Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-02-10
THE BUSINESS HORSE-OF ALL
WORK.
From the Spirit of the Times, 1871.
RHODE ISLAND, July II, 1S4

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RHODE ISLAND, July II, 1871.
Mr.. Editor My attention has been
arrested by the questions put by your
correspondent "South-hill' in your Jour-
nal of the 1st inst, respecting the "Busi-
ness horse-the horse of all work." and
how such a variety is to be obtained and
perpetuated. have pleasure in inform
ing him of the existence of a distinct
breed, but the stations and mares of the
requisite purity are, from the want of
necessary encouragement, exceedingly
difficult to procure. They are known as
the Morgan breed, and are to be found at
Danville, VT, where l met with them
during a summer sOjourn in the White
and Green Mountains and their delight
full environs. They are of large form,
strong and snowy, possessing much of
the symmetrical form of the blood horse,
''more rounded and capacious in the car
cass," fine forehead very muscular, long
forearm. with cannon bones, short, fiat,
sinewy, and with sufficient bone and sub
stance to satisfy the most fastidious con-
nOisseur. The feet also are very good,
large in proportion and of the requisite
substance. They have strong loins, with
the stifle and second thigh in keeping
withal, and to good turn of speed unite
sufficient endurance for the Cuisines
horse, or horse of all work"
regret exceedingly that my absence
from home deprives me of the pleasure
of giving you, for the benefit of your
correspondents, the pedigree of this in
valuable stock, which took much pains
to procure, but can inform you that it is
the result of judicious crossing through
out succeeding generations, "of selection
and steady breeding in reference to given
points, The produce of the mares and
such stallion as presume Abdallah,
from his description and pedigree to be,
might do more to perpetuate their quail
ties than to breed from their stations. |
have occasionally met in New York and
Philadelphia horses which have been said
to belong to this class and which bore
some of the distinguishing marks of the
race, but were evidently no more than
the distant relations; some experiments,
perhaps, of the breeder upon mares of
inferior grade; but have rarely found
them in any degree of purity south of
Albany or Troy, as the prices at which
they are held at their native stables place
them beyond the reach of the ordinary
horse dealer.
am sorry to question the judgment of
an unknown correspondent, but my own
experience has shown no such results,
from crossing the blood horse with Sc
lection from ordinary mares, as those COM
planned of by "South-hill." Where the
cross is made hastily, without sufficient
knowledge of the good and bad qualities
of the parents, or proper attention to
them, breeders are too prone to forget their
liabilities to err and attribute the faults.
of which they themselves are in reality
the cause, Show, in nature, can parents
without blemish in disposition or physi-
cal structure beget with proper treat
ment) imperfections as general rule ~
Bad temper in the foal is more frequent
ly the consequence of ill-treatment of the
dam during her pregnancy than of trans
mission from either parent, and have
known, in plurality of instances, too,
the evil effects of viciousness in the par
ents, but more particularly in the sire,
efiectually guarded against by proper