Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-11-18
WHAT Is THE BEST HORSE?

The recent horse show in New York |
has given rise to some discussion rs to
the merits of hunters and trotters, and
which will make the best all-around
horse. The Nation, OF November 18th,
has leader upon the subject and 1t
comes to the conclusion that the hunter
is the better horse for all purposes. Ex-
cellent as is the Nation and high as is its
authority, we cannot concur in its decis-
ion. If the trotter has special purpose
80 has the hunter, and neither would
excel in the particular field of the other,
The trotter is par excellence as an Amer
lean production, and one of which Amer
lea may be proud. The Nation makes the
following objection TO the trotter:
The effect of the cultivation of the trotter
on the American working horse has been
very like what the effect of racing two-year-
olds would have been in England had it not
been neutralized by the demand for hunters.
Our pleasure carriages nll over the country,
when we leave the light wagon, are horsed
by animals not up to their weight, either i'll
size or bone-an evil which is aggravated
by the heaviness of the roads. I'm
Til n very recent period nearly every Ameri-
crate price, was simply q horse which had
failed to develop trotting speed; aud as
trotting speed was very often found in very
unpromising frames, and sometimes without
any pedigree, breeding for points was very
little attended to by the farmers who raise
most of our horses
There is something in this, but this
condition OF things existed to n much
greater extent some years ago, in the
neighborhood OF fifteen, than, now. The
trotting horse to-day is bred on entirely
different principles from those in vogue
fifteen years ago Then, and long prior
thereto, the one great object was to get
speed, and to attain this everything else
was sacrificed. Not so to-day. To-day
the trotter is bred for size, style, beauty
and speed. Everything is considered in
his breeding that it is desirable to have
in horse. Points with the trotter are as
much considered us points with the rum
ner. For general horse there must be
size, but for a general horse there may be
too great size rs well as too little size A
general horse will have multifarious du
ties to perform, but he must not be ex-
pected TO excel in any particular one.
horse best, the trotter or the
hunter? The most desirable weight
for general horse is about eleven
hundred and fifty pounds to twelve hun
dred; any weight in excess OF this units
him for many purposes to which the gen.
cral horse will be put The hunter very
rarely reaches this weight, for he is
mostly thoroughbred. AS general rule,
the weight and size OF the trotter will ex-
ceed that OF the hunter. Any horse to
have any worth must be sound in limb
and wind and he must have staying
qualities, no matter for what purpose he
is bred nor for what purpose he is to be
used. These qualities are essential to
the draft horse as well as to the trotter OF
runner. A good saddle horse will rarely
be a good buggy or carriage horse, and
vice versa, and yet the general horse will
have to do duty in all these places. Foi
buggy and carriage purposes the trottei
is superior to the hunter, while for sad
die purposes the superiority is on the side
of the hunter; for purely farm purposes
the two kinds are about equal. Says the
Nation:
The excellence of the hunter consists il
his ability to Jump. gallop, and stay" or
in other words, in great power of limb and
great endurance and courage. 10 breet
good hunters is to breed these qualities, ant
they are the ones that make the best hors,
for harness ms well rs for the saddle.
Breeders OF trotters breed for "grea
power OF limb and great endurance anc
courage" as well as breeds of the hunte
or race horse; and they get these quail
ties. While first-class hunter will out
stay trotter when it comes to rui
across country, put your hunter in harnes
and to buggy alongside of q trotter 81
harnessed, and the trotter will out-sta,
your hunter. Your Pcrcheron or Norman
will out-stay either at the slow, heav
work of the plow or dray, and merel
because he is bred for that particular pur
pose. A general horse is jack of al
trades and master OF none. 1t does no
detract in the least from the merits OF tn
hunter that he cannot pull buggy fit
miles with the same ease and in the sam
time as a trotter will, nor does it detrac
from the merits OF the trotter that he ear
not keep alongside the hunter in Il ru
after the fox or hare, nor take the jump
or make the leaps which the hunter doe
with ease.
The general horse will always be ~
average horse, never a superior horse
and ii owners of horses desire great es
cellence in their animals, they mus
breed them specially for the purposes fc
which they want them, the draft hors
for the dray; the heavy plow horse for tn
farm; the hunter for the chase; the thor
oughbred for the run; the trotter for tn
buggy; the carriage horse for the ca
riage, and SO on. Wanting horse for
particular purpose, the horse that is bre
for that purpose is the best, and no hors
can be the best which is bred for al
purposes
~ Nkf