-horse. A team Of
Clydesdales may pull a heavier load at
dead drag; Canadians will stand more
exposure and poorer fare; Arabians are
better saddle horses; thoroughbreds can
outrun them; trotters, when hitched to
light buggy. can pass them on the
road; but neither of these breeds COM
bines anything like the desirable quail
ties for farmer that the team which /
described possesses; and when it be-
comes desirable to dispose of their
produce the colts of such mares will
lind a reader sale than those of any OF
the others, being exactly suited to ths
wants of the rich city gentleman for his
family carriage, for which he must
have strong. handsome, snowy team;
and. as such teams are always scarce,
he must pay good price for them.
Large dray-horses usually bring re-
munerative prices; but few men viii
paw as much for a team to haul their
bales of cotton or barrels of flour as
they will for team to draw their fami-
lies in Central or Lincoln Park in win
ter. and at Newport and Long Branch
in the summer, where each millionaire
strives to Guido the others in the beau
ty and style of his carriage-horses.
1t will be useless for the farmer to
try and get such horses as these for q
very low price: but when he has found
them never mind the price. An extra
hundred dollars or so invested in such
a span will pay better interest than in
the savings-bank. When the farmer
has obtained his team of mares let him
look for stallion of as nearly the same
type As be can find. He must be fully
sixteen hands high, of good disposition,
and have the bold, high knee action
which characteriZes a fine carriage
horse, for which rich buyers are willing
to pay literally. Ii this horse can trot
in three minutes instead of four so
much the belter-A. l.. SGrdy, in
Rural NeD- Yorker. e..