The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-08-15
COACH AND SADDLE HORSES.
MORE MONEY IN RAISING THEM
THAN RACERS OR TKOTTERs.
The Business Great one Abroad and
Just Beginning Here-Some Strains
Three Hundred Years Old-Some
thing for Farmers, Too.
tFrom tue New York snn.)


and saddle horses than in breeding trot
ting stock or racing horses Breeding
trottcrs and race horses is almost as much
of a lottery as buying them. They may
turn out to he very good in which case
they are great prizes. If they do not turn
out to he very good, they do not pay for
the cost Of raising them and the invest
ment of the money put in. With saddle
and coach horses there is always regular
and steady market. 1t requires nothing
like so much capital for each horse, it is
easier to raise them, and they are almost
always sure of II sale. 1t is only recently,
however, that the breeding of coach and
saddle horses was entered into in this
country. In Germany. France, England,
and all the European countries, coach
steadily rs race horses. In the United
States horse that was bred for Il trottcr
would occasionally turn into good saddle
.orse. while coach pairs were picked out
from the mass of horses. The result was
that the price of good coach pair
went away up. and the price of good saddle
horses has kept up with it. \ good we'll
matched coach pair will sell off-hand in
New York for 81 800, while there are
some pairs that are worth over $4,000.
Ordinary horses hitched up in double har-
ness are not meant by this, but Il pair of
Thoroughbred coach horses. with blood,
breeding, carriage and action. They arc
scarcer Mt the price than IN ordinary pair
is at $500.
Canada has been furnishing for several
fI. III Ill for
New York. Kentucky has been sending
great many horses for saddle purposes. but
though they are well broken and have
great many ..aits, they cannot he used for
hunting with safety, and they are not
weight carriers A good saddle horse
must lie Il weight carrier, must he hardy,
free from sickness or faults. with endur-
ancc, and the ability to keep up a good
speed The fancy Kentucky horses do
not fulfil these requirements. They get
sick too readily; as general thing nine
tenths of them arc sick the first six mcnths
they are in New York city. They have
spirit, but they cannot trot rs many miles
the second hour as the first hour under Il
good weight. They do not make good
hunters, and have not approached in
iumpin. to Canadian hunters Of English
stock.
Thoroughbred coach stock is very differ
ent from thoroughbred trotting stock.
The Kentucky horses come from thorough
bred trotting stock and thoroughbred
racing stock much more than from thor
oughbrcd coach stock. In the common
mind the idea of thoroughbred has come to
be applied only to race horses and trot
tiers, as they arc the only kind of thorough
hrcds known to New York city. The Ordi-
nary saddle horse, as well rs the ordinary
coach horse, is half-brcd horse, made
by crossing thoroughbred stallion on Il
common mare and taking the chances or
the result. There is no certainty in breed
ing when either the horse or the mare has
an unknown or mongrel pedigree. There
are full-brcd draught horses that have
never Travelled more than five miles an
hour in their lives, and full-brccd saddle
and coach horses that have never run in
their lives. Breeding and speed are not
necessarily the same thing. y horse may
be bred for other reasons than speed.
Draught horses have been bred 40 that IL
full-brcd draught horse can pull steadily
and regularly twice the load of mn ordinary
drauglt horse, while the difference be-
tween the full-brcd saddle horse and the
ordinary saddle horse is apparent at II
glance. The European countries make
more fine distinctions than Americans do
about these matters. The United States
have not been settled so long rs the pedi-
grces of some of the coach and draught
horses of Europe. Oldcnhurg horses, for
example, have spedigrees going back over
three hundred years, and their owners
claim that their blood is pure for practi-
cnlly six hundred years. This is where
many of the recent impOrtations come
from.
America il the home Of the tr0tting
horse, but horses are wanted for Il great
MANY other reasons than for speed. No
man would think of riding IL thoroughbred
race horse around the Park for speed, or
Harvesting Maud 5. to brewery wagon.
Still. the main use for horses has always
been to transport men and loads. Ameri-
can BUYERS realized some time ago that
there was IL good demand for coach,
draught and saddle horses. They tried to
meet the demand by starting American
strains, made by crossing common stock
with the racing and trOtting stock. This
was not successful. A breed Of horses for
particular purpose cannot be created in
one generation, or in three or four. The
men who bought and used the horses came
to find out that it cost no more to keep
horses that would draw twice the load, or
to keep good coach pair than poor one.
On the contrary, sickly horse requires
more and more costly feed, and better care
and attention. than Il hardy horse, we'll
adapted for his work. Then Il draught
horse bred to do his work can pull IL greater
load better and more surely. This led to
an investigation of the breeding stock of
Europe. and resulted in the Importation
of Percheron horses. There is Il dispute
going on now between American breeders
as to whether Percheron horses should be
called Percherons or not. One set of
breeders claim that they should he called
French draught horses. as the real Perch
eron horse is not the big dranght horse,
but sturdy smaller-sizcd animal. The
Perch is one of the most fertile regions